Which chip should you pick in the battle of the best midrange CPUs?

• 

  AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D

  AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU is the company's cheapest model with 3D V-Cache and can deliver gaming performance on par or even better than that of the Ryzen 9 7950X.

  Pros

  • Great gaming performance
  • Lower power consumption
  • Higher cache

  Cons

  • More expensive
  • Lower overall performance

• 

  Intel Core i7-13700K

  The Intel Core i7-13700K is a mid-range processor from the company's 13th Gen family of chips. It has a total of 16 cores and 24 threads, offering considerably high levels of performance at a reasonable TDP and price.

  Pros

  • Higher core count
  • Lower price and platform cost
  • Balanced performance

  Cons

  • Consumes way more power
  • Lower cache

If you’re in the market for a mid-range CPU today, you have quite a few good options. Both AMD and Intel have multiple mid-range CPUs competing against each other, but there are a couple of options that stand out. Intel has its 13th Gen i7 champ, the Intel Core i7-13700K, while AMD has the brand new X3D option, the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D. These two are rather close in terms of performance and price, so it’s easy to wonder which one is the right pick for you. Here’s how the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and the Core i7-13700K stack up against each other.

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D vs. Intel Core i7-13700K: Price, specs & availability

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 13th Gen processor, a.k.a. the Intel Raptor Lake chip, launched back in October 2022, at a price of $409. AMD’s Ryzen 7 7800X3D belongs to the Ryzen 7000 series, but it’s a newer chip that launched in April 2023, at a price of $450. Being the newer chip, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is currently selling at the full retail price. The Core i7-13700K isn’t selling at a considerable discount just yet, but you can get it for $30-40 cheaper at some retailers.

The price difference is thus considerable for a mid-range system. The platform cost also favors Intel here. The Core i7-13700K has DDR4 support, which means you can get a cheaper (but slower) motherboard and RAM if you want to save some money. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D only supports DDR5. The platform cost is lower now that some of the best AMD motherboards you can buy — the B650 series motherboards — are here.

The cheapest Ryzen 7 7800X3D system will still cost at least a few bucks more than the cheapest Core i7-13700K system. Although, if you want to get a new-generation DDR5 system, the platform costs boil down to the $40-80 cost difference between the two CPUs.

• 	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D	Intel Core i7-13700K
  Cores	8	8/8
  Threads	16	24
  Architecture	Zen 4	Raptor Lake
  Process	TSMC 5nm	Intel 7 (10 nm)
  Socket	AM5	LGA 1700
  Base Clock Speed	4.2GHz	2.50 GHz / 3.40 GHz
  Boost Clock Speed	5.0GHz	4.20 GHz / 5.40 GHz
  Cache	96MB L3	24 MB
  PCIe	5.0	5.0
  TDP	120 watts	125 W

Architecture differences: Nanometers and cache make a difference

The Intel Core i7-13700K and AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D are great midrange CPUs, but they share some differences in terms of architecture. The Intel Core i7-13700K is a 16-core, 24-thread CPU with eight efficiency cores (E-cores) and eight performance cores (P-cores). The performance cores handle the heavy workload, while the efficiency cores kick in when the system is under a lighter load. On the other hand, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is an eight-core, 16-thread CPU, and all the cores are performance cores.

A major difference between the two is the fabrication process. Intel is still using a 10nm process, although Intel has revamped it, and now calls it Intel 7. On the other hand, AMD is using a 5nm process from TSMC. Another major difference lies in the X3D branding. The X3D CPUs have Ryzen’s 3D V-Cache.

The 7800X3D thus has an additional chip with nothing but L3 cache on it, giving it a potential advantage in gaming because games often rely on cache. So you get a total of 96MB of L3 cache on the 7800X3D, while the i7-13700K has what Intel calls the Intel Smart Cache of 30MB. These CPUs are quite different on paper, so let’s see how their real-world performances measure against each other.

Performance: 13700K has more raw power, but 7800X3D takes the gaming crown

We’ve tested both these chips, and they’re both solid performers for the money. In Cinebench R23, the i7-13700K beats the Ryzen 7 7800X3D in both single-core and multi-core. The i7 has a slightly stronger single-core performance, and the multicore performance is way higher than the Ryzen, mainly due to the higher core count.

However, the gaming numbers tell a different story. As tested by Testing Games on YouTube, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D outperforms the Core i7-13700K in nearly every game tested. It won’t do better in every game, but the 7800X3D is definitely the better gaming CPU, as is evident from this data, as well as the findings in our AMD Ryzen 7800X3D review.

Another important thing to understand while comparing these two CPUs is the performance per watt. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a far more power-efficient CPU than the Core i7-13700K.

The Ryzen 7 7800X3D is able to get peak performance at a power of 162W, while the iCore i7-13700k will draw up to 253W for the same. When you consider this, the 7800X3D seems way better. The Ryzen will run hotter, though, but that’s by design and shouldn’t really affect performance.

With regards to raw performance, the Core i7-13700K has the edge, while the Ryzen 7 7800X3D has the edge in gaming and getting more performance for your power bills.

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D vs. Intel Core i7-13700K: Which one should you buy?

Both the Intel Core i7-13700K and the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D are some of the best CPUs you can buy right now, and it’s difficult to go wrong here. However, both are clear choices for two different kinds of users.

The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is the better CPU of the two, with some of the best gaming performance you can get. It also manages to be really efficient while performing like a champ. The platform cost has been lowered, too, thanks to the cheaper B650 series motherboards. All things considered, the 7800X3D is the better CPU, and the one you should go for, especially if gaming performance and efficiency are important to you. There have been some safety issues highlighted, with the 7800X3D exploding in some conditions. However, the odds are very slim, and most motherboard manufacturers are working on a fix for these issues.

The Intel Core i7-13700K is a fantastic CPU as well, with better peak performance among the two CPUs. It comes with a lower entry point, thanks to the DDR4 support. If you want a chip that has the best performance at the price, especially in CPU-intensive tasks, the 13700K is the way to go. The gaming performance isn’t the best, but it’s plenty good for the price, and will serve you well.