When Intel announced their 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs, there was a lot of hype around them as Intel for the first time entered the Hybrid Architecture for their desktop processors. The Intel Core i9 12900K led the 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs with a crazy 16 Cores and 24 threads. Once the tech enthusiasts got their hands on the CPU and started testing it, the reviews were overwhelming. Many declared the Intel Core i9 12900K as the best gaming CPU. A year later, Intel launched their 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs, with the Intel Core i9 13900K ready to replace the Intel Core i9 12900K. But does it live up to the hype? Is it the best gaming CPU for the current generation? In this guide, we will make a thorough Intel Core i9 13900K vs Intel Core i9 12900K comparison to answer all your questions.
In the process, we will take a look at their basic specifications, compare their application and gaming performance. We will also take a look at their clock speeds, power consumption, and CPU temperatures. If you are looking to purchase a new CPU, then we hope that this guide could help you make a better buying decision.
A Brief Note on Intel Core i9 12900K
Intel launched the 12th Gen processors with code name Alder Lake in November 2021 with the Core i9 12900K leading the charts. The launch price of the Intel Core i9 12900K was $589.
As this is their first generation of “Hybrid” CPUs, everyone was excited for what Intel has in their pockets. The Intel Core i9 12900K sports a combination of Performance or P Cores and Efficiency or E Cores. To be specific, it has 8 P Cores with support for multithreading and 8 E Cores without multithreading.
So, the Intel Core i9 12900K has a total of 16 Cores and 24 Threads. The microarchitecture of the 12th Gen CPUs are the Golden Cove P Cores and Gracemont E Cores.
The base clock speed of the P and E Cores of 12900K are 3.2 GHz and 2.4 GHz respectively while the turbo clocks of P and E Cores are 5.1 GHz and 3.9 GHz respectively.
Intel introduced a new LGA 1700 Socket for the 12th gen Alder Lake processors. The Intel Core i9 12900K CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 RAM types in dual channel mode with frequencies as DDR4-3200 and DDR5-4800.
Coming to the cache layout, each P core of the 12900K Processor gets 1.25 MB L2 Cache and one module of E cores gets 2 MB L2 Cache.
Speaking of E Core modules, Intel grouped four E Cores into a cluster that share the L2 cache. So, in 12900K, you get 2 MB for four E Cores. This makes the total L2 Cache of 12900K at 14 MB. It also has 30 MB L3 Cache, which is common for all the cores.
The Intel Core i9 12900K processor has 20 PCIe lanes from the CPU. Of these, 16 are PCIe Gen 5 while the remaining 4 are Gen 4. The final configuration of the PCIe lanes will depend on the motherboard you select and the corresponding chipset.
The 12th Gen Alder Lake processors are fabricated using the “Intel 7”. Even though Intel calls it “Intel 7”, it is technically a 10 nm node. The base processor power of Intel Core i9 12900K CPU is 125W while the maximum turbo power is 241W.
Important Specifications of Intel Core i9 12900K
- 8 P Cores, 8 E Cores and total 24 Threads
- LGA 1700 Socket
- Supports both DDR4 and DDR5
- Cache: Total L2 Cache is 14 MB [1.25 MB per P Core (8 * 1.25 MB = 10 MB) 2 MB per E Core Module (2 * 2 MB = 4 MB)], Total L3 Cache is 30 MB
- Total 20 PCIe Lanes (16 PCIe 5.0 Lanes and 4 PCIe 4.0 Lanes)
- Intel UHD 770 Integrated Graphics
- Base Power is 125 Watts and Turbo Power is 241 Watts
- Manufacturing Node is Intel 7 (based on 10 nm Enhanced SuperFin)
A Brief Note on Intel Core i9 13900K
In October 2022, Intel launched the 13th Gen processors with code name Raptor Lake. In this line up, the Core i9 13900K is an expensive, top-of-the-line processor with a price tag of $589. But it is subsequently dethroned by Intel Core i9 13900KS.
