Black Friday might be over, but Cyber Monday deals are coming in hot. Intel's overclockable 13th-Gen lineup is up to 18% off, including chips like the Core i5-13600K, 13600KF, i7-13700K, 13700KF, and i9-13900K. Intel's 13th-Gen chips might not be the newest kids on the block anymore, but they are still very fast, with performance nearly identical to Intel's newer 14th-Gen models.
The Core i5-13600KF is arguably the best deal of the bunch, being 18% off at just $249.99. This chip offers six p-cores, eight e-cores, and a maximum turbo clock of 5.3GHz — roughly the same specs as its 14600KF successor. In our review of its twin brother, the 13600K, we found its performance to be excellent for a mid-range chip offering gaming performance close to AMD's Ryzen 5 5800X3D, Intel's i7-13700K, and even Intel's latest i5-14600K at a much lower price. Its performance is good enough that it ranks on our list of Best CPUs for Gaming.
Alternatively, if you need a CPU with integrated graphics, Intel's Core i5-13600K is also 18% off, priced at $270.
For those looking for a bit more multi-core grunt, Intel's Core i7-13700K is also 18% off ($345). Specs include eight p-cores, eight e-cores, and a maximum turbo clock of 5.4GHz. In our review of the 13700K, we found it excels as both a gaming and content-creation chip, offering gaming performance similar to its Core i9 counterpart and multi-core performance well ahead of the i5-13600K and similarly priced Ryzen 7 7700X.
This chip no longer sits in our Best CPUs list for Gaming due to the newer i7-14700K that has four more e-cores, but with an 18% discount, it is an attractive chip for gamers and productivity users alike. If you're gaming specifically, the 13700K is actually a more attractive buy than its 14th-gen counterpart — we found in our Core i7-4700K review that the 13700K offers nearly identical gaming performance to the i7-14700K, but at a much lower price point. If you don't need integrated graphics, Intel offers its Core i7-13700KF for $10 less ($335.99).
If you're after a higher-end CPU, Intel's i9-13900KF is on sale for a 16% discount (now just $501.99). The graphics-less 13900KF is one of Intel's most powerful 13th-Gen chips, featuring eight p-cores, 16 e-cores, and a maximum turbo frequency just shy of 6GHz. In testing with its twin brother, the 13900K, we found its performance to be basically identical to the much more expensive i9-14900K, both in gaming and content creation tasks. This is because both chips feature the same 8+16 core configuration, with the only difference being a minute 200MHz higher turbo clock on the 14th-Gen parts.
If you really need integrated graphics, Intel's Core i9-13900K is also on sale but is only discounted by 13% for $546.99. At this price, the Core i9-14900KF is just a few bucks more, making it a potentially more attractive offering with its slightly higher clock speeds. So it'll be up to you whether you want an iGP or a slightly (and we mean slightly) better-performing chip.
Don't Buy Intel's 14th-Gen CPUs
The gist of it all is that Intel's 14th-Gen chips might look cool with their shiny new model names, but they don't really perform any better than their 13th-Gen predecessors (with the exception of the 14700K and its four extra E-cores). Additionally, Intel isn't offering any Cyber Monday deals (as far as we can see) on its latest 14th-gen parts, making the 13th-Gen lineup even more attractive than usual.
As a result, if you are looking for a CPU upgrade or a new CPU for your shiny new gaming/productivity machine, Intel's 13th-Gen K-series CPUs are still an excellent choice, offering killer bang-for-buck performance this holiday season.
For more savings, check out our up-to-the-minute Black Friday tech deals live blog. There you'll find the latest deal news and buying advice from our editors all day and night.
For even more savings, see our lists of the best Black Friday SSD deals, Black Friday GPU deals, Black Friday CPU deals, Black Friday gaming laptop deals, Black Friday monitor deals, Black Friday 3D printer deals and Black Friday PC hardware deals overall.
