Intel Core i5-13600KF multi-core performance fails to impress in maiden Geekbench appearance

An official Raptor Lake SKU chart leaked recently showcasing the possible 13^th gen CPUs that Intel might unveil at the Raptor Lake launch event reportedly scheduled for September 27. Aside from the unlocked K-series processors like the Core i9-13900K, the chart also listed the KF-series Core i9-13900KF, the Core i7-13700KF, and the Core i5-13600KF chips. First spotted by BenchLeaks, the Core i5-13600KF has now made its debut on Geekbench for valid test runs.

The Core i5-13600KF is almost identical to the Core i5-13600K with 14 cores (6 P-cores + 8 E-cores), 20 threads, and a boost clock of up to 5.1 GHz. The only difference between the Core i5-13600KF and the Core i5-13600K is that the latter has an iGPU. Furthermore, the Core i5-13600KF sample under discussion ran on an ASUS PRIME Z690-P WIFI D4 motherboard with 16 GB of unspecified memory. More importantly, the CPU was utilizing a “Balanced” power plan. With such a configuration, the Core i5-13600KF achieved a single-core score of 1,994 and a multi-threaded score of 12,377.

Based on a recent Geekbench appearance of the Core i5-13600K, the single-threaded score of the Core i5-13600KF is within spitting distance of its K-series twin. On the other hand, the multi-threaded result of the KF model is 23% lower than the Core i5-13600K. Ideally, such a wide disparity shouldn’t exist between two similar CPUs. However, there can be a multitude of factors for this performance gap including, but not limited to, the power plan and the memory being used.

Moving on, the Core i5-13600KF’s single-core and multi-core Geekbench 5 scores compare favorably with the Ryzen 5 7600X. Based on the recent Geekbench results for the AMD chip, the Intel chip is about 9% slower in single-core and roughly 9% faster in multi-core tests.

Compared to its predecessor, the Core i5-12600K, the Core i5-13600KF is close to 10% faster in single-threaded tests. Surprisingly, the CPU is about 3% slower in multi-threaded workloads. As we’ve mentioned above, the apparently lackluster multi-threaded performance of the Core i5-13600KF in question is likely gimped by some other factors, hence the unexpected result compared to the Alder Lake Core processor.

Finally, the single-threaded Geekbench 5 performance of the Core i5-13600KF is roughly equivalent to the flagship Alder Lake CPU, the Core i9-12900K. As expected, the mid-range Raptor Lake chip fell behind by 31% in multi-threaded workloads mainly owing to its lower core count (14 vs 16 cores).

As always, these are preliminary numbers of an unreleased CPU. So, we can’t say anything about the performance of the Core i5-13600KF with certainty until we can get our hands on the chip.

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