Intel has decided to discontinue its entire 13th Gen Raptor Lake lineup of overclockable "K-series" CPU SKUs. According to an official product change notice, the company will stop accepting orders for chips like the Core i9-13900KS, Core i9-13900K, Core i9-13900KF, Core i7-13700K, Core i7-13700KF, Core i5-13600K, and Core i5-13600KF after May 24th, 2024. Final shipments to vendors are targeted for June 28th. After those dates, availability of the unlocked Raptor Lake processors will rapidly diminish as the remaining inventory gets sold off, possibly at inflated prices due to shortages. This discontinuation comes just over a year after Raptor Lake's launch in late 2022, which delivered additional performance improvements over the previous Alder Lake generation.

Raptor Lake brought higher clocks, more cache, additional efficiency cores, and enough muscle to compete with AMD's Ryzen 7000 CPUs in many workloads. Interestingly, Intel has not yet discontinued Alder Lake, suggesting those 12th-generation chips may still be available for some time. While the death of the overclockable Raptor Lake K-series CPUs is unfortunate for enthusiasts, there is an upside—it paves the way for Intel's current generation Raptor Lake refresh, 14th generation Core processors, to clear inventory before the next-generation processors arrive. The 15th generation "Arrow Lake" Core Ultra 2 series of processors could be teased at the upcoming Computex event in June.

Outpost: Infinity Siege developers recommend underclocking Intel's current and previous flagship desktop processors, the Core i9-14900K and i9-13900K, to prevent the game from crashing. This recommendation goes out to those with a GeForce RTX 4090 paired with either a Core i9-13900K or i9-14900K, we're fairly sure that the recommendation even extends to those with i9-14900KS and i9-13900KS. Team Ranger, the developers of the game, just released their second patch in just a week following the game's launch. In the patch notes, they ask users to use Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU), to lower the P-core clock speeds down to at least 5.00 GHz (maximum boost). This development closely follows a February 2024 report which says that game stability issues of high-end "Raptor Lake" processors are linked to power limit unlocks.

At the 2023 International CES, Intel had announced its 65 W (locked) 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" desktop processors, but the star of the show then was the enthusiast-segment Core i9-13900KS Limited Edition processor. A picture of what is allegedly the i9-14900KS, suggests that Intel might repeat its last year's CES announcements, with the i9-14900KS. Last time around, they had the claim to launch the world's first 6 GHz processor, something that is also the latest maximum boost frequency of the current i9-14900K, so it remains to be see what the i9-14900KS brings to the table. A 6 GHz all-core boost for the P-cores, or a speed bump that lets it finally beat the $350 Ryzen 7 7800X3D at gaming? We'll find out next week in Vegas.

Intel has informed customers that it is adjusting the retail packaging for two 13th Generation Raptor Lake processors—the Core i9-13900K and Core i9-13900KS are popular choices for extreme gamers who demand the best from their CPUs, but did the presence of a premium protective shell also attract certain buyers who enjoy displaying silicon-related mantelpieces? Team Blue will be introducing a more sober looking boxed solution for the aforementioned SKUs - effective in universal and Chinese markets. Intel reasons that it wants to save on the volumetric storage of processors during the shipment process—the smaller box designs will result in a unit increase per pallet. By their estimation this redesign could quadruple the number of boxes in each shipping package - from the previous 324 to a new goal of around 1620.

The Core i9-13900K and Core i9-13900KS were shipped (until recently) in "Tier 4" boxes, but Intel's new cost and space saving drive has the two processors destined to sit in their "Tier 2" retail package which appears to be a standard folding paperboard carton (as seen containing Core i7 and lower end SKUs). The announcement included a set of preview renders, but actual boxed dimensions were not shared in the Product Change Notification (PCN) document. The new packaging regime looks smaller when compared to the older combination of a "premium silver tinted plastic wafer package" plus box sleeve. Team Blue will ultimately shave off a few bucks for themselves in the process, but there is no indication that these savings will be passed onto the end user. Tom's Hardware reckons that a late adjustment to retail packaging could foreshadow the arrival of a successor CPU range—Raptor Lake Refresh is speculated to form the next desktop lineup, since the future of Meteor Lake-S is alleged to be in a precarious state.

