Core i7-13700 vs Core i9-12900K

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

The Core i7-13700 and the Core i9-12900K are within a few percent of each other for gaming. In a game, you will not see the difference.

The Core i7-13700 has 16 cores and 24 threads, and the Core i9-12900K has 16 cores and 24 threads. Core counts are the same, so cache size and clock speed decide the difference. Boost clocks are 5.2 GHz and 5.2 GHz.

Platform, power and price

Both chips use the LGA1700 socket, so they fit the same motherboards. You can swap one for the other without changing the board.

Rated power is 65 W for the first and 125 W for the second. That difference changes the cooler you need, and it shows up in heat and noise.

At launch the Core i7-13700 cost $384 and the Core i9-12900K $589, which gives 20.1 and 12.9 points of gaming performance per $100. Today's prices will differ.

Which graphics cards each one can feed, and which to buy

At 1080p the Core i7-13700 can feed a card up to the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Core i9-12900K reaches the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Core i7-13700 if you want the faster gaming chip and the same or more cores. Choose the Core i9-12900K if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.