According to a new report, Intel's 13th-Generation Raptor Lake processors will have a secret sauce to offer unbeatable performance in demanding applications: A new 350W power limit that you can trigger with a new turbo mode that will increase CPU clocks. There is a catch, though — the 350W mode will only work on select motherboards with Intel's 700-series chipsets.
The new 350W MTP mode will allow Intel's next-generation Core i9 processors to gain about 15% higher performance, albeit for a limited amount of time, reports ProHardver. The mode will also require extremely capable cooling systems, so we would guess that the vast majority of next-gen Core i9 owners will have to use either an advanced liquid cooling system or a monstrous air cooler.
Intel's 13th-Gen Core 'Raptor Lake' processors are designed to be compatible with Intel 600-series chipsets-based motherboards originally intended for 12th-Gen Core 'Alder Lake' CPUs, which is why they should feature the same power levels: 125W – 150W processor base power (PBP) for base clocks and 241W maximum thermal power (MTP) for turbo clocks. But in a bid to increase the maximum performance of the upcoming Raptor Lake processors, Intel enables an all-new 350W MTP on select motherboards featuring its flagship Z790 chipset.
In fact, Intel's Core i9-12900KS already supports the company's Enhanced Thermal Velocity Boost (ETVB) feature that increases the MTP beyond 241W, which is the company's sixth adaptive boost level for client chips that enables very high single-core turbo clocks for 'tau' seconds. With Intel's next-generation Core i9 CPUs, the 350W velociraptor mode will likely bring more tangible performance gains, but also for a limited amount of time. It will likely be long enough to make Raptor Lake extremely competitive with the best desktop CPUs for gaming and the best workstation CPUs.
Virtually all makers of enthusiast-grade motherboards now equip their products with very sophisticated voltage regulating modules (VRMs) that can deliver hundreds of Watts to the CPU (with some going beyond 1kW), so it is likely that most of Intel 790-based platforms will support this 350W turbo mode. It remains to be seen how expensive those motherboards will be.
EDIT, 8/18/2022: Clarified clock behavior.