Intel Core i9-13900K drops to all-time-low under $400 in Black Friday deal

Intel’s Core i9-13900K desktop processor has hit its lowest price on Amazon for Black Friday. This processor launched as the Raptor Lake desktop flagship CPU in October 2022 and remains a potent force two years later. The big difference is that at $399.61, it is now half the money people would have had to splash out to grab one when it first hit retail, according to three camels.

So, what do you get with the Core i9-13900K? This CPU comes packing eight Raptor Cove cores doing duty as the performance cores (P-cores) plus 16 Gracemont efficiency cores (E-cores). Users thus benefit from 24 cores and 32 threads of processing power. P-core base/boost frequencies ranged from 3.0 to 5.8 GHz. Intel also fitted 68MB of total cache, and the CPU ran at 125W Base Turbo Power and up to 253W using Thermal Velocity Boost and Turbo Boost 3.0 tech.

The Core i9-13900K was crowned the fastest gaming chip in 2022. However, any recommendation had specific warnings about high power consumption and cooling requirements. We would later learn that Intel’s powerful Raptor Lake chips (and 14^th Gen refresh parts) used microcodes that elevated CPU voltage levels beyond safe limits. However, starting in September this year, Intel identified, outlined, and issued mitigations for the root cause of Raptor Lake / Refresh issues and failures dubbed Vmin Shift Instability.

An attractive quality of a CPU like the Core i9-13900K in 2024 is that it can be partnered with a wide range of existing socket LGA 1700 motherboards. You can also build a platform that uses either DDR4 or DDR5 RAM, which could save money for DIY desktop upgraders. It might be most attractive to those currently using an Alder Lake CPU or a lower-tier processor from the Raptor Lake (Refresh) family used as a stopgap.

However, this lowest-ever-priced Core i9-13900K might also appeal to those considering a new build. There are plenty of great Black Friday bargains for SSDs, Monitors, and more around now to assemble completely new PC systems capable of high-end gaming fun and accelerated content creation tasks.