A New Intel Flagship That Fails To Move Gaming Forward
Intel’s Core 9 273PQE is a Bartlett Lake flagship CPU with 12 performance cores that, despite its higher core count, delivers gaming performance that is essentially tied with older high-end Intel chips, raising questions about architectural gains and software optimization for modern games. In testing by PC Games Hardware reported via Wccftech, the Core 9 273PQE was pushed to around 5.30 GHz and paired with an RTX 5090, yet it did not show clear gaming gains over the 8+16-core Core i9-13900K. The newer chip’s fully P-core design was expected to shine in game engines, where fast cores matter most, but frame-rate results across roughly 15 titles showed near parity. That outcome undercuts the idea that adding more P-cores alone will improve Intel Core 9 gaming performance and suggests other bottlenecks are now in play.
Benchmarks: 12 P-Cores vs 8 P-Cores, But No Real Win
PC Games Hardware set up a like-for-like comparison between Bartlett Lake and Raptor Lake, matching TDP, memory, and platform as closely as possible before running more than a dozen titles on a GeForce RTX 5090. Even though Intel’s Core 9 273PQE carries 12 P-cores against the Core i9-13900K’s 8 P-cores plus efficient cores, the two CPUs tied in most CPU gaming benchmarks. According to Wccftech, “in around 15 games, the flagship Bartlett Lake chip, i.e., the Core 9 273PQE, couldn't beat the Core i9-13900K despite having four more Performance cores.” The i9-13900K also ran closer to its maximum turbo clock than the 273PQE in gaming loads, suggesting frequency behavior and boosting algorithms still matter more than extra cores once you reach eight fast cores.
Architectural Limits, Game Engines, and Why More Cores Don’t Help
The stagnant Intel Core 9 gaming performance highlights a basic mismatch between modern CPUs and game engines. Most games are still optimized for a limited number of fast threads, so once a chip offers around eight strong P-cores, extra cores sit idle or handle background tasks. Wccftech notes that “gaming workloads don't require more than 8 performance cores for optimal performance,” which explains why a 12 P-core part cannot pull ahead in typical benchmarks. The Core 9 273PQE’s inability to hit its 5.9 GHz rated turbo in games, while the i9-13900K runs closer to its own peak, further erodes its advantage. BIOS maturity and platform tuning may still improve results, but the current data suggests architectural tweaks and smarter boosting are more critical than pushing core counts higher for flagship CPU performance in games.
Intel vs AMD Gaming: A Tougher Fight At The Top
While this comparison focuses on two Intel chips, it hints at a tougher Intel vs AMD gaming battle. The PC Games Hardware chart shared by Wccftech shows AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X3D Dual Edition leading the CPU index at a normalized score of 100.0, while the Core i9-13900K scores 78.3, leaving Intel’s new Bartlett Lake part with little room to impress. If Intel’s latest 12 P-core design cannot exceed its own previous-generation flagship in CPU gaming benchmarks, keeping pace with AMD’s cache-heavy gaming processors becomes harder. For enthusiasts, that means the gaming crown is less about raw core counts and more about cache layout, latency, and how well each architecture feeds a powerful GPU. Intel’s incremental gaming gains, contrasted with AMD’s strong top-end scores, risk weakening Intel’s appeal among buyers who upgrade mainly for higher frame rates.
What This Means for Gamers Planning a CPU Upgrade
For gamers eyeing a high-end upgrade, the Core 9 273PQE story sends a clear signal: do not assume more P-cores will boost your frame rates. With the 12-core Bartlett Lake chip tying the 8+16-core i9-13900K in most titles, existing owners of recent Intel flagships have little incentive to switch if gaming is the only priority. Platform factors such as motherboard, BIOS, and memory can still sway results, but the benchmarks suggest that eight fast cores remain the sweet spot. Gamers should focus on real-world CPU gaming benchmarks, target clocks in sustained loads, and GPU pairing instead of marketing claims about core counts. Until Intel introduces a meaningfully faster gaming architecture—or game engines scale much better—its latest flagship CPU performance is unlikely to transform the experience compared with well-tuned, earlier-generation chips.