Intel Core i9-13900K CPU Review

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Gaming Performance Cont.

In order to test gaming performance properly and really get a good feel for it, and cover all the bases for the big picture, we decided to test 1080p, 1440p, and 4K resolutions, all three resolutions to see from top to bottom how these CPUs affect performance games. For testing, we are using an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Founders Edition video card. Since we are testing all 3 resolutions, it’ll be a good mix to see where the CPU matters and where it doesn’t.

All the graphs below are not sorted, they are not sorted from fastest to slowest as in previous graphs, instead, they are simply labeled in groups by platform, from fastest CPU to least fastest CPU. As you look at performance, try to look down the column of the resolution, to see which one is faster than the other, to help your eyes see which one is faster.

Cyberpunk 2077

Intel Core i9-13900K Cyberpunk 2077 Performance Graph

While we don’t see much difference at 4K in Cyberpunk 2077, we do start to see some at 1440p. Generally, the Intel Core i9-13900K is 3-4FPS faster than the Ryzen 7000 series CPUs. It’s also a couple of FPS faster than the Ryen 7 5800X3D. At 1080p the 13900K is 5% faster than the 7950X and a few percent faster than the 5800X3D. It’s about the same performance as the 12900K is.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

Intel Core i9-13900K Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 Performance Graph

Microsoft Flight Sim 2020 is one of those games that is severely bottlenecked by CPUs, even at 4K. The first thing we notice is that all of the Ryzen 7000 series CPUs are much faster in this game compared to all the 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs, as well as the Ryzen 7 5800X3D. The Zen 4 CPUs are very good here for this game, and an improvement over Alder Lake and the 5800X3D. However, the new Intel Core i9-13900K is really giving those new CPUs a run for its money. Quite simply, the 13900K is 10% faster than the Ryzen 9 7950X at 1440p, and 9% at 1080p. The 13900K is also faster than the 5800X3D. The 13900K also improves upon the 12900K by 15% at 1440p and 15% at 1080p, which are pretty big gains.

Crysis Remastered

Intel Core i9-13900K Crysis Remastered Performance Graph

In Crysis Remastered, we see some differences in performance start to show themselves at 1440p. The Ryzen 7000 series CPUs fall slightly behind the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which has an advantage. The Alder Lake 13th Gen CPUs pull ahead of the Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, but the new Intel Core i9-13900K pulls ahead of even them. The 13900K is 6% faster than the 7950X at 1440p. At 1080p it is 12% ahead of the 7950X, and even 6% ahead of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D. Compared to the 12900K the 13900K is 8% faster at 1080p.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Intel Core i9-13900K Shadow of the Tomb Raider Performance Graph

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, we see the same performance at 4K and 1440p. However, at 1080p there are some clear differences. The Ryzen 7000 series CPUs do quite well at 1080p against the 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs, offering higher performance. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D actually has the highest performance. However, the new Core i9-13900K competes well and pushes beyond the Ryzen 7000 series CPUs slightly and reaches 5800X3D performance at 1080p. Compared to the 12900K the new 13900K is 3% faster.

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REVIEW OVERVIEW

Performance
10
Efficiency (Perf per Watt)
5
Features
10
Value
7

SUMMARY

We put the Intel Core i9-13900K Raptor Lake CPU through its paces and benchmarked synthetic and gaming scenarios at various resolutions. The CPU maintained a high-performance level, rivaling the competition, AMD Ryzen 7000 series. However, it came at a high cost, that cost was power usage and temperature. While it is loaded with features, its overall value is detracted by way of this tremendous power utilization in order to maintain its performance leadership.
Brent Justicehttps://www.thefpsreview.com
Former managing editor of GPUs at HardOCP for 18 years, Brent Justice has been reviewing computer components since the late 90s, educated in the art and method of the computer hardware review, he brings experience, knowledge, and hands-on testing with a gamer-oriented and hardware enthusiast perspective. You can follow him on Twitter - @Brent_Justice You can sub to his YouTube channel - Justice Gaming https://www.youtube.com/c/JusticeGamingChannel You can check out his computer builds on KIT - @BrentJustice https://kit.co/BrentJustice

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We put the Intel Core i9-13900K Raptor Lake CPU through its paces and benchmarked synthetic and gaming scenarios at various resolutions. The CPU maintained a high-performance level, rivaling the competition, AMD Ryzen 7000 series. However, it came at a high cost, that cost was power usage and temperature. While it is loaded with features, its overall value is detracted by way of this tremendous power utilization in order to maintain its performance leadership.Intel Core i9-13900K CPU Review