Similar to the previous gen’s counterpart, the Intel Core i9 12900K, the 13900K also has 8 Performance (P) Cores with support for multithreading. But the efficiency cores doubled. While the 12900K has only 8 Efficiency (E) Cores, the Intel i9 13900K has 16 Efficiency (E) cores.
As efficiency cores doesn’t support multithreading, the Intel Core i9 13900K has a total 32 threads (16 P + 16 E). The microarchitecture of the 13th Gen CPUs are the updated Raptor Cove P Cores and Gracemont E Cores.
The base clock speed of the P and E Cores of 13900K are 3 GHz and 2.2 GHz respectively. The turbo clocks of P and E Cores are 5.4 GHz and 4.3 GHz respectively.
Intel made the 13th gen Raptor Lake processors using the same LGA 1700 Socket as the 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs. So, if you have a decent motherboard, then the upgrade cost will be less.
The Intel Core i9 13900K CPU supports both DDR4 and DDR5 RAM types in dual channel mode. While the DDR4 frequency is only DDR4-3200, DDR5 saw a huge improvement with support for DDR5-5600.
If you already own a decent DDR4 RAM kit, then you don’t need to make a significant investment. But the industry is moving towards DDR5 and the cost of DDR5 RAM kits is slowly coming down.
Coming to the cache layout, each P core of the 13900K Processor gets 2 MB L2 Cache and one module of E cores gets 4 MB L2 Cache.
Speaking of E Core modules, Intel grouped four E Cores into a cluster that share the L2 cache. So, in 13900K, you get 4 MB for four E Cores. This makes the total L2 Cache of 13900K at 32 MB. It also has 36 MB L3 Cache, which is common for all the cores.
The PCIe configuration of the Intel Core i9 13900K processor is a same as that of the Intel Core i9 12900K. It has 20 PCIe lanes from the CPU (16 are PCIe Gen 5 and 4 are Gen 4).
Similar to the Alder Lake processors, even the 13th Gen Raptor Lake processors are fabricated using the “Intel 7”. The base processor power of Intel Core i9 13900K CPU is 125W while the maximum turbo power is 253W.
Important Specifications of Intel Core i9 13900K
- 8 P Cores, 16 E Cores and total 32 Threads
- LGA 1700 Socket
- Supports both DDR4 and DDR5
- Cache: Total L2 Cache is 32 MB [2 MB per P Core (8 * 2 MB = 16 MB) 4 MB per E Core Module (4 * 4 MB = 16 MB)], Total L3 Cache is 36 MB
- Total 20 PCIe Lanes (16 PCIe 5.0 Lanes and 4 PCIe 4.0 Lanes)
- Intel UHD 770 Integrated Graphics
- Base Power is 125 Watts and Turbo Power is 253 Watts
- Manufacturing Node is Intel 7 (based on 10 nm Enhanced SuperFin)
Specifications: Intel Core i9 13900K vs Intel Core i9 12900K
In the following table, we made a side-by-side list of all the essential specifications of the Intel Core i9 13900K and the Intel Core i9 12900K.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | Intel Core i9 12900K | ||
| Cores (Threads) | Performance (P) | 8 (16) | 8 (16) |
| Efficient (E) | 16 (16) | 8 (8) | |
| Base Clock Rate | Performance (P) | 3 GHz | 3.2 GHz |
| Efficient (E) | 2.2 GHz | 2.4 GHz | |
| Turbo Clock Rate | Performance (P) | 5.4 GHz | 5.1 GHz |
| Efficient (E) | 4.3 GHz | 3.9 GHz | |
| Max Turbo Frequency (Max Single Core Frequency) | 5.8 GHz | 5.2 GHz | |
| Cache | L2 | Total 32 MB
2 MB per P Core (8 * 2 MB = 16 MB) 4 MB per E Core Module (4 * 4 MB = 16 MB) |
Total 14 MB
1.25 MB per P Core (8 * 1.25 MB = 10 MB) 2 MB per E Core Module (2 * 2 MB = 4 MB) |
| L3 | 36 MB | 30 MB | |
| Power | Base Processor Power | 125 Watts | 125 Watts |
| Max Turbo Power | 253 Watts | 241 Watts | |
| Process | Intel 7 (10 nm) | Intel 7 (10 nm) | |
| Socket | LGA 1700 | LGA 1700 | |
| Code Name (Architecture) | Raptor Lake | Alder Lake | |
