Forward-looking: Intel’s brand new Core i9-13980HX mobile chip just broke the 30,000 barrier in Cinebench R23, making it one of the fastest CPUs to date — excluding any distinctions between desktop and mobile SKUs. With this result the 13980HX was able to outperform several high performance desktop CPUs from both Intel and AMD, including the 12-core Ryzen 9 7900X and 16-core Core i7-13700K.

The benchmark result was shared by Jarrod’sTech while reviewing a MSI GE78 HX Raider powered by the i9-13980HX. The laptop is fully kitted out with a 175W Nvidia RTX 4090 laptop GPU, 64GB of DDR5-5600MT/s memory, 240Hz 1600P screen 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 that 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 30,498 multi-core benchmark run represents a massive 30% performance lead over Intel’s previous generation Core i9-12950HX. The 13980HX also beats AMD’s Ryzen 9 6900HX by a landslide, with a score that’s 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 heavy multi-core productivity performance. We will have to wait for Ryzen 7000 mobile to launch before we know if Intel can hold onto that title for the duration of 2023.

The 13980HX is Intel’s latest-generation mobile flagship, featuring the Raptor Lake CPU architecture, a 5.4GHz maximum boost clock, 32 cores, 30MB of L3 cache, 24MB of L2 cache and a maximum turbo power limit of 253 watts.

The 13980HX is so fast it is able to contend with some of the best desktop CPUs as well, beating out our own review samples of the Core i9-12900K, i7-13700K, and Ryzen 9 7900X in the same benchmark –11.6% faster than the 12900K, 5% faster than the i7-13700K, and 3.8% faster than the Ryzen 9 7900X.

For all intents and purposes, the 13980HX is basically a Core i9-13900/13900K retrofitted to run inside of a laptop based on the chips specs and the Cinebench results we’re seeing here. The power consumption and CPU performance are so similar to Intel’s desktop chips its uncanny. MSI GE78 HX owners will benefit greatly from this, having flagship desktop-class CPU performance on the go. Just don’t expect this laptop to be light nor cheap.