Intel 13th gen launch with big boosts – should AMD be troubled?

Intel launches 13th gen Core processors to undertake AMD

Intel has officially announced its Intel 13th gen Core desktop processors, and given us and its competitor AMD a sight of what to expect.

Intel’s 13th generation of processors will again make use of Intel’s hybrid design, with a combination of Performance-cores and Efficient-cores, which smartly kick in, depending on what kind of task you’re using the CPU for, with Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0 helping to classify the top performing Performance-cores (P-Cores).

Intel’s earlier 12th generation CPUs also used this design, but the company claims this fresh generation will benefit from additional Efficient-cores (E-Cores), that allow for additional Intel Smart Cache (L3) for improved performance, exclusively with large data sets, and L2 cache has been improved to speed up data transfers between cache and memory. This, again, could lead to better performance.

SPECS

Intel 13th gen Core CPUs will support up to 16 PCIe 5.0 lanes, and will support DDR5 memory up to 5600 MT/s. Dissimilar rival AMD, which is merely supporting the new RAM standard on its new-fangled Ryzen 7000 chips, Intel 13th gen processors will remain to support DDR4 RAM.

Integrated Intel UHD Xe graphics will support up to 8K at 60Hz, or up to four 4K screens at 60Hz, and there will too be integrated Wi-Fi support for Wi-Fi 6 and the fresher Wi-Fi 6E standards.

The flagship Intel Core i9 chips will arise with 24 processor cores made up of eight P-cores and 16 E-cores, while the i7 chips will arise with 16 cores (eight P-cores and eight E-cores), and the i5 chips will arise with 14 cores (six P-cores and eight E-cores).

See the below for the full specs:

	Intel Core i9K and i9KF	Intel Core i7K and i7KF	Intel Core i5K and i5KF
Max Turbo Frequency [GHz]	Up to 5.8	Up to 5.4	Up to 5.1
Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 Frequency [GHz]	Up to 5.7	Up to 5.4	n/a
Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency [GHz]	Up to 5.4	Up to 5.3	Up to 5.1
Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency [GHz]	Up to 4.3	Up to 4.2	Up to 3.9
Performance-core Base Frequency [GHz]	3.0	3.4	3.5
Efficient-core Base Frequency [GHz]	2.2	2.5	2.6
Processor Cores (P-cores + E-cores)	24 (8P+16E)	16 (8P+8E)	14 (6P+8E)
Total Processor Threads	32	24	20
Intel Smart Cache (L3) Size [MB]	36 MB	30 MB	24 MB
Total L2 Cache Size [MB]	32 MB	24 MB	20 MB
Enhanced Intel UHD Graphics driven by Xe Architecture	i9K: Intel UHD Graphics 770 i9KF: no	i7K: Intel UHD Graphics 770 i7KF: no	i5K: Intel UHD Graphics 770 i5KF: no