| Microarchitecture | Performance (P) | Raptor Cove | Golden Cove |
| Efficient (E) | Gracemont | Gracemont | |
| PCIe Lanes | Total 20
16 PCIe 5.0 Lanes 4 PCIe 4.0 Lanes |
Total 20
16 PCIe 5.0 Lanes 4 PCIe 4.0 Lanes |
|
| Memory Support | DDR4 | Up to DDR4 3200 MT/s | Up to DDR4 3200 MT/s |
| DDR5 | Up to DDR5 5600 MT/s | Up to DDR5 4800 MT/s | |
| Integrated Graphics | Intel UHD Graphics 770 | Intel UHD Graphics 770 | |
| Price | $589 | $589 | |
Comparison of Intel Core i9 13900K and Core i9 12900K
Let us now compare the performance of the Intel Core i9 13900K CPU against the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X.
Test System
Before we begin, here is a quick look at our Intel and AMD test systems.
| Intel Test System | ||
| CPUs | Intel Core i9 13900K | |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | ||
| Intel Core i9 12900K | ||
| Motherboard | MSI PRO Z790-A Wi-Fi | |
| Memory | G.Skill Trident Z5 (Intel XMP) 32GB (2 × 16GB) DDR5 6000 CL30 | |
| AMD DDR5 Test System | ||
| CPUs | AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | ||
| Motherboard | GIGABYTE X670E AORUS Master | |
| Memory | G.Skill Trident Z5 (AMD EXPO) 32GB (2 × 16GB) DDR5 6000 CL30 | |
| AMD DDR4 Test System | ||
| CPUs | AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | ||
| Motherboard | ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Hero | |
| Memory | G.Skill Trident Z 32GB (2 × 16GB) DDR4 3600 CL16 | |
| Common to All Test Systems | ||
| SSD | SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe | |
| CPU Cooler | Corsair iCUE H150i RGB Elite Liquid CPU Cooler | |
| Power Supply | Seasonic PRIME 1300 Platinum | |
| Graphic Card | MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 24GB | |
| Software | Windows 11 21H2 | |
| Nvidia 526.47 | ||
Application Benchmarks
Cinebench R23 Multi-Core (Higher is Better)
Let us start with the most popular benchmark tool, the Cinebench R23. After the 10-minute multicore loop test, the Intel Core i9 13900K got a score of just under 40000 points while the Core i9 12900K got just under 27000 points.
So, if you compare the performance of Intel Core i9 13900K and Intel Core i9 12900K, then the former boasts a whopping 48% performance improvement.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 39275 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 38129 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 29973 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 29040 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 28169 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 26992 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 14443 |
Cinebench R23 Single-Core (Higher is Better)
Coming to the single core performance in the Cinebench R23, there is no change in the story. The single-core performance of the Intel Core i9 13900K is 11% better than the Intel Core i9 12900K.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 2224 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 2049 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 2045 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 2010 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 1992 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 1638 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 1477 |
PassMark’s CPUMARK 10.2 Multi-Threaded/Overall (Higher is Better)
Next, we have another popular benchmark tool from PassMark, the CPU Mark. The following results show the overall or multi-threaded CPU Mark Score of all the processors in this test.
In this test, the Intel Core i9 13900K shows a 41% performance boast over the Intel Core i9 12900K.
