Note that this post is tagged as rumor.
Intel Raptor Lake goes on sale, a bit
As usual, Intel’s engineering sample CPUs are available on the black market months before launch.
The introduction of the 13th generation Core series is not expected until September or October this year, but that doesn’t stop people with access to pre-release hardware from actively selling it. As Intel goes through its production cycle and the samples receive many iterations, some become obsolete for the parties involved, which is how they end up at auction sites.
Technically speaking, these samples should go back to Intel, but Intel rarely goes through the trouble of collecting them. This is how some units end up in Chinese places often with really interesting prices.
It is confirmed that the supposed Core i9-13900K CPU works on the ASUS Z690 ROG APEX motherboard. The description states that it boots and even supports overclocking. It is a complete Raptor Lake silicon with 8 Raptor Cove cores and 16 Gracemont cores. No other details available.
Supposed Core i9-13900K sample, Source: GoFish
Because the seller hid all the important information, such as the CPU specification code and QR codes, we cannot confirm if this sample is really Raptor Lake, and we will probably never know, because the sample is already sold. It was quoted at 2850 RMB (426 USD), which is really a good price for an early sample.
We haven’t seen any 13th Gen Core K series CPUs yet, but the non-K variant has recently been tested by Expreview. Both samples have the same rectangular Intel logo, which confirms that it was manufactured this year.
Source: GoFish via @ExperteVallah