Intel Core i9-13900HX 24-core laptop CPU beats desktop i7-13700K in Geekbench test

Raptor Lake-HX CPU competes with desktop Core i9-12900K

Intel is set to announce its 13th Gen Core mobile processor series in just 2 weeks.

More and more information on Intel Raptor Lake Mobile gets through public benchmarking software databases. Just today, a new gaming laptop manufactured by Clevo has been spotted running an Intel Core i9-13900HX processor, the same CPU that made an appearance with the Razer Blade 18 system a month ago.

Intel Core i9-13900HX CPU Specifications, Source: Geekbench

This CPU features 24 cores and 32 threads, just as many as Core i9-13900K for desktops. This is, in fact, the same die, but repurposed for mobile form factor, which is the entire idea behind the Intel HX CPU series. Unlike the H and HK series, the enthusiast HX processors have increased base power from 45W to 55W, not to mention higher turbo power as well (most likely 157W).

According to the entry, this particular CPU sample boosted to 5.4 GHz which is the same frequency as the Razer Blade 18 CPU. Therefore, it is safe to assume that this is the max boost for this processor. However, it is worth noting that we recently learned about i9-13980HX CPU, which is said to boost even higher, up to 5.6 GHz. However, this processor has not been seen any such leak yet.

Intel Core i9-13900HX Max Boost Clock, Source: Geekbench

In terms of performance, the CPU scores 2039 points in single-core test and 20943 in multi-core. With such scores, this mobile CPU is showing its true colors by competing with high-end desktop CPUs, especially in multi-core. It ends up faster than desktop Core i9-12900K in single-core and faster than i7-13700K(F) in multi-core. That is indeed a good score for a laptop processor.

Intel Core i9-13900HX Geekbench V5 Score, Source: Geekbench

What is important to note: just like the desktop CPU variants, mobile HX CPUs will have reduced GPU core count to 32 units. However, most if not all of those CPUs should not be used without discrete GPUs. The HX series are all about ultimate performance, which means they should be paired with the latest and most powerful graphics cards from NVIDIA (because we do not see Intel and AMD GPUs very often). That said, the i9-13900HX and i9-13980HX processors are more than likely to debut alongside NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series next month.

Source: Geekbench