Intel i7 13700K vs Intel i9 13900K for Gaming?

Gamers always want the best performance they can get out of their gaming PCs. This can only be done with the right mix of hardware parts, with the processor being the most important. The Intel i7 13700K and the Intel i9 13900K are two of the most popular processors on the market right now.

In this article, we’ll compare the two processors and see which one is the best fit for your gaming needs.

Main Points

  • The Intel i9-13900K maintained a 5.8% average advantage over the Intel i7-13700K throughout the benchmark test.
  • As a result, the Intel i7-13700K is a more effective chipset than the Intel i9-13900K, using around 20.1% less power and maintaining an average temperature of about 11.3% lower.
  • The 13700K gives 95% of the gaming capabilities of the 13900K for $180 less.

Intel i7 13700K Review

The Core i7-13700K “Raptor Lake” is one of the three new CPUs that Intel showed off this month. We’ve already looked at the i9-13900K and i5-13600K, but the i7-13700K review is just coming out now. The 13th Generation Core “Raptor Lake” desktop processor series is important because it is the last time Intel used monolithic silicon before switching to chipsets with their IDM 2.0 manufacturing method, starting with Meteor Lake and going forward. Raptor Lake also improves the company’s Hybrid architecture, which makes it easy for it to beat AMD’s “Zen 3,” which has been causing a lot of trouble. This is based on the idea that even the most demanding client tasks shouldn’t need more than eight high-performance cores (P-cores), and that multi-threaded workloads should be able to handle a large number of power-optimized but still reasonably fast efficiency cores (E-cores).

The Core i7-10700K has a base clock speed of 3.4 GHz, but Intel’s Turbo Boost technology can speed it up to 5.4 GHz. It has 16 cores and 24 threads, which makes it good for tasks that work well with multiple cores, like editing videos and rendering 3D. It also has 30MB of Intel Smart Cache, which helps the processor work better by making it easier to get to data that is used often.

Intel i7 13700K

$417.99 at Amazon

Pros

  • The gaming performance of Core i9 is 95%+
  • Proficient productivity apps
  • Excellent pricing
  • Supports either DDR4 or DDR5
  • Overclockable

Cons

  • Higher power consumption
  • Cooling requirements
  • No bundled cooler

Intel Core i7 13700K Specification

Intel’s 16-core, 24-thread Core i7 13700K desktop CPU for socket LGA-1700. Turbo Boost technology allows the CPU to reach 5300 MHz from its 3400 MHz base speed. It’s 30 MB. This chip’s integrated graphics are Intel UHD Graphics 770.

General

VendorIntel
ReleasedSeptember 27, 2022
TypeDesktop
instruction setx86-64
CodenameRaptor Lake-S
Model numberi7-13700K
SocketLGA-1700
Integrated GPUUHD Graphics 770

Performance

Cores16
Threads24
Base Frequency3.4 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency5.3 GHz
Bus frequency100 MHz
Multiplier34x
L1 Cache80K (per core)
L2 Cache2MB (per core)
L3 Cache30MB (shared)
Unlocked MultiplierYes

Power

Fabrication process10 nm
TDP125 W
Max. temperature100°C

iGPU

Integrated GraphicsIntel UHD Graphics 770
GPU Base Clock300 MHz
GPU Boost Clock1600 MHz
Shading Units256
TMUs16
ROPs8
Execution Units32
TGP15 W

Memory support

Memory typesDDR5-5600, DDR4-3200
Memory Size128 GB
Max. Memory Channels2
Max. Memory Bandwidth89.6 GB/s
ECC SupportYes

Misc

Official siteIntel Core i7 13700K Page
PCI Express Version5.0
PCI Express Lanes20

Intel Core i7 13700K Gaming Benchmarks

Even though the 13700K and the Core i7-12700K have the same microarchitecture, the 13700K is 18.8% faster. Keep in mind that the results could be slightly different with a different mix of games (especially with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D), but this is a good way to measure gaming performance. We’re testing on an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 to avoid GPU bottlenecks, and differences between test participants will be smaller with lower cards or higher resolutions and fidelity. Here are some more breakdowns of each game.

  • Average FPS
    Source: Tom's Hardware

Intel i9 13900K Review

The fastest gaming chip on the market is the Intel Core i9-13900K. The Intel Core i9-13900K is the most powerful member of Intel’s new 13th Generation Core “Raptor Lake” family of desktop CPUs, which we will look at in depth.

The LGA-1700 socket is used by the Intel Core i9 13900K desktop CPU, which has 24 cores and 32 threads. The basic clock speed of the processor is 3000 MHz, but when Turbo Boost is turned on, it can reach speeds of up to 5400 MHz. The size of L3 cache is 36 MB. Keep in mind that this CPU has Intel UHD Graphics 770 graphics built in.

i9 13900K
Source: TechSpot

$599.97 at Amazon

Pros

  • The gaming performance of Core i9 is 95%+
  • Proficient productivity apps
  • Excellent pricing
  • Supports either DDR4 or DDR5
  • Overclockable

Cons

  • Higher power consumption
  • Cooling requirements
  • No bundled cooler

Intel Core i9-13900K Specification

We’re going to go into more detail about the Intel Core i9-13900K specs that come with this beast of a processor. The 13th Gen Core desktop processors use the same Socket LGA1700 packaging as the 12th Gen “Alder Lake” processors. They are also compatible with Intel 600-series chipset motherboards with BIOS updates. They come with updated boards with 700-series chipsets that can also work with older 12th Gen CPUs. The new CPUs support both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, and the PCI-Express setup stays the same: 16 PCIe Gen 5 lanes for the graphics card, an M.2 Gen 4 slot for an NVMe SSD attached to the CPU, and a DMI 4.0 x8 chipset bus. The graphics card’s x16 PEG lanes are cut down to x8 bandwidth on 700-series chipset motherboards with Gen 5 NVMe ports (while the Gen 5 M.2 slot is active).

