Intel Release New Unlocked 6Ghz Flasgship CPU: 13900KS

Today, 12th January 2023 marks the release day for the “world’s fastest CPU” – Intel’s flagship 13900KS desktop processor which brings with it 24 physical cores running at a stonking 6000Mhz being paired with 36MB L1 Smart cache. For perspective – Intel’s previous flagship processor, the 12900K had 16 physical cores and just 30MB Intel Smart Cache.

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Yesterday, Intel released a sneak peek video on their YouTube channel that gave an “out-of-the-box” demonstration of an Intel Chip running at 6Ghz “without the need for overclocking”. It was rumoured at the time to be their new flagship but we didn’t have any confirmation until today when a press release confirming the release arrived in our email.

So, what do we know so far? well, the press release was brief but, here is a roundup taking from their press release;

• Up to 6.0 GHz max turbo frequency with Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost – the first CPU in the PC industry to reach 6.0 GHz without overclocking.
• Intel® Adaptive Boost Technology for improved gaming performance by opportunistically allowing higher multicore turbo frequencies.
• 24 cores (eight Performance-cores and 16 Efficient-cores), 32 threads, 150W processor base power, 36MB Intel Smart Cache and a total of 20 PCIe lanes (16 PCIe 5.0 and four PCIe 4.0 lanes).
• Up to DDR5 5600 MT/s and DDR4 3200 MT/s support.
• Compatible with Z790 and Z690 motherboards, with the latest BIOS recommended for the best gaming and content creation experience.

It’s clear that Intel is not messing about bringing insane chip speeds and unprecedented physical cores and threads to the mainstream computing market and at a reasonable price too. The Intel 13900KS has an RRP of $699 which, while still not small pocket change, it is not as much as we thought they would charge us, mere mortals for a special edition flagship Intel CPU.

So, how does the Intel 13900KS fair in comparison to the rest of the Intel 13th-generation chips?