Breakthrough overclocking record: Raptor Lake achieves 9 GHz

Intel’s Raptor Lake processors brought one surprise: breaking the absolute extreme OC record. There were doubts it would ever happen, as today’s CPU architectures are not optimized for the high clock speeds at all costs like the past record holders Pentium 4 and AMD FX. But Raptor Lake and Intel 7 Ultra manufacturing process have shown they are capable of even more and have conquered a milestone never-beaten before, now. Read more “Breakthrough overclocking record: Raptor Lake achieves 9 GHz” »

Return of Intel’s HEDT: W790, Xeon W-2400 and W-3400 processors

Yesterday, we discussed Intel’s leaked roadmap for 2023, specifically the plans for desktop segment. But in addition to the mainstream LGA 1700 socket, this roadmap also shows new workstation platforms. Alongside the most expensive server-derived platforms, it reveals the W790 platform that should be a more affordable option representing a successor to older HEDT products like the X299 platform, and is therefore of much interest to us. Read more “Return of Intel’s HEDT: W790, Xeon W-2400 and W-3400 processors” »

Intel Core i7-13700K: Efficient choice for a gaming “workhorse”

The sixteen-core desktop Raptor Lake (Ci7-13700K) is a curious compromise between Core i9 (13900K) and Core i5 (13600K). Compared to the Core i5, it is significantly faster thanks to higher clock speeds and Turbo Boost 3.0 support, and it doesn’t lose much performance compared to Core i9 in lighter workloads, including gaming, but it is significantly more power-efficient. Read more “Intel Core i7-13700K: Efficient choice for a gaming “workhorse”” »

Intel Core i5-13600K: Better value than Ryzen 5 7600X? Yes and no

The Intel Core i5-13600K processor gives the impression of being from a slightly different class than the Ryzen 5 7600X. AMD’s Raphael with only 6 cores against 14 cores (albeit eight of them only small, Gracemont) of Raptor Lake may look like an underdog that should be significantly cheaper. However, one must be careful when making judgments. Although the Ci5-13600K is a great processor, so is the still only Ryzen 5 7000 in the game so far. Read more “Intel Core i5-13600K: Better value than Ryzen 5 7600X? Yes and no” »

Older Windows 10 versions than 22H2 slow down Raptor Lake CPUs

The release of Intel Raptor Lake processors also coincided somewhat with the release of the latest update for Windows 10, the 22H2. We write this in this context because it (22H2) quietly removes the most significant performance shortcomings, and the difference to the detriment of the older builds can be as much as 57 %. Most of the time this update doesn’t change performance too much, but when it does, it changes it greatly. Read more “Older Windows 10 versions than 22H2 slow down Raptor Lake CPUs” »

Intel Core i9-13900K review: Biggest predator in the lake

A fully active Intel Raptor Lake CPU chip, that’s tremendous performance for all situations, but also a lot of worries. These revolve around how to use this great potential and not hold anything back. There are more obstacles than usual. When it’s not on a software basis, it’s a struggle with cooling for a change. And you already know that the 13th-generation Intel Core CPU is sometimes more efficient than the Ryzen 7000. Read more “Intel Core i9-13900K review: Biggest predator in the lake” »

First results of Raptor Lake: A fairy tale in a single thread and…

We’ll be releasing our full tests of the Intel Core i9-13900K (Raptor Lake) tomorrow. The sample arrived at the editorial office after the gallows deadline and it was not possible to make the full tests, but for now we have at least something that may get you in the right mood. One of the pleasant surprises is the higher single-threaded performance at lower power draw than AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs. And that’s even at a record 5.8 GHz. Read more “First results of Raptor Lake: A fairy tale in a single thread and…” »