Intel today formally launched the Core i9-13900KS "Raptor Lake" flagship desktop processor. At an MSRP of USD $700, the i9-13900KS is positioned a notch above the $590 i9-13900K, which it replaces as the top 13th Gen Core desktop part you can buy. The i9-13900KS features the same 8P+16E core-configuration as the i9-13900K, but at increased clock speeds and power limits. It is the world's first 6 GHz processor, with its maximum boost frequency set at exactly 6.00 GHz, up from 5.80 GHz of the i9-13900K. This is not just a minor +200 MHz speed bump, but backed by increased power-limits, which enable improved multi-threaded boost-frequency spread thanks to the Adaptive Boost Technology carried over from the previous-generation i9-12900KS.

The 8 "Raptor Cove" P-cores of the i9-13900KS are clocked at 3.00 GHz base with up to 6.00 GHz boost, compared to 3.00/5.80 GHz of the i9-13900K, while the E-core frequencies are left untouched at 2.20 GHz base and up to 4.30 GHz boost. The big change here is the processor base power value, which is now set at 150 W, compared to 125 W of the i9-13900K, and while the maximum turbo power value is the same 253 W, Intel has changed the way its power headroom is utilized to support improved boost frequency spread across the P-cores. It seems like Intel hasn't sampled tech publications this processor, and the handful publications that have posted their reviews today using processors sourced from friendly retailers, report increased power-draw, and the need for large aftermarket cooling solutions even at stock frequencies. The i9-13900KS is being offered as an overclocking-friendly chip to those who know what they're doing and can handle extreme cooling solutions.

AMD today announced its Ryzen 7000X3D "Zen 4" desktop processors with 3D Vertical Cache technology. With these, the company is claiming to have the world's fastest processors for gaming. The company claims to have beaten the Intel Core i9-13900K "Raptor Lake" in gaming, by a margin it feels comfortable to remain competitive with against even the upcoming Core i9-13900KS. At the heart of these processors is the new "Zen 4" 3D Vertical Cache (3DV cache) CCD, which features 64 MB of L3 cache stacked on top of the region of the "Zen 4" CCD that has the on-die 32 MB L3 cache. The 3DV cache runs at the same speed as the on-die L3 cache, and is contiguous with it. The CPU cores see 96 MB of transparent addressable L3 cache.

3DV cache is proven to have a profound impact on gaming performance with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D "Zen 3" processor that helped it beat "Alder Lake" in gaming workloads despite "Zen 3" being a generationally older microarchitecture; and AMD claims to have repeated this magic with the 7000X3D "Zen 4" series, enabling it to beat Intel "Raptor Lake." Unlike with the 5800X3D, AMD don't intend to make gaming performance a trade-off for multi-threaded creator performance, and so it is introducing even 12-core and 16-core SKUs, so you get gaming performance alongside plenty of muscle for creator workloads.

Intel's upcoming flagship Core i9-13900KS "Raptor Lake" processor posts a 5% single-threaded performance lead over the company's current top-chip, the i9-13900K. The i9-13900KS is shown in leaked benchmarks scoring 2366 points in the Cinebench R23 single-thread, compared to 2243 points of the i9-13900K, 1948 points of the upcoming i9-13900 (non-K), and 2057 points of the AMD flagship Ryzen 9 7950X. This works out to a 5.43% gain for the i9-13900KS in comparison to the i9-13900K, and an impressive 15% gain over the 7950X. The multi-threaded score is 3.3% higher between the i9-13900KS and the i9-13900K.

