Intel axes 13th Gen Core i5, i7, i9 K-series CPUs — lineup will be discontinued by May 24th 2024

Raptor Lake
(Image credit: Shutterstock / Tom's Hardware)

Intel is discontinuing its boxed overclockable Core i5, i7, and i9 Raptor Lake CPUs. Every K-series chip in the lineup will be discontinued on May 24th, 2024, after which vendors will no longer be able to purchase them.

Intel's product change document states that the last product discontinuance order date and non-cancelable/non-returnable cut-off points will start on May 24th, 2024, and final shipments will end on June 28th, 2024.

We don't expect 13th Gen K-series CPU supply to evaporate instantly but expect availability to gradually dissipate, along with price increases as vendors move to sell off all remaining overclockable Raptor Lake CPU inventory. That said, most 12th-Gen Alder Lake CPUs are still priced very competitively, even to this day, so we could potentially see the same behavior with these discontinued Raptor Lake CPUs (until stock inevitably runs out).

However, one interesting tidbit we've discovered is that it appears that Intel has not discontinued its Alder Lake CPU lineup, even though it's a full generation older than Raptor Lake. If you check out Intel's Ark website, you'll find that all its Alder Lake chips are rated as "launched" rather than "discontinued." We have contacted Intel for validation and will update the article when we get a response.

Raptor Lake had a very strong launch back in 2022. Raptor Lake was an immense upgrade over Alder Lake, sporting significantly higher clock speeds, more cache, and double the number of E-cores on most models. As a result, gaming performance and multi-threaded performance were substantially better, enabling Intel to outperform AMD's Ryzen 7000 CPUs at the time.

Even to this day, Raptor Lake is still very competitive, thanks to Raptor Lake Refresh. However, Raptor Lake Refresh did almost nothing to improve performance over Raptor Lake, except for the i7 SKUs, which got four more E-cores. To make matters worse, Raptor Lake Refresh was and still is priced higher than Raptor Lake, making 13th-Gen a more cost-effective option.

It's unfortunate to see Raptor Lake's overclockable chips go. But the good news is that 14th-gen CPUs are starting to come down in price. Raptor Lake's vanilla SKUs are also still on sale and haven't been discontinued, but it's only a matter of time until that occurs. Here's the list of chips that have been sent off into the sunset:

Swipe to scroll horizontally
CPUs
Core i9-13900KS
Core i9-13900K
Core i9-13900KF
Core i7-13700K
Core i7-13700KF
Core i5-13600K
Core i5-13600KF
Aaron Klotz
Freelance News Writer

Aaron Klotz is a freelance writer for Tom’s Hardware US, covering news topics related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

  • 35below0
    Not surprised. The 14th gen CPUs were almost identical. Slightly more powerfull and slightly more expensive. It makes sense to axe one of them, and between them the 13th is the logical one.
    12th gen is weaker but plenty strong for many use cases, and prices are much lower. In fact, 12th gen value is much better than 14th, as long as you're willing to take a core/performance hit. Because said drop in performance is much smaller than the drop in price.
    Reply
  • zoridon
    I agree; glad I purchased a 13600k when I did however I'd be interested in seeing the frame rate loss on a system using a RTX 4070ti when using an Alder lake I5 12400 vs a I4th gen I5 14400. Most benchmarks show one of the most powerful GPU's combined with the different processors. I want one with a upper mid range GPU comparing the Alder lake with the 14th gen models. Most people who would purchase an alder lake will not buy more than an upper mid range GPU to go with it.
    Reply
  • vMax
    zoridon said:
    I agree; glad I purchased a 13600k when I did however I'd be interested in seeing the frame rate loss on a system using a RTX 4070ti when using an Alder lake I5 12400 vs a I4th gen I5 14400. Most benchmarks show one of the most powerful GPU's combined with the different processors. I want one with a upper mid range GPU comparing the Alder lake with the 14th gen models. Most people who would purchase an alder lake will not buy more than an upper mid range GPU to go with it.
    Same here though with the 13700K which has been an immense CPU for me as it is such a great all round CPU. With a quick and dirty vcore adjustment downwards to 1.245v the temps and power use were greatly reduced whilst still pushing 5.4GHz all core... and anyone with 12th, 13th and 14th gen should immidiatly undervolt as the motherboards manufactures are just pushing too much vcore at auto voltage...Odd that they are still going to sell Alder Lake when Raptor Lake especially 13th gen is a decent step up and with a cost reduction, they would fly of the shelves...
    Reply
  • 35below0
    vMax said:
    Odd that they are still going to sell Alder Lake when Raptor Lake especially 13th gen is a decent step up and with a cost reduction, they would fly of the shelves...
    It's not in their interest. 14th gen can maintain a higher price. Keeping 13th gen around would cut into their income for no reason.

    13th gen is fine and as long as the price hasn't gone up, it's a fine choice today. However the 14th gen does everything and more, and doesn't cost much more.
    Once the 13s dry up and prices go up, 14 will be the only LGA1700 chip to buy unless you want Alder and it's lower performance and price.

    Intel were competing with themselves too much as it was. 12th and 14th gen are at leaset different. 13th and 14th are basically the same.
    Reply
  • vMax
    Good point!
    Reply
  • NinoPino
    What a nice informatic revisionism in the phrase "...enabling Intel to outperform AMD's Ryzen 7000 CPUs at the time.".
    In the Raptor Lake review from Paul Alcorn I read 14% in gaming and nearly the same in productivity.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    Realistically this just means that all of the die they are currently producing are good enough for 14th Gen volume.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    35below0 said:
    Not surprised. The 14th gen CPUs were almost identical.
    Not "almost", they're the same silicon!
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    bit_user said:
    Not "almost", they're the same silicon!
    Better clocks at the same power.
    Same, but still only almost.
    Even if it is just binning, it still differs in binning.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    TerryLaze said:
    Better clocks at the same power.
    Same, but still only almost.
    Even if it is just binning, it still differs in binning.
    A different binning target doesn't make the silicon any different at all.
    Reply