What even is a nm course of?
Up to date: Oct 24, 2022 1:13 pm
Intel’s thirteenth Gen processors have the eye of each reviewer, {hardware} fanatic, and PC gamer for the time being. The corporate revealed its all-new Raptor Lake lineup again in September 2022. As of proper now, the primary couple of processors from Intel’s thirteenth Gen have hit the cabinets and can be found to shoppers.
The efficiency good points in real-world use, together with gaming and productiveness, are actually fairly spectacular. In fact, there are considerations over energy draw and effectivity, particularly with the i9-13900K.
Now learn: 13900K evaluation.
Talking of which, the lineup consists of six CPUs at launch. Which means that for now, you should purchase the i9-13900K, i7-13700K, or the i5-13600K. The opposite three processors are the “KF” variations of all three we simply talked about.
Raptor Lake is unimaginable each by way of worth and efficiency. Nevertheless, there are some questions that want answering.
Intel thirteenth Gen Raptor Lake – Fast Specs
To the common client, it’s troublesome to guage efficiency enhancements by taking a look at a spec sheet alone. Nevertheless, the numbers recreation is actually attention-grabbing and offers you an early take a look at what you may count on from Intel’s thirteenth Gen processors.
In case you’re curious concerning the specs, here’s a fast take a look at all of the processors.
- Intel Core i9 13900K – 24 cores (8 P-cores+16 E-cores), As much as 5.8GHz Turbo, 36MB L3 Cache, DDR5 Assist, and Intel UHD 770 Graphics.
- Intel Core i9 13700K – 16 cores (8 P-cores+8 E-cores), As much as 5.4GHz Turbo, 30MB L3 Cache, DDR5 Assist, and Intel UHD 770 Graphics.
- Intel Core i9 13600K – 14 cores (6 P-cores+8 E-cores), As much as 5.1GHz Turbo, 24MB L3 Cache, DDR5 Assist, and Intel UHD 770 Graphics.
For now, the i9-13900K, i7-13700K, and i5-13600K are the three major processors a part of the launch line-up. There are three different processors as effectively, that are simply the “KF” variations of those SKUs. This consists of the i9-13900KF, i7-13700KF, and i5-13600KF respectively.
The one distinction between the “Ok” and “KF” variants is the shortage of built-in graphics for the KF variations. Other than that, specs and efficiency stay the identical.
Is Intel thirteenth Gen 7nm?
AMD moved to the 7nm course of years in the past with Ryzen 3000. With the launch of AMD Ryzen 7000, they’re now on the 5nm course of. Nevertheless Intel seems to be complacent on this regard previously, and this stays the identical with Raptor Lake.
Intel thirteenth Gen processors are usually not 7nm processors. As a substitute, Intel is utilizing the Intel 7 course of (their very own in-house course of for 10nm). Intel 7 is kind of merely, a rebranding of the 10nm course of. Intel has continued to refine its 10nm course of, and it’s really on par with AMD proper now, no matter transistor measurement.
Nevertheless, to reply your query merely: Intel thirteenth Gen shouldn’t be 7nm.
The query then turns into if all of this even issues within the first place. Whereas Intel continues to be utilizing the 10nm ESF (Enhanced SuperFin Node) course of, benchmarks present that thirteenth Gen is greater than able to taking up AMD’s Ryzen 7000 processors.
This has began to grow to be extra of a numbers recreation than something. Shoppers ought to depend on benchmarks and evaluations anyway, reasonably than all of those CPU advertising and marketing phrases.
Course of Nodes Briefly Defined
When individuals are speaking about 10nm, 7nm, and even 5nm, they’re speaking concerning the course of nodes for a CPU. On paper, a smaller course of node is best as a result of the transistors are smaller. As transistors get smaller, chip makers comparable to TSMC can match extra of them onto their processors.
Normally, extra transistors translate to raised efficiency and general effectivity. Nevertheless, Course of Nodes don’t inform the entire story. It’s typical to count on double the efficiency when the transistors are doubled.
Nevertheless, different components comparable to transistor density, L3 Cache, and extra dictate efficiency simply as a lot. It may well get a bit complicated for the common client, and this is the reason we at all times say you need to belief the evaluations and benchmarks.
Last Ideas
Hopefully, we answered the query as merely as potential. In easy phrases, Intel thirteenth shouldn’t be 7nm. Fairly frankly, whereas this dialogue is attention-grabbing for {hardware} fanatics, tech media shops, and producers, it mustn’t matter all that a lot to the common client.
Raptor Lake is nice even when it’s nonetheless constructed on the 10nm course of. The efficiency and benchmarks don’t lie.
