Core i5-13450HX: CPU benchmarks and laptop guide

The Intel Core i5-13450HX is a 2023 Raptor Lake-HX processor with ten cores that anchors the current generation of mid-range gaming laptops, and 13 matched models in the catalog carry it. As a processor it meets the recommended CPU tier in 49 of the 69 games the site tracks. This guide covers where the chip sits among laptop CPUs, what it brings, and which gaming machines feature it.

Where the Core i5-13450HX sits in 2026

A catalog score of 58 places it 186th of 741 scored laptop CPUs — the upper third of the table. The neighborhood: the Ryzen 3 5400U (58.3), Ryzen 5 4600U (58.1) and Core Ultra 7 155H (58) just above, the Ryzen AI Max PRO 380 (58) alongside, and the Core i5-1135G7 (57.9) and Core i5-12600HX (57.9) just below. Scoring neck-and-neck with a modern Meteor Lake Ultra 7 while sitting in a 55 W gaming chassis tells the story: brute-force core counts keep this chip competitive against newer, thinner designs.

What the chip brings

Raptor Lake-HX is a 10-core, 16-thread design — performance cores plus efficient cores — on a 7 nm-class process, rated at 55 W in its HX configuration. Clocks run from a 2.4 GHz base up to 4.6 GHz boost, and the integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 with 80 EUs covers display duties when the discrete GPU idles. Public benchmark data shows a PassMark overall score of 24,583, firmly in modern performance territory.

Games: CPU-side readiness

Measured purely as a processor, the chip clears the recommended CPU tier for 49 of 69 cataloged games — Counter-Strike 2, Metro Exodus, PUBG, Ghost of Tsushima, Black Myth Wukong, Returnal, Dead Space Remake and God of War among them. Another 18 sit at the minimum tier, including Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring, Fortnite, Hogwarts Legacy and Alan Wake 2. Only Starfield and Helldivers 2 ask for more processor than this. These verdicts are CPU-only — actual playability depends on the laptop's GPU and RAM, and in this roster both are typically strong.

Laptops that carry it

The 13-model roster is pure gaming hardware from 2023–2025: ASUS TUF Gaming F16 at $1,152–$1,440, ROG Strix G16 in G614 and G615 trims at $1,152–$1,440, Lenovo's LOQ family across 15- and 17-inch sizes at $1,152–$1,440, the Legion 5 16IRX9 at $1,400 and Legion 5i Gen 9 at $1,152, plus Dell's G15 5530 and G16 7630 around $1,230. Laptops built around it typically show a median gaming index of 82, performance index of 82.6, office comfort at a perfect 100 and a median discrete-GPU rating of about 84 — serious machines, with a portability index of just 24.7 as the expected trade-off.

Bottom line

The i5-13450HX is the value heart of the modern $1,150–$1,440 gaming-laptop tier: ten cores cover 49 of 69 games at recommended CPU settings, and every machine around it pairs the processor with a capable discrete GPU and real cooling. Only the two most CPU-hungry titles in the catalog exceed it. Buyers wanting quieter, lighter machines should look at newer low-power designs; buyers wanting maximum frames per dollar in a thick chassis are exactly who this chip serves.