Just yesterday, an alleged Core i9-13900K processor was listed on the Chinese black market. However, the picture attached in the ad was mostly blurred out to hide the details printed on the IHS of the chip. That prevented most publications from taking it for face value, since there was no way to validate whether the person was actually selling a 13th Gen chip or not. Today, a new leak has come forward with intent to verify that listing and provide more insight into the subject. Over on the Chiphell forums, a member by the name of “Lordzzz” provided the uncensored version of that exact same photo, confirming that we’re indeed looking at the 13900K. As you can see in the picture above, the chip has a Q0D8 SPEC code with tells us that we’re looking at ES1, aka the first engineering sample of this chip. This is an important distinction because the latest engineering sample floating around the market is ES3, with has much higher clock speeds and better overclocking capabilities. The reason why multiple states of engineering samples exist is because Intel sends updated ones to partners and relevant parties once they’re ready, outdating the previous ones in the process. These now-outdated chips are no longer needed so they’re discarded, but Intel doesn’t bother to collect them back. And that’s why they make their way onto the black market and are sold off illegally.
Core i9-13900K ES1 benchmark
Even though the engineering sample in the original listing was outdated, it did confirm the 8+16 core configuration of the 13900K. The description mentioned that the chip features 8 Raptor Cove cores and 16 Gracemont cores, and the fact that the processors works in a ASUS ROG Z690 APEX motherboard. Adding to that, the Chiphell leaker provided benchmarks for the same ES1 variant of the i9-13900K in CPU-Z. The CPU scored 611 points in single-threaded test and 13,015 points in the multi-threaded test. Those aren’t impressive numbers considering this is a next-gen flagship, but again, we’re looking at an early engineering sample. Moreover, the screenshots below reveal that the CPU boosted up to 4.5GHz as well. As for the TDP, the 13900K can be seen running at 125W, which confirms its a “K” variant. It’s also important to mention that there is no AVX-512 support seen here.
Core i9-13900K ES3 benchmark
Now that we’ve taken a look at the outdated ES1 chip, it’s time to go over the current ES3 that’s the latest sample one can find right now. The leaker claims to have gotten his hands on one and says it has a SPEC code of Q1HM. No screenshots were provided to accompany the following details, so take that how you will. Supposedly, the Core i9-13900K ES3 boosts up to 5.5GHz single-core and 5.3GHz across all (Performance) cores. That single-core frequency matches that of the i9-12900KS special edition CPU, which means that the special edition Core i9-13900K would be even faster. Due to those clock speeds, the CPU ends up scoring 880 single-core points and around 15000 multi-core points in the same CPU-Z benchmark. We have no way of verifying this since the leaker did not attach any pictures to back up these numbers. If this is indeed true then the 13900K is positioning itself as a worthy upgrade over the 12900K. With faster clock speeds, an upgraded architecture, and support for the same LGA 1700 socket, Raptor Lake is looking better than ever. As more leaks emerge online, we’ll get an even better understanding of the performance of 13th Gen Core series down the line. That being said, the wait won’t be long since Raptor Lake is rumored to launch sometime in September or October. AMD is releasing their next-gen Ryzen 7000 CPUs in September, which means both companies will be going head to head very soon. Whether Zen4 comes out on top or Raptor Lake extends Intel’s pre-existing lead, only time will tell.