The Core i9-13900KS wins on account of higher frequency, with its P-cores boosting up to 6.00 GHz, compared to 5.80 GHz of its predecessor, and its 150 W processor base power providing better boost state residency. The locked Core i9-13900 is held back by lower clock speeds of up to 5.60 GHz P-core boost, and power limits of just 65 W PBP and 221 W MTP. What's interesting in these numbers, though, is that even the i9-13900 is shown beating the 7950X in the multi-threaded test, scoring about 1.6% higher. Its single-threaded performance is marginally lower than the 7950X. Intel is expected to announce the i9-13900KS alongside locked 65 W 13th Gen Core processors, and 13th Gen Core mobile processors, in its 2023 International CES Keynote address, with product availability expected later in the month.

January 3, 2023, on the sidelines of the International CES, Intel could launch dozens upon dozens of 13th Gen Core processor SKUs spanning every conceivable client PC platform. The event is expected to bring "Raptor Lake" to the mobile platform, with announcements spanning the ultra-portable "Raptor Lake-U," the thin-and-light performance "Raptor Lake-P," the mainstream mobile "Raptor Lake-H," and the enthusiast mobile "Raptor Lake-HX." This would cover almost every mobile device segment, including 7-9 W U-segment, to the 15-28 W P-segment, the 35-45 W H-segment, and the >55 W HX-segment, with several SKUs per segment across the four brand extensions (Core i3 thru Core i9).

For the desktop platform, Intel is expected to announce its new Core i9-13900KS "Raptor Lake-S" flagship, the world's first 6 GHz processor, besides a large number of 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake-S" non-K SKUs in the 65 W TDP class, forming the bulk of the company's desktop processor lineup. Besides these, the company will also announce the more affordable Intel H770 and B760 desktop motherboard chipsets, bringing down platform costs (the 13th Gen Core processors are already supported on inexpensive motherboards based on the B660 and H670 chipsets via a BIOS update). Lastly, the company could announce "Raptor Lake" processors for the workstation segment, possibly compatible with the W780 chipset, and supporting ECC DDR5 memory, among other features relevant to the commercial desktop and workstation segments.

AMD is firing full cylinders to release a new line of Ryzen 7000-series "Zen 4" Socket AM5 desktop processors featuring 3D Vertical Cache, at the earliest. Faced with a significant drop in demand due to the slump in the PC industry, and renewed competition from Intel in the form of its 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" processors, the company is looking to launch the Ryzen 7000X3D desktop processors within January 2023, with product unveiling expected at AMD's 2023 International CES event. The 3D Vertical Cache technology had a profound impact on the gaming performance of the older "Zen 3" architecture, bringing it up to levels competitive with those of the 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" processors, and while gaming performance of the Ryzen 7000 "Zen 4" processors launched till take match or beat "Alder Lake," they fall behind those of the 13th Gen "Raptor Lake," which is exactly what AMD hopes to remedy with the Ryzen 7000X3D series.

In a report, Korean tech publication Quasar Zone states that AMD is planning to release 16-core/32-thread, 12-core/24-thread, and 8-core/16-thread SKUs in the Ryzen 7000X3D series. These would use one or two "Zen 4" chiplets with stacked 3D Vertical Cache memory. A large amount of cache memory operating at the same speed as the on-die L3 cache, is made contiguous with it and stacked on top of the region of the CCD (chiplet) that has the L3 cache, while the region with the CPU cores has structural silicon that conveys heat to the surface. On "Zen 3," the 32 MB on-die cache is appended with 64 MB of stacked cache memory operating at the same speed, giving the processor 96 MB of L3 cache that's uniformly accessible by all CPU cores on the CCD. This large cache memory positively impacts gaming performance on the Ryzen 7 5800X3D in comparison to the 5800X; and a similar uplift is expected for the 7000X3D series over their regular 7000-series counterparts.

Intel's upcoming Core i9-13900KS flagship processor is expected to be an estimated 22% pricier than the i9-13900K, suggests a Canadian retailer with early placeholder listings for chips that won't be in stock for months from now. The i9-13900KS is expected to be the world's first 6 GHz retail desktop processor, with its maximum boost frequency either at or beyond 6.00 GHz, compared to the 5.80 GHz of the i9-13900K. The chip will be built from the topmost tier bins of the "Raptor Lake-S" silicon. As this point we don't know if it comes with a higher Maximum Turbo Power (MTP) value than the 253 W of the i9-13900K.

