Intel Core i9-13900K Engineering Sample Clocked at 5.5 GHz Shows FPS Gains Over i9-12900KF in Gaming

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Image: Intel

An Intel Core i9-13900K engineering sample with a P-core clock speed of 5.50 GHz all-core was benchmarked for its gaming performance. The Raptor Lake sample was tested in three resolutions (1080p, 1440p, and 4K) with benchmarks from Horizon Zero Dawn, Red Dead Redemption 2, FarCry 6, Forza Horizon 5, Monster Hunter: Rise, PUBG, Final Fantasy Endwalker, and CSGO. Benchmark scores from 3DMark Timespy and Firestrike were also included. Test system components included an ASUS ROG Z690 Extreme motherboard, 32GB of DDR5-6400 memory, and an MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Ti SUPRIM X, powered by a 1500W PSU.

While synthetic testing showed some impressive gains the upcoming processor had mixed results when it came to gaming. Test results varied with gains of 11%-27% FPS over the Intel Core i-9 12900KF, depending on the resolution and game. Horizon Zero Dawn, a game known for being CPU-intensive, saw gains of only 0.7% to 10.98% while Forza Horizon 5 and PUBG saw some of the biggest FPS improvements. Red Dead Redemption 2 had an incredulous gain of 70% but that is being considered a possible anomaly. Power consumption differences between the Intel Core i9-13900K ES versus the Intel Core i9-12900KF ranged anywhere from 3W lower to 44W higher.

Minimum FPS Gains

  • 1080p – 27.99%
  • 1440p – 21.84%
  • 4K – 11.65%

Intel Raptor Lake CPU sample delivers better performance in nearly all tests. The biggest gains can be observed in CPU-bound benchmarks (such as 3DMark Physics) or minimum frame rates which have gone up by 11% to 28% depending on a resolution. The same data was put together by @harukaze who grouped it by resolution and maximum, average and minimum framerates. At 1080p resolution, which is preferred by reviewers for CPU gaming tests, the alleged Core i9-13900K sample is 4.46% faster on average.

Sources: ExtremePlayer @ Bilibili@harukaze5719 (via VideoCardz), TechPowerUp

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Peter Brosdahl
As a child of the 70’s I was part of the many who became enthralled by the video arcade invasion of the 1980’s. Saving money from various odd jobs I purchased my first computer from a friend of my dad, a used Atari 400, around 1982. Eventually it would end up being a lifelong passion of upgrading and modifying equipment that, of course, led into a career in IT support.

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