Intel 13th Gen desktop processors arrive on the heels of AMD Ryzen 7000, amid demand decline

A day after AMD announced its latest desktop CPU offering, the Ryzen 7000 processors for desktop PCs, Intel announced its own series of the newest generation desktop processors. Called ‘Raptor Lake’, or more commonly the Intel 13th Gen, the new processors will be offered in over 125 designs (in terms of power consumption and efficiency variants) for brands to custom build their PCs. The new processors come amid continued supply shortage, as well as a slump in demand that is expected in the personal computing market. 

For instance, a June 30 Gartner report pegged global PC shipments to fall by 9.5% this year. Ranjit Atwal, a senior director analyst at Gartner, said that causes such as “geopolitics upheaval, high inflation, currency fluctuations and supply chain disruptions” as the key reasons for a dip in the market — which could see new generation processors such as the Intel 13th Gen and the AMD Ryzen 7000 see weak demand.

On the technical side, though, both Intel and AMD have a number of upgrades to offer. 

Any processor on this day is built of two different core types — commonly referred to as ‘P’ or performance cores, and ‘E’ or efficiency cores. According to Intel, one of the key new features of its 13th generation processor lineup is the use of more ‘E’ cores to improve multitasking and workflows that require extensive background data processing — such as in creative video editing. Specifically, Intel’s claim is that by approximately doubling the number of efficiency cores used across its 22 processors in the 13th Gen lineup, Intel has managed to achieve a 41% improvement in multi-threaded performance — which is critical for multitasking. 

For performance enthusiasts, Intel has also added its ‘Speed Optimizer’ tool, which helps users conduct a one-click overclocking (the act of boosting the per-core performance of a CPU for limited periods of time). This can help a wider number of users see the full benefits of the new generation processor’s power. 

Other key features of the lineup, which is helmed by the Intel Core i9-13900K, include backward compatibility with DDR4 memory standard, and the addition of a new Intel 700 series chipset for motherboards — but with backward compatibility with the existing Intel 600 series motherboards. This essentially means that if you already have a desktop PC based on a 12th generation Intel processor, you won’t need to upgrade your motherboard and memory to run the 13th Gen processors efficiently. 

All of this, on overall terms, adds up to a 15% performance upgrade over the previous generation, according to Intel. 

To be sure, the launch comes a day after AMD introduced its Ryzen 7000 series of desktop processors — helmed by the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X. However, the new generation AMD processors use a new Zen 4 core architecture based on TSMC’s 5nm process, and the company mandates a new generation motherboard (the ‘AM5’) as well as an upgrade to DDR5 memory standard to be able to use the Ryzen 7000 generation of processors. 

On paper, this gives Intel a theoretical edge since the latter isn’t asking existing users to upgrade their entire PC rig — which AMD is. Intel, however, does state that its latest processors will also work best with the new 700 series boards and DDR5 memory. 

According to tested benchmark data from PC component testers such as Tom’s Hardware, the top AMD processor outperforms Intel’s old flagship, the Core i9-12900K, by around 30%, on popular benchmarks such as Cinebench, Geekbench and Handbrake. Right now, it remains to be seen how Intel’s new 24-core, 32-thread Core i9-13900K fares in comparison to this competition. 

Intel’s new processors will be available from October 20. Its top processor has a guidance price of $589 (over ₹48,000), and will compete against AMD at a peak price of $699 (around ₹57,000).