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 65569 |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 62457 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 52989 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 50123 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 49443 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 44236 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 29776 |
PassMark’s CPUMARK 10.2 Single-Threaded (Higher is Better)
Coming to the single threaded performance in CPU Mark, the story continues as the flagship from the Intel 13th gen shows its dominance. The Intel Core i9 13900K beats the Intel Core i9 12900K by 9%.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 4699 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 4443 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 4369 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 4323 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 4300 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 4237 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 3402 |
Blender Open Data Render Time (Lower is Better)
Another popular open-source tool is Blender. For the next couple of tests, we will see the render times and number of samples per minute in Blender version 3.4. The Intel Core i9 13900K took 20 seconds over 6 minutes while the Intel Core i9 12900K took just over 9 minutes.
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 5 min 38 sec |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 6 min 20 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 7 min 30 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 7 min 55 sec |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 8 min 10 sec |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 9 min 1 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 14 min 50 sec |
Blender Samples Per Minute (Higher is Better)
The results for number of samples in a minute for Blender Render is also very similar to the render time results where the Intel Core i9 13900K has a good lead over the Intel Core i9 12900K. Here you can see the samples per minute score across the three test scenes: monster, junkshop, and classroom.
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 620.9 |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 590.2 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 461.3 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 459.6 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 450.2 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 400.9 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 225.9 |
Adobe Photoshop 2022 Puget System Benchmark (Higher is Better)
The Adobe suite has a couple of important tools that many creators and artists use. We will start with the Adobe Photoshop 2022. It has a built-in Puget System Standard Benchmark.
If you look at the overall scores, the Intel Core i9 13900K has a significant lead over the Intel Core i9 12900K.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 1601 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 1546 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 1543 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 1520 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 1395 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 1235 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 1199 |
Adobe Premier Pro 2022 Puget System Benchmark (Higher is Better)
Next application in the Adobe suite is the Premier Pro 2022. The performance gap between the Intel Core i9 12900K and the Intel Core i9 13900K is about 10% in favor of the latter.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 1253 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 1240 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 1189 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 1181 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 1132 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 1110 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 902 |
7-Zip File Manager Compression (Higher is Better)
One of the popular and widely used open-source applications is the 7-Zip File Manager. It helps in archiving files. For this test, we are performing the built-in benchmark feature. Here is the result in million instructions per second (MIPS) for compressing using a standards 32 MB dictionary size and 10 passes.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 176439 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 158989 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 133215 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 144443 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 127986 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 123969 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 90058 |
7-Zip File Manager Decompression (Higher is Better)
In decompression, the AMD Ryzen CPUs dominate the charts with AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and Ryzen 9 5950X comfortably beating the Intel Core i9 13900K.
But between the Intel Core i9 13900K and the Intel Core i9 12900K, the former boasts a 55% performance gain.
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 263569 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 217996 |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 215543 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 201247 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 159468 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 139987 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 111026 |
Chromium Code Compilation Time (Lower is Better)
Developers working on large projects need a stable multi-threaded system with a powerful CPU. So, we tested the code compilation performance by taking the open-source Chromium project code.
The performance of Intel Core i9 13900K is very good but ultimately falls short in front of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X. The Intel Core i9 12900K took roughly 3 minutes more than the Intel Core i9 13900K.
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 41 min 25 sec |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 48 min 10 sec |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 51 min 26 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 51 min 55 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 52 min 38 sec |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 54 min 29 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 92 min 43 sec |
Corona 1.3 Render Time (Lower is Better)
The last “application” benchmark is the Corona 1.3, which is a high-quality shading engine for production rendering. Let us now see the rendering time of different Intel and AMD CPUs.
While the Intel Core i9 13900K finished the render in just 38 seconds, the Intel Core i9 12900K took 55 seconds.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 38 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 38 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 45 sec |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 50 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 50 sec |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 55 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 88 sec |
Gaming Benchmarks
Let us move to some gaming performance. We tested some popular titles at a resolution of 1920 × 1080 (1080p) as anything beyond, the GPU will dominate the performance. We are running all the games in DirectX 12 with Ray Tracing and DLSS off.
