Intel Raptor Lake: everything we know and what we want to see

intel Alder Lake, processors on motherboard and on table
(Image credit: Future)

Intel Raptor Lake is the follow-up to the Alder Lake series of CPUs, the latter of which is the architecture behind the chips in our Intel Core i9-12900K and Core i5-12600K review. This launch is particularly important because it’ll determine whether Intel can compete against the AMD Zen 4 processors.

Intel announced their new 13th-generation processors on September 27, the same day that the AMD Ryzen 7000-series went on sale. As usual, Intel is pretty tight-lipped about a release date and pricing, but we should be hearing more about these sooner rather than later. Team Blue made some serious boasts about the new processors' performance, which we'll need to verify ourselves once we get the new chips in for review.

In the meantime, however, Intel has supplied us with some concrete details, and they can certainly give a resurgent AMD a good brushing back if Raptor Lake is as good as Intel makes them out to be. So what do we know so far? Lets dig into the known details and look at what we should expect from Intel Raptor Lake.

Cut to the Chase 

  • What is it? Intel’s next processor architecture
  • When is it out? Announced on September 27, initial launch lineup on sale on October 20  
  • What will it cost? Ranging from $167 to $589 (about £140 to £500 / AU$240 to AU$850) 

Intel Raptor Lake release date 

Intel Vision

(Image credit: Future)

The initial launch lineup of Intel Raptor Lake will go on sale October 20, and will include the following processors:

  • Intel Core i9-13900K
  • Intel Core i9-13900KF (no UHD graphics)
  • Intel Core i7-13700K
  • Intel Core i7-13700KF (no UHD graphics)
  • Intel Core i5-13600K
  • Intel Core i5-13600KF (no UHD graphics)

Intel Raptor Lake price 

An Intel chip in a motherboard

(Image credit: Intel)

The pricing of the initial launch lineup of Intel Raptor Lake has also been revealed for both K and KF variants, and are as follows:

Swipe to scroll horizontally
ModelUS pricingUK pricing (estimated)Australia pricing (estimated)
Core i9-13900K$589£500AU$850
Core i9-13900KF$564£480AU$815
Core i7-13700K$409£350AU$590
Core i7-13700KF$384£325AU$555
Core i5-13600K$319£270AU$459
Core i5-13600KF$294£250AU$425

Intel Raptor Lake specs 

We've gotten a lot more info from Intel during the Raptor Lake launch announcement about the initial launch lineup's specs, including core counts, core speeds, L3 cache details, and more.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Header Cell - Column 0 Intel Core i9K and i9KFIntel Core i7K and i7KFIntel Core i5K and i5KF
Max Turbo Frequency [GHz]Up to 5.8Up to 5.4Up to 5.1
Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 Frequency [GHz]Up to 5.7Up to 5.4n/a
Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency [GHz]Up to 5.4Up to 5.3Up to 5.1
Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency [GHz]Up to 4.3Up to 4.2Up to 3.9
Performance-core Base Frequency [GHz]3.03.43.5
Efficient-core Base Frequency [GHz]2.22.52.6
Processor Cores (P-cores + E-cores)24 (8P+16E)16 (8P+8E)14 (6P+8E)
Total Processor Threads322420
Intel Smart Cache (L3) Size [MB]36 MB30 MB24 MB
Total L2 Cache Size [MB]32 MB24 MB20 MB
Enhanced Intel UHD Graphics driven by Xe Architecturei9K: Intel UHD Graphics 770 i9KF: noi7K: Intel UHD Graphics 770 i7KF: noi5K: Intel UHD Graphics 770 i5KF: no

Obviously, we won't know how these fare against AMD's Ryzen 7000 series launch lineup until we test them, but Intel has a real high bar to clear given how incredible the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and AMD Ryzen 7 7700X performed in our reviews, and as we test the remaining chips, we'll have a more complete picture of what Intel is up against when these chips go on sale. 

TOPICS
John Loeffler
Components Editor

John (He/Him) is the Components Editor here at TechRadar and he is also a programmer, gamer, activist, and Brooklyn College alum currently living in Brooklyn, NY.

Named by the CTA as a CES 2020 Media Trailblazer for his science and technology reporting, John specializes in all areas of computer science, including industry news, hardware reviews, PC gaming, as well as general science writing and the social impact of the tech industry.

You can find him online on Bluesky @johnloeffler.bsky.social

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