Intel is designing the Core i9-13900KS to ward off the threat from AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D "Zen 4" processor that incorporates 3D Vertical Cache technology for a significant gaming performance uplift. 3DV cache raised gaming performance of "Zen 3" up to the levels of 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" processors, and the expectation now is that it will similarly raise gaming performance of "Zen 4" to be competitive with that of "Raptor Lake."

Shortly after its announcement along with an "early next year" launch timeline, benchmarks of the upcoming Core i9-13900KS are beginning to trickle down. The first such sees an alleged CPU-Z Bench score of 18453.4 points multi-threaded score, and 982.5 points single-threaded. We have no clue about the clock-speeds, but assuming it's running at stock settings, the multi-threaded score is around 15% higher than that of the Ryzen 9 7950X, which scores around 16000 points in the multi-threaded test at stock settings (i.e. 5.10 GHz all-core boost).

Yesterday Intel announced its 13th generation Raptor Lake processor lineup. The top-of-the-line model, Core i9-13900KS, features eight P-cores and 16 E-cores for a total of 24 cores in the SoC. However, that may not represent the maximum for Raptor Lake, as there appears to be another segment equipped with a Raptor Lake processor with 34 cores. According to findings of Tom's Hardware, the Intel Innovation event in San Jose had a surprise for everyone, as there was a booth to display Raptor Lake silicon wafers. After closer examination, the wafer had cutouts for dies that contained as many as 34 cores.

With all cores being the same size, it is assumed that those are P-cores interconnected on a mesh, unlike the traditional ring bus that the rest of Raptor Lake processors use. On the back of the wafer was a label stating, "Raptor Lake-S, 34 core". This suggests that the CPU is perhaps a part of the HEDT offerings that Intel will soon update with the 13th generation designs and that the company showcased a production wafer for those SKUs. We expect to hear more about this unknown 34-core configuration sometime in the future as the new Intel Core generation begins its rollout.

Intel in its launch event for the 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" desktop processor series, also announced a high-end processor it will likely name Core i9-13900KS Limited Edition. Slated for early 2023 unlike the i9-13900K that should be available from October 20, the i9-13900KS will be the "world's first 6 GHz processor." Essentially a step-up from the i9-13900K, the KS offers maximum boost frequencies of 6.00 GHz, which are 200 MHz higher than the 5.80 GHz of the i9-13900K. There may be more to it than such a tiny speed-bump, such as higher power limits, and a better spread of the boost residency across cores, but we'll have to wait until next year to find out. This news comes amid rumors that AMD's 3DV Cache-equipped "Zen 4" CCD may be close to production, with Ryzen 7000X3D series processors entering the market with a similar "early 2023" timeline.

With Intel's 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" facing stiff competition from AMD's Ryzen 7000 series, and the "Zen 4" series being augmented with 7000X3D series in early-2023, it's becoming a foregone conclusion that Intel will launch a possible "Core i9-13900KS" SKU, which is on its way to being the world's first desktop processor that can boost up to the 6.00 GHz mark. The processor should be able to boost its 8 "Raptor Cove" P-cores to the 6.00 GHz mark, given that the maximum boost frequency of the stock i9-13900K is already rumored to be at 5.70 GHz.

At its Tech Tour event in Israel, Intel confirmed that "Raptor Lake" brings a 15% single-threaded, and 41% multi-threaded performance gain over "Alder Lake." The single-threaded gain is from the higher IPC of the "Raptor Cove" P-core, coupled with its frequency set as high as 5.70 GHz; whereas the multi-threaded performance gain is a combination of increased IPC of the P-cores, and increased frequencies for both the P-cores and E-cores. The E-core clusters get more shared L2 cache, which should improve their performance, too.