Product test
AMD is back on top!
by Kevin Hofer
Intel knocks AMD off its throne: Core i9-13900K in test
20.10.2022
Translation: machine translated
Intel's new CPU flagship beats the competition from AMD in most benchmarks. In games, it stands out especially for fewer jerks. However, not only the scores are high, but also the power consumption and temperatures.
Here are the specs of the Intel Core i9-13900K, its direct competitor and its predecessor:
Test setup and method
The following components I use for the review:
All components were provided to me by the manufacturers for testing. The same RAM, SSDs, cooling and graphics card were used by my colleague Kevin for the tests of the new AMD CPUs and the last Intel generation. These test results serve as comparative data.
In the BIOS, I activate XMP. Otherwise I leave everything on default.
I use BIOS version 0502 and Windows 11 is running version 21H2 (22000.1098).
Here is an overview of the various benchmarks:
I run all benchmarks three times and take the best result. For the games, I use the highest possible default settings. Otherwise, I leave everything at default except for the resolution.
Cinebench R23
Cinebench R23 tests how a CPU performs when rendering 3D models. From these calculations, the benchmark creates scores for single and multi core performance.
In the benchmark, the 13900K achieves a Single Core Score of 2250 and a Multi Core Score of 39 895, making the Intel CPU almost ten per cent better in Single Core than AMD's 7950X. In Multi Core it is still four percent. Compared to the predecessor 12900K CPU, the increase is twelve per cent in Single Core and 46 per cent in Multi Core - but the 12900K has eight fewer threads available than the others.
CPU-Z
The CPU-Z benchmark tests the speed in single core and multi core of a CPU and creates an overall score from it.
In Single Core, the 13900K achieves seven percent more points than the AMD competition and ten more than its predecessor. In Multi Core, the lead over AMD shrinks to two per cent, while that over its predecessor grows to 50 per cent due to the eight extra threads.
7-Zip
The integrated benchmark of 7-Zip tests a system for the compression and decompression of data. From this, it calculates a score in giga instructions per second (GIPS). I choose the default "Dictionary size" of 32 megabytes.
7-Zip is one of the only benchmarks where Intel's flagship remains slower than AMD's. The 13900K scores nine percent lower. Compared to its predecessor, however, it is almost twice as fast.
Blender benchmark
The Blender Benchmark renders three scenes in version 3.3 in the 3D graphics suite and calculates three scores from them. I add each of these up to a final score
.
Intel also lags behind AMD in Blender by three percentage points, but boosts performance by a whopping 51 per cent compared to the last generation.
Photoshop
Puget Systems' Photoshop benchmark runs a variety of workloads. You can find more detailed info here. At the end, the benchmark calculates a score based on a reference workstation
.
In Photoshop, the increase over the predecessor CPU is not as great as in other places. The 13900K achieves 15 per cent more points. Compared to AMD's competition, it's five per cent more.
Premiere
Puget Systems' Premiere benchmark runs a variety of workloads. You can find more detailed info here. At the end, the benchmark calculates a score based on a reference workstation
.
In Premiere, Intel's new CPU is seven percent faster than AMD's 7950X. But the fact that the score is nine per cent less than its predecessor makes little sense. I suspect that Premiere has not yet been optimised for the new processors. So this benchmark should be taken with a grain of salt.
PCMark 10
The PCMark 10 benchmark tests various scenarios such as the loading time of apps, efficiency in spreadsheets, browsing or even photo and video editing. In other words, it tells us how well a processor is suited for office work. From this, it calculates a score.
In PCMark, the lead over AMD is seven per cent, over the Intel CPU of the last generation it is 15 per cent.
Fire Strike, Fire Strike Ultra, Time Spy and Time Spy Ultra
The synthetic game benchmarks give a first glimpse of performance in games. I do not include the Overall Score, which is calculated from the results of the graphics card and CPU. This is because I want to exclude the performance of the GPU for CPU reviews.
Across the four benchmarks, the 13900K scores nine percent higher than the 7950X. Compared to the predecessor CPU, it scores 18 percent more.
Synthetic benchmarks are only of limited value, however, and do not speak the whole truth. More important is how the CPU performs in games.
The games
Across all resolutions, the 13900K delivers more FPS on average than the competition and its predecessor. As expected, the differences become smaller at higher resolutions. In 1080p resolution it's nine per cent, in 1440p six per cent and in 2160p three per cent compared to AMD's 7950X. Compared to the 129000K, it's 13, eight, and four per cent.
Power consumption and temperatures
Conclusion: Hungry new queen
Samuel Buchmann
Senior Editor
Samuel.Buchmann@digitecgalaxus.chMy fingerprint often changes so drastically that my MacBook doesn't recognise it anymore. The reason? If I'm not clinging to a monitor or camera, I'm probably clinging to a rockface by the tips of my fingers.
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