News Summary:
-
The Core i5-12490F, a “Black Edition” gaming processor made exclusively for the Chinese market, was released by Intel with the Alder Lake platform. The Core i5-13490F is the immediate replacement for the Core i5-12490F, while the Core i7-13790F is a brand-new chip because there has never been a Core i7-12790F.
-
Two new members will soon join Intel’s 13th Generation Raptor Lake family, which already includes several of the best CPUs. Sadly, it’s possible that the Core i5-13490F and Core i7-13790F won’t be sold in the United States. Both chips have already been seen in Intel documents, but since they haven’t yet appeared in Intel’s ARK database, it’s unclear when they will actually go on sale.
The Core i5-13490F and Core i7-13790F, in contrast, come in black boxes rather than the customary blue Intel box, and Intel doesn’t include a stock cooler, suggesting that they, like the Core i5-12490F, are “Black Edition” chips. The Core i5-13490F and Core i7-13790F lack integrated graphics because they are F-series chips, so pairing them with a discrete graphics card is essential.
The advantage of using either silicon, however, is that the lower tier SKUs allow the chipmaker to repurpose C0 dies that don’t meet the requirements for the higher tier into the lower tier. The Core i5-13490F and Core i7-13790F being the results of Intel’s recycling efforts is therefore very likely.
The Core i5-12490F was merely a tool for Intel to increase revenue from its silicon manufacturing. To cut a long story short, the chipmaker created the C0 and H0 dies for Alder Lake. For its high-end chips, such as the Core i9 and Core i7 SKUs, Intel uses the first, and for its entry-level chips, such as the Core i5 and Core i3 SKUs, it uses the latter.
