Intel Core i9-13900KS Review: Hitting 6 GHz

[Avro Arrow]

A quick question. Why do I get the feeling that this review is the same as this one?

Probably because it is.

 

[ZackL04]

7700x3D going to reclaim the crown….

Just a matter of when

 

[A1200]

I have to disagree with some of the content here, including some of the comments. I run an i9 12900k with a 280mm AIO and a 13900k on a trusty NH-D15. I never hit thermal limits and I don't play with undervolting. The motherboard manufacturers are to blame setting effectively unlimited power limits as default. If you set the P1 and P2 power limits to Intel standard instead of the motherboard default (My Aorus Elite was set to over 4000w which is stupid) Intel spec for the 13900k is 253w. Cinebench R23 multicore doesn't even touch 90c now. Ok so my score has gone from a little over 40000 (41k with some mega tuning) to just over 38000 but that's the proper score for the Intel limits. Hitting TJmax to hit 40000 is a shameful play by the motherboard manufacturers and Intel should clamp down on them having these silly settings as default.

 

[Strawman]

All you need to do is de-lid the CPU use EKs Limited Edition Direct-Die Water Block and a 3 fan radiator and this will run just fine, I don't know what you lot are moaning about. BTW I am being sarcastic, this CPU is a joke.

You do realize it's effectively a more efficient 13900k, right? Yes, the review doesn't show that, because the reviewer is running cinebench and blender at unlimited power limits drawing 999 watts. Which is moronic. No professional on the entire planet will buy a 13900k or ks to run hour long heavy workloads at 400 watts. Testing like that serves nothing but increasing traffic. The 13900ks, the 13900k or the 7950x are insanely efficient CPUs, way more efficient than last gen, as long as you don't run them at 999 watts.

My 13900k at 110watts beats my 12900k at 260 watts. It also beats a 5950x at 230 watts.

 

[HardReset]

You do realize it's effectively a more efficient 13900k, right? Yes, the review doesn't show that, because the reviewer is running cinebench and blender at unlimited power limits drawing 999 watts. Which is moronic. No professional on the entire planet will buy a 13900k or ks to run hour long heavy workloads at 400 watts. Testing like that serves nothing but increasing traffic. The 13900ks, the 13900k or the 7950x are insanely efficient CPUs, way more efficient than last gen, as long as you don't run them at 999 watts.

My 13900k at 110watts beats my 12900k at 260 watts. It also beats a 5950x at 230 watts.

You do realize that around 99.9% of all users do NOT limit TDP or do anything else advanced tweaking. They run CPU default settings.

 

[Strawman]

You do realize that around 99.9% of all users do NOT limit TDP or do anything else advanced tweaking. They run CPU default settings.

99.9% of users dont run rendering and other heavy workloads for hours, they are browsing and playing games. So power draw doesnt matter for them cause its pretty low on those tasks anyways

 

[HardReset]

99.9% of users dont run rendering and other heavy workloads for hours, they are browsing and playing games. So power draw doesnt matter for them cause its pretty low on those tasks anyways

It DOES matter because you have to have sufficient cooling. And that cooling is designed for max load around 99.9% of systems.

 

[Strawman]

It DOES matter because you have to have sufficient cooling. And that cooling is designed for max load around 99.9% of systems.

If you are not running hour long renderings you don't need sufficient cooling. A 30 euros cooler is enough for gaming

 

[bexwhitt]

You do realize it's effectively a more efficient 13900k, right? Yes, the review doesn't show that, because the reviewer is running cinebench and blender at unlimited power limits drawing 999 watts. Which is moronic. No professional on the entire planet will buy a 13900k or ks to run hour long heavy workloads at 400 watts. Testing like that serves nothing but increasing traffic. The 13900ks, the 13900k or the 7950x are insanely efficient CPUs, way more efficient than last gen, as long as you don't run them at 999 watts.

My 13900k at 110watts beats my 12900k at 260 watts. It also beats a 5950x at 230 watts.

How nice for you

 

[A1200]

You do realize that around 99.9% of all users do NOT limit TDP or do anything else advanced tweaking. They run CPU default settings.

This is my problem (taken from my manual):
Power Limit TDP (Watts) / Power Limit Time
Allows you to set the power limit for CPU/platform/memory Turbo mode and how long it takes to operate at the specified power limit. Auto sets the power limit according to the CPU specifications. This item is configurable only when Turbo Power Limits is set to Enabled.

... AUTO does not set power limits to CPU specifications. HWInfo shows over 4000w (four thousand), I can't remember the exact figure but given this is impossible they are basically allowing maximum power until it throttles. If you select enabled, you can select a P1 and P2 limit manually or there's an option to set them as Intel spec (HWInfo reports as 253w for both when you choose this option).

My problem is a inexperienced user will see stupid temps, go buy a huge AIO, still see silly temps then conclude the i9 13900k is a silicon heater and likely either sell it off as junk or play around with undervolting, which unless you test to the nth degree, will always run the risk of stability issues down the line. We get it, power limits should be tweakable for those with custom loops or LN2 experiments but out of the box it should work well with a good cooler.

