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This year is an important one for Intel, AMD, and anyone looking to buy or build a new system in Q4. Rumors about Raptor Lake and Zen 4 ‘Raphael’ CPUs have been floating for some time. But the finding for sale of a ‘Core i9 13900K’ means that a reportedly unreleased Raptor Lake CPU has been spotted on the black market.
As reported by Videocardz, the alleged Core i9-13900K appeared on a Chinese site and was sold for 2850RMB. That’s around $426. Other details from the listing provide some interesting suggestions.
The listing stated that the processor booted up and could be overclocked. Additionally, it stated the CPU featured 8 performance cores, 16 efficiency cores, with 32-threads, and that it worked on an ASUS Z690 ROG APEX motherboard.
This CPU may well have been an engineering sample of the Core i9-13900K. After all, parties do have access to pre-release software that doesn’t always go back to the chip maker. If it was, it would suggest that Raptor Lake CPUs are nearing a state of production readiness.
It would also seem to back up what’s expected of higher-end Raptor Lake SKUs, based on the listed core count.
If the sample was real, 16 efficiency cores would be double that of Alder Lake’s Core i9-12900K. That would also lend some credence to the rumors that the Core i9-13900K will feature 24 cores and is set to be 20% faster than its predecessor.
However, it is worth repeating that none of the details about the listing can be confirmed. With a partially blurred top-down chip shot accompanying it, there’s no way to see the CPU’s identity. And there’s no way to confirm the actual listing itself.
At this point, while we’re still lacking confirmation of a detailed specifications and a full line-up from Intel, the listing has piqued interest. But as we pass the halfway point in 2022, we get nearer to a prospective launch of both Raptor Lake and AMD’s ‘Raphael’ Zen 4 CPUs using the AM5 socket.
It won’t be too long until we see the actual CPUs in the wild. That’s not to say we won’t see more black market listings appear though.