Intel Core i5-13600K vs Intel Core i9-13900K vs Intel Core i5-13500

Intel Core i5-13600K

The Intel Core i5-13600K is a fast mid-range desktop processor of the Raptor Lake series. It includes a hybrid architecture for the CPU cores with combined 14 cores. Six fast Raptor Cove performance cores (P-cores) with HyperThreading and a clock speed of 3.5 - 5.1 GHz and eight Gracemont efficiency cores without HyperThreading and a clock speed of 2.6 - 3.9 GHz.

Thanks to the faster P-cores and more E-cores, the i5-13600K is significantly faster than the old i5-12600K (especially in multi-threaded workloads. 

The 13600K is rated at 125 Watt TDP base power (PL1) and 181 Watt Turbo Power (PL2) and therefore slightly higher than the old Core i5-12600K.

Intel Core i9-13900K

The Intel Core i9-13900K is a fast high-end desktop processor of the Raptor Lake series. It includes a hybrid architecture for the CPU cores with combined 24 cores and 32 threads. Eight fast Raptor Cove performance cores (P-cores) with HyperThreading and a clock speed of 3 - 5.8 GHz and sixteen Gracemont efficiency cores without HyperThreading and a clock speed of 2.2 - 4.3 GHz.

Thanks to the faster P-cores and more E-cores, the i9-13900K is significantly faster than the old i9-12900K (especially in multi-threaded workloads). Compared to the Raphael AMD Ryzen 9 7950X (Zen 4), the 13900K offers a slightly higher multi-thread-performance and a slightly lower single core performance. In games, the Intel CPU is currently the clear winner (at the time of announcement of the 7950X).

The 13900K is rated at 125 Watt TDP base power (PL1) and 253 Watt Turbo Power (PL2) and therefore slightly higher than the old i9-12900K.

Intel Core i5-13500

The Intel Core i5-13500 is a fast and relatively power efficient desktop processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, which was introduced in October 2022. The processor offers a base clock of 2.5 GHz and reaches up to 4.8 GHz in Turbo. The hybrid CPU architecture introduced with Alder Lake is also used in the Raptor Lake processors. Compared to the Intel Core i5-12500, the Intel Core i5-13500 offers more cores, which means a higher overall performance can be achieved. In total, the Intel Core i5-13500 can process up to 20 threads in parallel. The performance cores (P cores) offer hyperthreading for this purpose, which is withheld from the energy-efficient cores (E cores).

Performance

Due to the higher number of physical computing units, the Intel Core i5-13500 offers noticeably more performance compared to the Intel Core i5-12500. Both processors have 6 P-cores, although only the Intel Core i5-13500 is additionally equipped with 8 E-cores.

Graphics unit

Like the Intel Core i5-12600K, the Intel Core i5-13500 offers an integrated graphics unit. The Intel Iris Xe architecture continues to serve as the basis. In terms of performance, however, not much has changed with the new Intel UHD Graphics 770.

Power consumption

The TDP of the Intel Core i5-13500 is 65 watts, with the option to increase this to up to 154 watts in Turbo mode. Compared to the Intel Core i5-12500, the energy requirement increases slightly.