Intel’s faster Raptor Lake flagship CPU spotted at a retailer – and it looks expensive
Intel’s upcoming Core i9-13900KS, which will be a new version of the flagship Raptor Lake CPU – a capable of accelerating to 6GHz instantlyno need to overclock – can be 20% more expensive than current 13900K.
Like VideoCardz (opens in a new tab) highlighted, here’s a tweet from hardware leaker @momomo_us, who picked up the 13900KS – and other entry-level Raptor Lake processors – listed at the retailer PC Canada (opens in a new tab) (Hold your skepticism, naturally).
The 13900KS is priced at C$927 and compared to the price of the 13900K currently available at the same retailer, that’s a 22% increase.
A variety of other Raptor Lake Processor listed and priced here, previously leaked models (by Microsoft in fact). These include the Core i3-13100 at the other end of the spectrum compared to the 13900KS, a quad-core processor that costs C$207 (or $170 for the 13100F, the variant that removes the integrated GPU for even more cost reduction).
Analysis: Beware of the dangers of placeholder pricing
Intel is about to reveal this new Raptor Lake microprocessor at CES 2023, not far away. The Core i9-13900KS and other 13th-gen models popping up at this Canadian retailer is a tempting hint that they could hit shelves fairly soon after the initial reveal of the CPU. Normally, we’d see new models launch some time before they actually go on sale – but this is a hint that the wait for more Raptor Lake silicon won’t be long.
As for the actual price, this is likely to be a placeholder price as is often the case when pre-release chips appear early at retailers, so don’t put too much stock in the price tags shown.
That said, this could be a reasonably rough indication of what kind of premium to expect for the 13900KS versus the 13900K. At the high end you will always find a big dent in your wallet, especially when a chip like the ‘KS’ version of an Intel flagship comes out, so an extra 20% might not be. must be a wishful proposition. However, given that the 13900K is still retailing all the way up to the $700 mark – though Black Friday discounts have cut a bit with some retailers – that could put the 13900KS at a pretty eye-popping price.
Assuming this is sort of an extra cost in the card, is it worth paying that for the essentially 200MHz extra boost over the 13900K? Well, that is certainly debatable, and it remains to be seen how the 13900KS will perform in terms of the raw noise it can muster and how that will be affected by temperature and conditions. weather (although the cooling solution used will also come into play here, obviously).
However, enthusiasts who want the absolute best – the niche the KS model is aimed at – will likely accept any additional costs without too much difficulty. Let’s face it, these are the buyers Nvidia’s New Lovelace GPU much more expensive than 13900KS.