Why is Zen 4 so fast in Topaz Labs AI apps? In fact it’s Intel’s doing

Ryzen 7000 with Zen 4 architecture is the first AMD processor to support 512-bit AVX-512 vector instructions. We’ve already discussed their benefits (bigger or smaller) here. But the Zen 4 cores support another instruction set extension that used to be Intel’s pride and joy, and now the roles have reversed a bit: VNNI. It seems to bring huge performance improvements in a number of apps, despite the limited 256-bit width of Zen 4 SIMD units. Read more “Why is Zen 4 so fast in Topaz Labs AI apps? In fact it’s Intel’s doing” »

Raptor Lake is here: high speed with 7 Ultra node, no price hike

This week, AMD Ryzen 7000 processors and AM5 platform went on sale (we’ve already tested the 7900X). Intel will counter with their own new generation next month: the 13th generation Core “Raptor Lake”, which was unveiled on the same day, albeit with no physical availability yet. We now have definitive specs, as well as pricing. You’ll be pleased to know that most SKUs have not gotten more expensive, even though that was rumored. Read more “Raptor Lake is here: high speed with 7 Ultra node, no price hike” »

End of an era: Intel to stop making Celeron and Pentium CPU

Yesterday we shared the news that EVGA is ending production of GeForce graphics with Nvidia GPUs after more than twenty years. Another “end of an era” moment has however happened virtually at the same time. Intel has announced that it will do away with the historic Pentium and Celeron processor brands that have survived since the 20th century. This is as part of image and branding changes the company is now planning for next year. Read more “End of an era: Intel to stop making Celeron and Pentium CPU” »

Cheaper Raptor Lake CPU will be just rebadged Alder Lake chips

Yesterday we reported that Raptor Lake processors are largely a continuation of the Alder Lake generation using the same ingredients, despite a large increase in achieved clock speeds and some architectural changes (cache). This is even more true than we thought. It turns out that only the higher-tier K-series models are actually new chips. The lower end, including all 65W Core i5s, are recycling silicon from the Alder Lake generation. Read more “Cheaper Raptor Lake CPU will be just rebadged Alder Lake chips” »

Intel Arc A770, A750, A580 desktop graphics officially unveiled

The coming of Intel Arc discrete graphics cards was strange – the company tried to keep up the audience excited with constant stream of news, but the efforts were thwarted by the long delays. But the long and slow, gradual trickle of all sorts of news bits is almost over. Finally, Intel has unveiled the gaming graphics cards with their most powerful GPU yet, up to 16 GB of memory and 4096 shaders. So now we’ll see what’s what. Read more “Intel Arc A770, A750, A580 desktop graphics officially unveiled” »

Winner of the HWC competition for mobo, CPU and cooler

Over the past week you have sent us many encouraging messages, but you have not been afraid of constructive criticism either. All suggestions have been extremely useful feedback for us. We know what you are missing and we can gradually respond to these things and incorporate them into the site. Thank you! Traditionally grimmer is the announcement of only one of our readers, decided by a random number generator. Read more “Winner of the HWC competition for mobo, CPU and cooler” »

125W/65W/35W Intel Raptor Lake specs leak, cheap i5-13400 too

Lots of info has already leaked about 125W Raptor Lake processors that Intel is abotu to launch on October 20 as the 13th-generation Core for desktop. The leaked specs were not complete, however. Now, we have a document that clarifies virtually everything – the clock speeds of little cores, details of various boost clocks for different numbers of active cores. And even specs of some 65W and 35W models. Read more “125W/65W/35W Intel Raptor Lake specs leak, cheap i5-13400 too” »

Win a Core i5 on Asus mobo (B660) with SilentiumPC cooler

It’s been quite a while since you had a chance to win something, so let’s make up for it a little bit now. With a three-in-one package where one of you gets half of a working PC – Intel Core i5-12400 processor with integrated graphics, Asus TUF Gaming B660 Plus WiFi D4 motherboard and SilentiumPC Spartan 5 cooler. These are all attractive components that have been awarded the Smart buy! award in our tests, which we don’t give out “just like that”. Read more “Win a Core i5 on Asus mobo (B660) with SilentiumPC cooler” »