Intel 13th Gen Core i5-13600K and Core i9-13900K Review

Test Setup

As always here at OC3D when there is a move to a new platform we have taken the opportunity to refresh both our test system and the things that we are using to benchmark. Naturally this means that some of our new tests will have fewer results than some of the others, but given how rapidly the market has moved forwards it's fair to say that anything older than the last generation is going to be left in the dust. Clock speed only gets you so far after all.

Intel Core i5-13600K
Intel Core i9-13900K
MSI MPG Z790 Carbon WiFi V1.10 Bios
Corsair Veangeance RGB DDR5 6000Mhz
Kingston Fury Renegade 6000MHz 32GB
Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti
Sabrent Rocket 2TB
Corsair 5000T
Corsair RM1000i
Corsair H170i 420
Windows 11

  
  
  

Clock Speeds

Both processors come out of the box with all the technologies necessary to replicate the kind of overclocking we see from current graphics cards without any need for user intervention. They're also both right at the peak of what they can do with even our insane cooling setup. However, if you wish to squeeze a little more out of each you can, with the Core i9-13900K able to gain an extra 200 MHz and the Core i5-13600K even better, peaking at 5.7 GHz on the Performance Cores and 4.6 GHz on the Efficient Cores. Only those with serious cooling need apply.

Intel Core i5-13600K

Intel Core i9-13900K