Intel has announced market availability for its latest-and-greatest Core i9-13900KS CPU priced at $699, featuring 32 threads and boosting up to 6GHz, on a few cores, out of the box.
Core i9-13900KS is a special edition of the i9-13900K, with higher clocks by default, making sure that users who are searching for the best performance obtain it without having to play with the silicon lottery of choosing many CPUs.
The new processor is capable of achieving its rated 6GHz max turbo frequency using Intel’s Thermal Velocity Boost technology. For reference, this is 200MHz higher than the non-S variant (i9-13900K). The base frequency of both P- and E-cores, on the other hand, is left untouched at 3GHz and 2.2GHz, respectively.
Like its near-namesake, Intel’s Core i9-13900KS includes 8 Performance cores (P-core) plus 16 Efficient cores (E-core) totalling 32 threads, with 32MB of L2 and 36MB of L3 cache, as well as 16 PCIe 5.0 and four PCIe 4.0 lanes.
The processor’s base power is set to 150W, which is 25W higher than any other 13th Gen. At full speed, however, this goes far beyond that, running up to 320W Maximum Turbo Power (MTB), especially now that Intel doesn’t limit the boost duration on its unlocked models. For example, the i9-13900K MTB is set to 253W, meaning high-end cooling is mandatory on either beast.
Officially, i9-13900KS supports up to DDR5-5600 or DDR4-3200 out of the box, but in reality, compatibility is much wider, going beyond DDR5-6000 easily.
Finally, Intel’s latest arrival is, unsurprisingly, compatible with Z790 and Z690 motherboards, the latter which have been tested a good number of times here. So is an 18 per cent price hike worth the 200MHz uplift? You decide.
“The Core i9-13900KS continues our 13th Gen Intel Core desktop processor family excellence, showcasing the new performance heights made possible by our performance hybrid architecture. Extreme gamers and enthusiasts can now push their everyday performance further than ever before with the first desktop processor in the PC industry to provide 6.0 GHz speeds at stock,” said Intel.
Core i9-13900KS should be available to purchase for $699 RCP (Recommended Customer Price), but at least on Newegg, it is listed $30 higher at $729.99.
