Intel launches Core i9 13900KS processor with 6 GHz clock speeds: Pricing, specs, where to buy, and more

The Intel Core i9 13900KS is available now, and the Blue Camp has broken the 6 GHz barrier out of the box with this new addition to the Raptor Lake lineup. The processor is priced at a hefty $699 and can now be purchased from leading retailers.

The chip will go head-to-head with the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, which is slated to launch later this quarter. For now, the Core i9 13900KS will solidify Intel's lead over the Ryzen 9 7950X in terms of gaming and productivity performance.

It is worth noting that the 7950X was launched for a similar $700 price tag. However, the flagship chip from Team Red has been discounted following low demand and poor sales.

The processor is marginally faster than the Core i9 13900K, but the price difference makes it a difficult choice over the other high-end Ryzen 9 and Core i9 chips in the market.

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More details on the 24-core Intel Core i9 13900KS

The 13900KS shares a similar spec sheet to the high-end 13900K. However, the power draw and the operating frequencies of the chip have been altered to maximize the performance one can get from the processor.

The chip comes with eight performance cores and 16 efficiency cores, similar to the previous Raptor Lake flagship. The efficient cores in both chips have a base clock of 2.2 GHz and can boost up to 4.3 GHz.

Even the performance cores (P) share a similar base clock of 3.0 GHz. However, they now have a maximum turbo boost clock of 6.0 GHz, making the chip 200 MHz faster than the last-gen variant.

The power draw has been boosted to achieve these higher clock speeds and performance marks. The Core i9 13900K shipped with a rated power draw of 125W and could draw up to 253W when under full load. Meanwhile, the new chip pushes the TDP to 150W.

The 13900KS is the world's first processor to hit up to 320W in a power draw in the maximum turbo power limit, which makes it even less power efficient than the recently launched RTX 4070 Ti.

Memory support of the Core i9 13900KS remains the same as the Core i9 13900K.

	Core i9 13900K	Core i9 13900KS
Generation	Intel 13th gen Raptor Lake	Intel 13th gen Raptor Lake
Core count	24 (8P+16E)	24 (8P+16E)
Thread count	32	32
P-core base clock	3.0 GHz	3.0 GHz
P-core boost clock	5.8 GHz	6.0 GHz
E-core base clock	2.2 GHz	2.2 GHz
E-core boost clock	4.3 GHz	4.3 GHz
Cache (L2+L3)	32 MB+36 MB	32 MB+36 MB
TDP	125W	150W
MTP	253W	320W
Memory support	DDR4-3200 DDR5-5600	DDR4-3200 DDR5-5600
MSRP	$589 (K variant) $564 (KF variant)	$699

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The Core i9 13900KS is an overclocked 13900K

It is worth noting that the new processor is based on binned variants of the 13900K that can naturally clock higher without too much voltage-shoving. These chips are designed to withstand higher power-draw limits from the manufacturer, which makes up for the higher-end SKU.

The 13900KS is the spiritual successor to the 12900KS, which employed a similar process to extract the maximum out of the Core in 12900K.