Far Cry 6
- Resolution: 1920 × 1080
- DirectX 12
- Game Setting: Ultra
- DirectX Raytracing: Off
The first game is Far Cry 6. Here, the Intel Core i9 13900K shows its dominance over the previous gen Intel Core i9 12900K as it struggles to go past 150 fps while the Intel Core i9 13900K could easily crack the 170 fps mark. Here are the rounded off average frames and also 1% low fps.
| CPU | Average FPS | 1% Low FPS (Min FPS) |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 172 | 123 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 163 | 118 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 156 | 104 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 147 | 102 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 145 | 85 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 144 | 98 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 119 | 73 |
Cyberpunk 2077
- Resolution: 1920 × 1080
- DirectX 12
- Game Setting: Ultra
- Texture: High
- Ray Tracing: Off
- DLSS: Off
Next, we have another popular title, Cyberpunk 2077. The story is the same, where the Intel Core i9 13900K can pump over 140 fps on average while the Intel Core i9 12900K struggle to push past 130 fps.
| CPU | Average FPS | 1% Low FPS (Min FPS) |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 150 | 125 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 148 | 123 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 126 | 111 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 126 | 111 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 124 | 111 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 123 | 108 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 122 | 102 |
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
- Resolution: 1920 × 1080
- DirectX 12
- Game Setting: High
- DLSS: Off
Last but not least, we tested the Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The Intel Core i9 12900K once again falls short of the Intel Core i9 13900K.
What surprised in this game is the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D beating all the current gen Intel and AMD flagships. Based on this result, we are very excited to get our hands on the upcoming Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs with 3D V-Cache.
| CPU | Average FPS | 1% Low FPS (Min FPS) |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 280 | 178 |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 265 | 173 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 248 | 145 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 254 | 161 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 235 | 145 |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 229 | 158 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 207 | 128 |
Clock Speed
We ran the AIDA64 Stress Test for 10 minutes and here are the maximum frequency and average frequency of all cores.
| CPU | Maximum Frequency | All-Core Average Frequency |
| Intel | ||
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 5.8 GHz | 5.4 GHz |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 5.4 GHz | 5.3 GHz |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 5.2 GHz | 4.9 GHz |
| AMD | ||
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 5.7 GHz | 5.2 GHz |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 5.6 GHz | 5.2 GHz |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 5 GHz | 4.4 GHz |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 4.5 GHz | 4.3 GHz |
CPU Temperature
During the same AIDA64 Stress Test, we monitored the CPU Temperatures with Corsair iCUE H150i RGB Elite Liquid CPU Cooler. Here are the CPU temps for your reference.
| CPU | Max Temp | Average Temp |
| Intel | ||
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 100°C | 83°C |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 92°C | 69°C |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 100°C | 82°C |
| AMD | ||
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 95°C | 87°C |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 87°C | 84°C |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 79°C | 76°C |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 78°C | 75°C |
Power Consumption
During the Blender render, we measured the CPU Package Power Draw using the HWiNFO tool. The following table consists of the peak CPU Package Power Draw as reported by HWiNFO.
| Intel | |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 335 Watts |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 245 Watts |
| Intel Core i9 12900K | 252 Watts |
| AMD | |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7950X | 234 Watts |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 202 Watts |
| AMD Ryzen 9 5950X | 145 Watts |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 116 Watts |
Is It Worth the Upgrade from Intel Core i9 12900K to Intel Core i9 13900K?
Both the Intel Core i9 12900K and the Intel Core i9 13900K have a launch price of $589. But the Intel Core i9 13900K definitely shows the architectural advantage over the Intel Core i9 12900K as the former comfortably beats the latter in both gaming and productivity.
Whether you are looking for a gaming processor or a processor that can do all, then the Intel Core i9 13900K is a very good upgrade from the Intel Core i9 12900K.
But what surprised us is the performance of the Intel Core i7 13700K. If you are looking for a gaming-only CPU, then the 13700K or even the 13600K seem like a very good choice.
For productivity applications, you can go for either the Intel Core i9 13900K or the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X.