General

VendorIntel
ReleasedSeptember 27, 2022
TypeDesktop
instruction setx86-64
CodenameRaptor Lake-S
Model numberi9-13900K
SocketLGA-1700
Integrated GPUUHD Graphics 770

Performance

Cores24
Threads32
Base Frequency3.0 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency5.4 GHz
Bus frequency100 MHz
Multiplier30x
L1 Cache80K (per core)
L2 Cache2MB (per core)
L3 Cache36MB (shared)
Unlocked MultiplierYes

Power

Fabrication process10 nm
TDP125 W
Max. temperature100°C

iGPU

Integrated GraphicsIntel UHD Graphics 770
GPU Base Clock300 MHz
GPU Boost Clock1650 MHz
Shading Units256
TMUs16
ROPs8
Execution Units32
TGP15 W

Memory support

Memory typesDDR5-5600, DDR4-3200
Memory Size128 GB
Max. Memory Channels2
Max. Memory Bandwidth89.6 GB/s
ECC SupportYes

Misc

Official siteIntel Core i9 13900K
PCI Express Version5.0
PCI Express Lanes20

Intel Core i9-13900K Gaming Benchmarks

This section will show Core i9 13900K gaming benchmarks.

Game Tests 1080p with RTX 3080 by techpowerup

  • age-of-empires-4-1920-1080
    Source: techpowerup

Game Tests 1080p with RTX 3080 by techpowerup

  • age-of-empires-4-3840-2160
    Source: techpowerup

Intel Core i9 13900K vs Intel Core i7 13700K

We looked at the Intel Core i9 13900K, which has 24 cores and runs at 3.0 GHz, and the i7 13700K, which has 16 cores and runs at 3.4 GHz. On this page, you can find out which processor is better at benchmarks, games, and other things.

Single-Core Performance

Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks

  • Core i9 13900K – 100
  • Core i7 13700K – 95

Performance

Measure performance when all cores are involved

  • Core i9 13900K – 100
  • Core i7 13700K – 100

Power Efficiency

The efficiency score of electricity consumption

  • Core i9 13900K – 75
  • Core i7 13700K – 75

NanoReview Final Score

Generic CPU rating

  • Core i9 13900K- 92
  • Core i7 13700K – 90
ProcessorCore i7-13700KCore i9-13900K
Cores1624
Threads2432
SocketLGA-1700LGA-1700
OverclockingSupportedSupported
Motherboard Chipset Support700- and 600- series Z690, Z790
L3-Cache30MB (shared)36MB (shared)
Release DateSeptember 2022September 2022
Base Frequency3.4 GHz3.0 GHz
Maximum Turbo Frequency5.3 GHz5.4 GHz
TDP125 W125 W
Memory SupportDDR5-5600, DDR4-3200DDR5-5600, DDR4-3200

Which processor i9 13900K or i7 13700K better for gaming?

If you don’t need the best performance for intensive work and gaming, the $409 Core i7-13700K is better than the $589 Core i9-13900K. Overall, the 13700K is 95% as good at gaming as the 13900K, but it costs $180 less. Even better, if you overclock the Core i7-13700K, you might get single-thread and gaming performance levels that are almost as good as those of the Core i9-13900K. Most games won’t be able to take advantage of the 13900K’s extra cores.

Here are some game benchmarks 13900k vs 13700k

  • Call of Duty Warzone

Which Should You Choose: Intel i9-13900K or Intel i7-13700K?

So, what type of microprocessor should you use? That’s a matter of taste, of course. At this point, we’ve talked about everything about the i9-13900K and the i7-13700K. We know how the two CPUs are different, what features they have, how well they perform, and which CPU is the best deal in terms of price and performance.

So, the i7-13700K is the best choice if you don’t want to spend too much money but still want to build a powerful gaming PC that can run all AAA games without any problems. If gaming is what you do most, the chipset will not let you down.

But if you don’t care about cost and just want the best performance, the i9-13900K is a clear choice. This CPU is a monster, and it will easily beat any chipset you put in front of it.

Now, our in-depth look at the differences between the Intel i9-13900K and the Intel i7-13700K has come to a close. So, we’ve made this guide in the hopes that it will help you choose the best chipset for your new gaming setup.

FAQs:

  • Q: Which processor is better for gaming, the Intel i9 13900K or the Intel i7 13700K?

A: Both processors are great for gaming, but the Intel i9 13900K has an advantage in terms of performance due to its higher number of cores and threads.

  • Q: Is the difference in gaming performance between the Intel i9 13900K and the Intel i7 13700K significant?

A: The difference in gaming performance between the two processors is not significant, but the Intel i9 13900K does offer better performance due to its higher number of cores and threads.

  • Q: Can I use DDR4 memory on Raptor Lake CPUs?

Yes, since the 13th-gen CPUs are backward compatible with DDR4 memory, you won’t have to spend extra to get the DDR5 memory unless you actually want to.

  • Q: Which CPU is the better value for money in the i9-13900K vs. i7-13700K comparison?

The i7-13700K offers more bang for the buck as the chipset costs over $200 less and performs just about 5.8% slower than the flagship i9-13900K.

Conclusion

The Intel i9 13900K and the Intel i7 13700K are both powerful CPUs that work well for gaming, in conclusion. The Intel i7 13700K is a wonderful option if you’re on a tight budget, but the Intel i9 13900K performs better if you’re ready to spend more money. Just be sure to take into account your other demands and preferences while choosing your choices, such as power consumption and more cores.

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