Intel Core i7 13700K 16-core LGA1700

The i7-13700K delivers 94th percentile single-thread and 92nd percentile multi-thread performance, making it one of the best value CPUs for gaming and productivity right now. It runs hot and the LGA1700 platform is end of life, but if you can find it under $400 USD, it's a fantastic buy. Owners love it, with an 88/100 sentiment score and 4.6 stars across nearly 5,000 reviews.

This thing rips. The 45,577 multi-thread PassMark score puts it in the 92nd percentile for multi-threaded work, and the 4,324 single-thread score lands at the 94th percentile. That means it's one of the best on the market for both gaming and heavy productivity. The 8 P-cores handle games and latency-sensitive tasks while the 8 E-cores soak up background work and rendering loads. It's a standout for productivity at 93.3/100 and still strong for AI workloads at 86.5/100. The weak spot is server use at 79.3/100, which makes sense since this is a desktop chip, not a Xeon. Power draw is the trade-off. 125W base and 253W turbo means you'll want a decent cooler and a motherboard with solid VRMs.

Against the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, the 13700K holds its own in multi-threaded work but loses in gaming cache-heavy scenarios. The 9800X3D's 3D V-Cache gives it an edge in games that love cache, but the 13700K counters with better all-around productivity. The MICRO CENTER 265KFPRO890WIFI bundle is a newer platform with an upgrade path, but you'll pay more for it. The be quiet! Ryzen 3 Dark Rock Pro 5 is a cooler, not a CPU, so that's not really a fair fight. The E5-2697 v2 is a server chip from a decade ago, completely different use case. If you're building a gaming rig today and don't care about future CPU upgrades, the 13700K is the value play. If you want a platform that'll last, AMD's AM5 or Intel's newer socket is the safer bet.

Value is where this chip gets interesting. The affordability percentile is only 20th, which means it's not cheap compared to other processors in our database. But the performance you get per dollar is hard to argue with. US pricing is all over the place right now, ranging from $215 to $1,247 across five listings. That's a wild spread. If you can find it near the low end of that range, it's an absolute steal. At the high end, you're better off looking at newer options. Memory Express has it listed in CAD from $600 to $1,599, so shop around before you commit. The sweet spot is finding a deal under $400 USD, which makes this one of the best performance-per-dollar CPUs we've seen.

The i7-13700K is Intel's sweet spot for people who want serious performance without jumping to the i9 price tier. You get 16 cores split into 8 performance and 8 efficiency cores, 24 threads, and a 5.4GHz boost clock. That's a lot of silicon for the money, especially if you're coming from anything 11th gen or older.

It's built on the Raptor Lake architecture with 30MB of L3 cache and 24MB of L2. It supports both DDR4 and DDR5, which is a nice flexibility play if you're upgrading an older board. The catch? This platform is at the end of its life. LGA1700 won't see another generation, so there's no upgrade path beyond this chip family.

Skip this if you're building a brand new system and care about future CPU upgrades. The LGA1700 socket is done, so you'll need a new motherboard for any future Intel CPU. Also skip it if you're sensitive to power consumption or heat, since 253W turbo draw means higher electricity bills and a beefy cooling requirement. If you're on a tight budget and can't find it under $400 USD, the newer budget options from AMD or Intel might make more sense.

The i7-13700K is for gamers and creators who want top-tier performance without paying i9 prices. It's a massive upgrade from older CPUs, and owners consistently rave about the jump in performance. You'll need a good cooler and a quality motherboard to handle the power draw, but that's the cost of entry for this level of speed. If you're building a new system from scratch, consider whether the dead-end LGA1700 socket matters to you. If you're upgrading an existing 600 or 700 series board, this is a no-brainer.