Intel's Raptor Lake flagship, the Core i9-13900K, is going to feature a new "Extreme Performance" mode on high-end Z790 motherboards. The new performance mode would essentially allow the chip to run at an unchained power setting, sipping over 300 Watts of power to deliver its fullest potential.
Intel Core i9-13900K Raptor Lake CPU To Feature "Extreme Performance" Mode, An Unchained 350W Power Limit Setting Available on High-End Z790 Motherboards
The Intel Core i9-13900K is the flagship Raptor Lake CPU, featuring 24 cores and 32 threads in an 8 P-Core and 16 E-Core configuration. The CPU is configured at a base clock of 3.0 GHz, a single-core boost clock of 5.8 GHz (1-2) cores, and an all-core boost clock of 5.5 GHz (all 8 P-Cores). The CPU features 68 MB of combined cache and a 125W PL1 rating that goes up to 250W. However, to get the best performance, Intel has a new performance mode coming to town.
As ProHardver explains, the Intel Core i9-13900K CPUs or the Raptor Lake Core i9 "K" series in general, are going to get a new profile known as "Extreme Performance". This is also known as "Unlimited Power" setting on certain motherboards. What this profile essentially does is unlock Raptor Lake's power limit and let it reach up to a power-gobbling 350 Watts at stock loads. The higher power results in higher performance but at the cost of the aforementioned power budget and thermals.
This "Extreme Performance" mode will be amongst the several overclocking and tuning options coming to the Raptor Lake "K-series" CPU lineup. An interesting thing that the site states is that high-end Z790 motherboards will be required and only a certain will be qualified to support the feature. It is evident that a 350W power design will require a lot of cooling, not just for the CPU but also for the motherboard VRMs. Also, whether this feature remains exclusive to Z790 boards or also comes to Z690 is something only time will tell. The high-end Z690 boards are capable enough so some vendors may release the BIOS with "Extreme Performance" mode for current-gen boards too.
We have already seen overclocks of over 6 GHz pushing the power consumption to 350W and this profile is going to do the same thing. Overclockers will definitely be setting their boards to run at the "Extreme Performance" mode for best overclocking results while users can stick with the standard power profile and still get decent performance out of the chip. It is mostly a matter of preference here since a 350W power draws on the CPU alone isn't sustainable for the gamer's room considering the heat that this beast would output. Even using a high-end cooling solution, one shouldn't expect temps lower than 70-80C while running at full load.
The Intel 13th Gen Raptor Lake Desktop CPUs including the flagship Core i9-13900K is expected to launch in October on the Z790 platform. The CPUs will be going up against AMD's Ryzen 7000 CPU lineup which also launches in Fall 2022.
Intel Raptor Lake vs AMD Raphael Desktop CPUs Comparison 'Confirmed'
| CPU Family | AMD Raphael (RPL-X) | Intel Raptor Lake (RPL-S) |
|---|---|---|
| Process Node | TSMC 5nm | Intel 7 |
| Architecture | Zen 4 (Chiplet) | Raptor Cove (P-Core) Gracemont (E-Core) |
| Flagship SKU | Ryzen 9 7950X | Core i9-13900K |
| Cores / Threads | Up To 16/32 | Up To 24/32 |
| Total L3 Cache | 64 MB (+3D V-Cache) | 36 MB |
| Total L2 Cache | 16 MB | 32 MB |
| Total Cache | 80 MB | 68 MB |
| Max Clocks (1T) | 5.85 GHz | 5.8 GHz |
| Memory Support | DDR5 | DDR5/DDR4 |
| Memory Channels | 2 Channel (2DPC) | 2 Channel (2DPC) |
| Memory Speeds | DDR5-5200 | DDR5-5600 DDR4-3200 |
| Platform Support | 600-Series (X670E/X670/B650/A620) | 600-Series (Z690/H670/B650/H610) 700-Series (Z790/H770/B760) |
| PCIe Gen 5.0 | Both GPU & M.2 (Extreme chipsets only) | Both GPU & M.2 (700-Series only but split) |
| Integrated Graphics | AMD RDNA 2 | Intel Iris Xe |
| Socket | AM5 (LGA 1718) | LGA 1700/1800 |
| TDP (Max) | 170W (TDP) 230W (PPT) | 125W (PL1) 240W+ (PL2) |
| Launch | September 2022 | October 2022 |
News Sources: ProHardver, HardwareTimes, Videocardz
