Intel has officially announced the Core i9-13900KS as the fastest desktop CPU. Accidentally (?) a wafer with 34-core CPUs and octa-channel RAM was shown.
The announced 24-core Core i9-13900K will only remain Intel’s fastest desktop processor for a short time. At the beginning of 2023, the manufacturer will submit the selected Core i9-13900KS version, whose maximum turbo clock frequency will increase from 5.8 to 6.0 GHz. Consequently, company boss Pat Gelsinger spoke at the Intel Innovation Event about the world’s first 6 GHz CPU and a milestone.
As usual with the KS models, Intel is also launching the Core i9-13900KS in limited quantities. The processor is interesting for people who collect CPUs or want the last per mille of performance – but then with a typically much worse price-performance ratio and potentially worse efficiency. Intel has not yet revealed any further details.
“Raptor Lake” with 34 CPU cores
Apparently, the Core i9-13900KS won’t be the end of it. Intel itself exhibited a silicon wafer at the innovation event, which according to the label belongs to the Raptor Lake family, but differs significantly from all known Core I 13000 CPUs. The US website Tom’s Hardware was there and shows pictures of the wafer.
A single die contained 34 CPU cores and eight DDR5 memory controllers, which were also arranged in a mesh grid and not in a ring bus. Based on rumors that have been going on for months, Tom’s Hardware suspects that it could be a desktop offshoot of the Sapphire Rapids server series. The processors would therefore have 34 performance and no efficiency cores. In addition, they would require a new platform with new mainboards.
However, it is questionable whether these models with up to 34 performance cores will appear under the Core I banner. After the Cascade Lake X family (Core i-10000X ), Intel left the high-end desktop market (HEDT ) completely to AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper and instead only launched multi-core CPUs as Xeon W for workstations – most recently Xeon W -3300 from the Ice Lake generation. Belonging to the Raptor Lake family is definitely atypical.
Sapphire Rapids, meanwhile, has been delayed for over a year and is still not selling in large numbers. Whether and when desktop offshoots will appear is therefore in the stars.
TechAint 