 

[loki1944]

At this point; upgrading from a 2017 6 core+ cpu for gaming is pointless; if you max settings; the difference between old and new CPUs begins to evaporate and by higher resolutions like3440x1440,v 4k or 6880x2880 dsr...the difference becomes laughable. Even a 2008 i7 920 can still give decent performance at higher resolutions in 2023.

 

[loki1944]

There is no way I would buy this with those thermals. That's a dead cpu waiting to happen.

 

[EvilRebar]

As a 7700X/AM5 user I can't recommend the platform for gaming. The performance per watt is great, but AM5 is a mess. BIOS POST is 30+ seconds with the fix AMD recommends, and I had to try two Mobo vendors before I found a Mobo that worked with my 7900XTX. If I could do it again I'd just have built around a 13600K and mature mobo.

 

[EvilRebar]

At this point; upgrading from a 2017 6 core+ cpu for gaming is pointless; if you max settings; the difference between old and new CPUs begins to evaporate and by higher resolutions like3440x1440,v 4k or 6880x2880 dsr...the difference becomes laughable. Even a 2008 i7 920 can still give decent performance at higher resolutions in 2023.

It's not six cores, but I saw a huge performance leap in New World going from a 7700K to 7700X. A lot of these games pound a small number of threads.

 

[EvilRebar]

Meanwhile, the 7700x is near the top of the gaming charts. It even beats the 13900ks in some titles.

I have a 7700X, and AM5 is a mess in practice outside of benchmark graphs. AMD really fumbled AM5.

 

[loki1944]

It's not six cores, but I saw a huge performance leap in New World going from a 7700K to 7700X. A lot of these games pound a small number of threads.

Not in terms of "good enough"; exceptions don't ever make rules. You take 30 FPS/RPG/RTS games from 2014-2022 the rule will be an i7 920 is plenty.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I have a 7700X, and AM5 is a mess in practice outside of benchmark graphs. AMD really fumbled AM5.

I wouldn't be too worried. There were issues with AM4 when it first came out too. The first kit of RAM that I bought didn't work with my ASRock X370 Killer SLI motherboard. I took it back to Canada Computers and the tech there said "Yeah, there's an issue with RAM on these new boards. Just use this cheaper kit by Team and you'll be fine." so I put that RAM on and sure enough, I'd never had a problem since.

Funny thing about slow boot times that I've encountered more than once. If you have any SATA devices, try disconnecting them and see how long the boot takes then. If it's fast, then you have a faulty SATA cable somewhere. For some reason, a faulty SATA cable can cause a PC to take forever to boot. It's such a rare and random thing that I'm sure people have changed motherboards because of it. It probably isn't that but it can't hurt to try.

 

[Tom Sunday]

Yes, the review doesn't show that, because the reviewer is running cinebench and blender at unlimited power limits drawing 999 watts. Which is moronic. No professional on the entire planet will buy a 13900k or ks to run hour long heavy workloads at 400 watts. /QUOTE]

What's the big deal here? 99.9% of all Americans in these times of our ongoing economic turmoil can simply not afford nor will purchase the KS! The man on the street like me must eat first, then leave a big chunk of his paycheck at the pump and pay rent. Reality bites!

 

[Khamul]

Haha. Tweak Town gave it a Must Have with a score of 93. I mean jeez, just 2 days before the official release of the competition.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Haha. Tweak Town gave it a Must Have with a score of 93. I mean jeez, just 2 days before the official release of the competition.

When a CPU consumes that much juice for that much performance at that price, any site that gives it a score of 93 is kowtowing to Intel.

Thankfully, the two comments that I just read on that article are not complimentary to the author.

 

[Khamul]

When a CPU consumes that much juice for that much performance at that price, any site that gives it a score of 93 is kowtowing to Intel.

Thankfully, the two comments that I just read on that article are not complimentary to the author.

Because I wrote one of them. Lol. Corporate greed aka capitalism takes over the one thing that makes us human is the freedom to make the right decisions naturally. Everything in life is being influenced in the wrong ways and washed by the media/money. No such thing as truth. Everything is about war and money. Ain't that hard to see.

 

[Strawman]

When a CPU consumes that much juice for that much performance at that price, any site that gives it a score of 93 is kowtowing to Intel.

Thankfully, the two comments that I just read on that article are not complimentary to the author.

Because I wrote one of them. Lol.

Τhe bias with you two. Outstanding.

"People shouldn't support intel and nvidia" Wow. Just wow.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Because I wrote one of them. Lol. Corporate greed aka capitalism takes over the one thing that makes us human is the freedom to make the right decisions naturally.

I couldn't agree more.

Everything in life is being influenced in the wrong ways and washed by the media/money. No such thing as truth. Everything is about war and money. Ain't that hard to see.

Yep, capitalism has subverted democracy.