If you are hungry for pre-launch Raptor Lake information, Bilibili-based Extreme Player seems to be a good source of nutrition. The Chinese tech social media man shared his extensive Intel Core i9-13900KF (QS) testing with liquid cooling yesterday. Today, Extreme Player is back with what he claims to be a list of Intel 13th Gen Core processors (opens in new tab). He doesn’t claim the specifications to represent the definitive and final Raptor Lake product matrix, but how things stand on August 19, today. Therefore, treat the information with caution.
We already had some excellent ideas about the specs of the Raptor Lake launch chips, which we think will be the ‘three Ks’; the Core i9-13900K, Core i7-13700K, and Core i5-13600K. So, it is good to see some less glamorous non-overclocking chips from Intel detailed, as well as some lower-tier chips that will be picked up by multitudes of gamers and DIYers on a budget.
Extreme Player has included his base clock data for all the chips in the table, but one of the significant omissions enthusiasts will be looking for is the turbo clock data. When quizzed about this omission in the social media post comments, the Chinese hardware enthusiast indicated he couldn’t share these details at this time. Whether he doesn’t know, is holding back information for some reason, or knows there is still time for turbo clocks to change – remains to be seen.
Nevertheless, we can make some interesting observations and comparisons from the base clock data. For example, the new Core i9-13900K/KF reportedly has a base clock of 3.0 GHz. It is 200 MHz slower than its Alder Lake ancestor. The same 200 MHz, gen-to-gen base clock reduction can be seen with Core i7-13700K/KF and core i5-13600K/KF models.
We already knew that efficiency cores would play a more significant part in the processing mix throughout the Raptor Lake family. Extreme Player’s table says every chip in the 13th Gen Core series will allegedly feature at least some E-cores – except the Core i3-13100. This bottom-end Core i3 (the only one in the table) has just four performance cores (plus Hyper-Threading), just like its Alder Lake predecessor. The only observable difference between the Core i3-13100 and core i3-12100 is that the latter has a 100 MHz slower base clock. So despite more cores, cache, and higher frequencies being the signature of Raptor Lake, the poor little Core i3-13100 is an outlier again - with the same 12MB of Intel Smart Cache as the Core i3-12100.
Another feature worth commenting on is how Intel differentiates the Core i5-13500 and Core i5-13400. These chips take a step up the ladder with E-cores on board in the 13th Gen, but the Core i5-13500 takes a 500 MHz step back in base clock gen-to-gen (the Core i5-13400 base clock doesn’t change). Thus, according to this table, the Core i5-13500 and Core i5-13400 are identical except for their E-core quotas, with eight and four, respectively. Admittedly, there may be turbo clock differences when full specs emerge.
Lastly, please remember to take information sourced such as this with a pinch of salt. Extreme Player tacitly admits some of these specs may change between now and the official launch. Nevertheless, it is exciting to see a fuller picture of the Raptor Lake family of CPUs start to emerge from the mist.
