Intel releases new Raptor Lake CPUs

Improved Clock Speeds;Increased L3 cache size

Two new F-series chips, the Core i7-13790F and Core i5-13490F,are added by Intel to its 13th Generation Raptor Lake lineup. These chips are expected to compete in the market for a place among the best CPUs for gaming and will likely be exclusive to the Chinese market.

The Core i7-13790F boasts a similar design as the Core i7-13700F with 16 cores and 24 threads, consisting of eight P-cores and eight E-cores. The P-cores run at a base clock speed of 2.1 GHz and a boost clock speed of 5.2 GHz, which remains unchanged from the Core i7-13700F. However, the E-cores on the Core i7-13790F run at a 100 MHz higher base clock speed than those on the Core i7-13700F.

In addition to the improved clock speeds, the Core i7-13790F features a larger L3 cache of 33MB, a 10% increase from the Core i7-13700F’s cache. Intel achieved this increase by using one complete Gracemont cluster and partially enabling two others, which resulted Core i7-13790F to have eight E-cores with a 9MB L3 cache.

Talking about the power consumption, both the Core i7-13790F and the Core i7-13700F consume the same 65W PBP (Processor Base Power) and 219 MTP(Maximum Turbo Power). However, Intel’s 65W SKUs do not support overclocking, but motherboard vendors have found ways to bypass that restriction. Both the i7-13790F and i5-13490F do not have an integrated GPU, so consumers must pair them with one of the best graphics cards in order to make a great gaming system. These processors are compatible with existing LGA1700 motherboards, though some may need a simple bios update.

Intel Core i5-13490F and Core i7-13790F

The Core i5-13490F, the successor of the Core i5-12490F, has ten cores and 16 threads, composed of six P-cores and four E-cores. The base clock speeds of the P-cores (2.5 GHz) and E-cores (1.8 GHz) is same as that of the Core i5-13400F, but the boost clock speeds on the Core i5-13490F are 200 MHz faster.

Like the Core i7-13790F and Core i7-13700F, the Core i5-13490F boasts a larger L3 cache, with an increase of 4MB, or 20%. This extra L3 cache results from the Core i5-13490F utilizing two partial Gracemont clusters. Despite the higher clocks and larger L3 cache, the power metrics for the Core i5-13490F remain unchanged compared to the Core i5-13400F, with a PBP of 65W and MTP of 148W.

The Core i5-13490F has a price tag of $235.96, while the Core i7-13790F sells for $441.62, which are 20% more expensive than the Core i5-13400F and Core i7-13700F, respectively. Early results show that the Core i5-13490F and Core i7-13790F could offer over 10% higher performance than their predecessors, but this was derived just from a single benchmark and not considered as reliable. Whether the Core i5-13490F and Core i7-13790F are worth the price remains to be seen.