A New Intel Flagship That Cannot Pull Ahead
Intel’s Core 9 273PQE is a Bartlett Lake flagship CPU with 12 performance cores that, despite its higher core count and clock speeds, shows almost no real gaming performance gains compared with the older Core i9-13900K, highlighting how modern gaming workloads depend more on architecture, efficiency, and frequency behavior than on the sheer number of cores alone. In tests by PC Games Hardware, the Core 9 273PQE ran on a Z790 motherboard with a GeForce RTX 5090 and was pushed to around 5.30 GHz, yet the Core i9-13900K still kept pace or led in many titles. The newer chip can officially turbo up to 5.9 GHz, but gaming runs seldom reach that peak, and the 13900K reportedly stayed closer to its own turbo ceiling. This outcome turns what should have been a headline Intel Core 9 gaming performance win into an awkward tie.
Core Count vs. Real-World Gaming Performance
The Bartlett Lake Core 9 273PQE lines up 12 performance cores against the Core i9-13900K’s 8 performance cores and over a dozen efficient cores, yet the gaming scorecard is surprisingly flat. Across around 15 games in the Bartlett Lake CPU benchmark set, the two chips mostly tie, with the 273PQE failing to establish a clear lead in frame rates. According to PC Games Hardware, gaming workloads “don’t require more than 8 performance cores for optimal performance,” which explains why extra P-cores show diminishing returns. Many current game engines are optimized for a limited number of high-frequency threads, not for sprawling multi-core layouts. The 13900K’s efficient cores help in background tasks and some non-gaming workloads, but in a pure gaming CPU comparison, the outcome suggests architectural and scheduling behavior now matter more than headline core counts.
Why Gaming Workloads Refuse to Scale with More Cores
At a technical level, games lean heavily on a few main threads that coordinate physics, AI, and draw calls, while additional threads handle secondary tasks. That structure means throwing more performance cores at the problem does not automatically raise frame rates. The Core 9 273PQE’s inability to beat the 13900K in most Bartlett Lake CPU benchmark runs shows that without better single-thread behavior, cache layout, and memory latency, extra cores sit underused. Clock behavior adds another complication: the 273PQE’s 5.9 GHz maximum turbo is impressive on paper, yet in the tested gaming scenarios it sat closer to 5.30 GHz, leaving promised headroom untapped. Meanwhile, the 13900K operated nearer its own turbo limits, effectively narrowing any advantage the newer silicon might have enjoyed. The result is a CPU that looks powerful in specifications but rarely expresses that power in games.
Design Priorities and the Future of Intel Gaming CPUs
Intel’s handling of Bartlett Lake hints that the company knows this design is not ideal for enthusiast gaming. The Core 9 273PQE is aligned more with embedded or niche platforms, while Raptor Lake and its refresh remain the main consumer offerings. Performance data reinforces that strategy: if a 12 P-core flagship cannot convincingly beat an 8+E-core gaming stalwart like the 13900K, adding more P-cores is not a winning formula. Instead, Intel’s competitiveness will depend on smarter scheduling between core types, higher sustainable gaming clocks, and architectural changes that better match how engines parallelize work. For buyers tracking Intel vs 13900K performance today, the message is clear: the older chip is still a strong gaming choice, and raw P-core count in the latest Intel Core 9 gaming performance lineup is no guarantee of higher frame rates.