The Core i9-13900KS is a dumpster fire of a processor and at $699 most builders should ignore it. At the right price may be this could be a great product, you'd just power limit it for more sane operating temperatures, but if you're going to do that the 13900K makes more sense. Short of extreme overclockers, this is a hard pass.
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The Core i9-13900KS is a dumpster fire of a processor and at $699 most builders should ignore it. At the right price may be this could be a great product, you'd just power limit it for more sane operating temperatures, but if you're going to do that the 13900K makes more sense. Short of extreme overclockers, this is a hard pass.
The $699 Core i9-13900KS Special Edition is the fastest gaming chip in the world with its record-setting 6 GHz peak turbo clock, but the costly chip's relatively small performance advantage over the vanilla 13900K isn't worth the eye-watering upcharge.
The Intel Core i9-13900KS is a feat of Intel's push to offer the fastest and, ultimately, best desktop processor on the market. Still, the $729 street price for marginal gains at best, even with a premium 360mm AIO CPU cooler, makes it hard to unequivocally recommend. That said, for users with deep pockets for a suitable chassis, a quality Z790 (or Z690) motherboard, and a premium custom water cooling loop, the Core i9-13900KS is the clear choice if you want to have the best of the best from Intel.