Foresight: Intel’s all-new Core i9-13980HX mobile chip just broke the 30,000 barrier in Cinebench R23, making it one of the fastest processors to date, ruling out any distinction between desktop and mobile SKUs . With this result, the 13980HX was able to outperform several high-performance desktop processors from Intel and AMD, including the 12-core Ryzen 9 7900X and the 16-core Core i7-13700K.
The benchmark result was shared by Jarrod’sTech when reviewing an i9-13980HX powered MSI GE78 HX Raider. The laptop is fully equipped with 175W Nvidia RTX 4090 Notebook GPU, 64GB DDR5-5600MT/s memory, 240Hz 1600P display and 99.9Wh battery. Cooling is aided by six heat pipes connected to two fans cooling both the CPU and GPU. The laptop also packs MSI’s Overboost which allows the CPU and GPU to combine their power envelope, giving the CPU a total of 250W when the GPU is idling.
According to Jarrod’s review, the 13980HX’s multi-core benchmark execution of 30,498 represents a whopping 30% performance lead over the previous generation Intel Core i9-12950HX. The 13980HX also beats AMD’s Ryzen 9 6900HX by a landslide, scoring twice as fast. So whichever way you look, the 13980HX is the fastest mobile chip right now – at least in Cinebench R23, which tends to be representative of high multi-core productivity performance. We’ll have to wait for the launch of the Ryzen 7000 mobile before we know if Intel can keep that title for the duration of 2023.
The 13980HX is Intel’s latest-generation mobile flagship, featuring Raptor Lake processor architecture, a maximum boost clock of 5.4 GHz, 32 cores, 30 MB L3 cache, 24 MB L2 cache, and a limit of maximum turbo power of 253 watts.
The 13980HX is so fast that it’s also able to compete with some of the best desktop processors, beating our own review samples of the Core i9-12900K, i7-13700K, and Ryzen 9 7900X in the same benchmark — 11.6 % faster than 12900K, 5% faster than i7-13700K and 3.8% faster than Ryzen 9 7900X.
For all intents and purposes, the 13980HX is essentially a Core i9-13900/13900K retrofitted to run inside a laptop based on the chip specs and Cinebench results we see here. Power consumption and CPU performance are so similar to Intel’s desktop chips that it’s odd. MSI GE78 HX owners will benefit greatly, with flagship desktop-class CPU performance on the go. Don’t expect this laptop to be lightweight or cheap.
