How should the core and thread counts of Core i7 13700T be understood, and do more cores help in games?

  The Core i7 13700T is 16 cores and 24 threads (8 performance + 8 efficiency) on Raptor Lake, LGA1700, 1.4GHz base and 4.9GHz max turbo, 30MB L3. Same spec as the standard 13700, but the T suffix drops base power to 35W with 106W max turbo power; it shows up in Dell, HP, and Lenovo mini PCs and SFF systems, and it's a solid pick for low-power office and home boxes.

  For gaming, 8 P-cores are more than enough and frames come from the GPU; for all-core loads like rendering and encoding, the 106W ceiling limits sustained performance well below the standard 13700. The right way to read the T suffix: it saves electricity and cooling space, not performance — if you want speed, the non-T part is the one to get.