The race to see who has the fastest processor of the moment never ends and both Intel and AMD cannot fall asleep on the road. If AMD’s proposal is the Ryzen 7000X3D, Intel’s is much simpler and more direct, an enhanced version of its most powerful desktop CPU to date.
Intel Core i9-13900KS, the first CPU to reach 6 GHz
The existence of the i9-13900KS is partly accidental, it is the product of the fact that in the wafers of the i9-13900K there are always a few processors that in the stress tests prove to have a better consumption curve, or rather, prove to have the capacity to withstand higher than average speeds. If you are perceptive you will see for example that the i7-13700K and the i9-13900K are the same chip, they have the same number of P-Cores and E-Cores, but at different speeds.
This is because in the quality tests they are given a different name depending on whether they can withstand higher or lower speeds. What allows them to sell them at a higher or lower price. This is a common tactic in the world of PC processors and has been around for decades.
What happens when there is a number of chips that come out with better results than the average? Well, you can sell a higher model at a higher price due to the fact that it provides better features and in this case it is thanks to being able to reach 6 GHz, yes, in Boost. That is to say, it does not work 100% of the time at that speed, but when it needs to sprint to get there earlier when it comes to executing instructions, it is the fastest of all.
The MHz Myth
However, when we talk about the processor reaching 6 GHz, we are referring to the number of pulses that each part of the CPU executes in each second; in the case at hand, we are talking about 6,000 million in that period. However, what is important in a processor is the number of instructions it can output per second, and this does not depend on the speed, but on the architecture. Not all processors are equally fast at the same speed.
Think of it in the following way, imagine that we have two CPUs, one of them is a car that has been optimized for sporting events and, therefore, it has been lightened in weight, a lighter body is used and with this it manages to reach speeds much higher than allow you to compete. On the other side we have the same car, with the same engine and the same amount of horsepower, but it is not optimized and therefore it will not work as smoothly.
Actually, the comparison between MHz or GHz should serve us only to know that a processor under an architecture is faster than another, nothing more. When it comes down to it, it’s not a 1:1 comparison measure. Even between processors of the same brand. In any case, in single-thread tasks it has become the fastest processor at the moment, waiting for the Ryzen 7000 with V-Cache that comes out next month.
Granted, it’s the fastest from Intel, but at what price?
As we have told you before, we are dealing with a processor that is an i9-13900K that has passed resistance tests in terms of speed and has shown that it can reach 6 GHz in Boost without endangering its integrity. So, to begin with, this already means that the processor is scarce in quantity and this already implies a higher price and everything indicates that it will be 25% more expensive than the i9-13900K. Which means that buying the i9-13900KS may not be the best value for money.
The other issue is consumption, Intel in its Boost mode has a pending issue in its desktop processors, where it can reach an average of 250 W and believe us, the consumption curve is not better than the i9 which is below he. So it can be said that we are facing a hot processor for which a good heatsink will be necessary. And it is that, based on the i9-13900KS already has a TDP of 150 W25 more than the standard model.
