The newly announced Intel Core i9-13900KS can hit 6Ghz processing speed without overclocking, making it the world’s fastest desktop chip. Intel didn’t introduce a new 4nm or even 3nm process to reach these speeds – it’s made possible by the processor’s Thermal Velocity Boost feature, which allows the chip to run faster when it’s cool enough.
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The i9-13900KS is an upgraded version of the i9-13900K, which Intel released in October last year. The main differences between the two processors are that the older chip reached a maximum speed of 5.8GHz and had a lower base power of 125W compared to 150W in the new chip. However, the i9-13900KS has the same number of cores (24), amount of cache (36MB) and number of PCIe lanes (20) as the i9-13900K.
Compatibility is the same for both chipsets.
The Thermal Velocity Boost feature was first introduced with Intel’s 11th Gen processors. When the temperatures are cool enough, the chips can increase the clock speeds by 100 MHz when the temperature is below the 70 degree Celsius threshold. Of course, the chips need relatively high-end cooling solutions in order to consistently perform below 70 degrees, which not every PC owner does.