Conclusion
Intel has launched its Intel Core 14th Gen Desktop S-series Processor Family, and leading that charge is its flagship Intel Core i9-14900K CPU. The Intel Core i9-14900K has an RCP USD of $589 matching its predecessor, the Intel Core i9-13900K. The Intel Core i9-14900K is based on the same Raptor Lake architecture as found in its Intel Core i9-13900K and 13th Gen Processors.
The Intel Core i9-14900K is merely a refinement of that technology process and offers free clock speed boosts to P-cores and E-cores. It has the same 8 P-core and 16 E-core count with 32 Threads, as well as the same 36MB of L3 cache and 32MB of L2 cache. The Thermal Velocity Boost Frequency is now up to 6GHz, with the P-core Max Turbo at up to 5.8GHz and the E-core Max Turbo at 4.4GHz. It has the same Max Turbo Power of 253W rating.
Since it fits right into LGA1700 sockets, it also works with Intel’s Z600 and Z700 series chipsets which can combine with DDR4 or DDR5. To get the most out of this flagship CPU, DDR5 is the best way to go. You will also want to pair the Intel Core i9-14900K with a motherboard that is enthusiast-focused, with robust VRMs and cooling, such as the ASRock Phantom Gaming Z790 NOVA WIFI motherboard we tested with today. In our review today, we took the new Intel Core i9-14900K through its paces in synthetic system benchmarks, and gaming at 4K, 1440p, and 1080p.
The Fast DDR5 Convo
In our performance testing, we looked at application system benchmark testing and game testing comparing DDR5 at 7200MT/s and 7800MT/s. Our intention was to test 8000MT/s as a comparison, but this was unachievable at this time. It is likely future BIOS updates may allow this, or different motherboards/CPUs and configurations. At any rate, 7800MT/s was not far from the mark, and worked flawlessly, thanks to the XMP profile options on this Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 DDR5 kit.
We found that there was no real-world difference in performance, however, between the two RAM speeds with the Intel Core i9-14900K. It didn’t allow it to really shine any more than it was already shining in performance over the competition or over the Intel Core i9-13900K. In synthetic benchmarks and gaming, we saw maybe a 1% difference at most, maybe 2%, but for the most part, it was the same. In gaming, this was also true, while there was a 1-2% difference at most, in reality, this was not noticeable or made any real-world difference at all.
The fact is, 7200MT/s, or thereabouts, is just fine for Intel Core i9-14900K performance. Would running at 8000MT/s make a difference? Maybe. But we don’t suspect a big one. It may be that much higher frequency DDR5 is needed, well above 8000MT/s, to really open up the 14th Gen CPUs, but at this point, don’t skip rent to have it, just yet. Instead, RAM with multiple XMP profiles that let you set different speeds for stability in the 7000s may be the way to go and will provide great performance.
Performance
Looking at performance with the new Intel Core i9-14900K, we find that it can allow a slight bump or uplift over the Intel Core i9-13900K. Since this is the same architecture, but with a slight bump in clock speed, that is pretty much what you get. The expected result is well… expected. When looking at multi-core or multi-thread performance, the Intel Core i9-14900K has an uplift of about 2-4% compared to the 13900K, with an average of around 3%. In single-core or single-thread performance is where we saw the most benefit, with the Intel Core i9-14900K reaching 4% more often than not.
When we look at system benchmarks in relation to the Ryzen 9 7950X or 7950X3D, the results are more favorable in the Intel Core i9-14900K’s favor. The Ryzen 9 7950X3D falls behind in multi-core workloads, so the main comparison is to the 7950X here. The Intel Core i9-14900K can offer small gains in some places, but bigger in others like 14% in Geekbench, and 7% in 3DMark.
In Cinebench the 14900K was 8% faster than the 7950X, and 14% faster in single-core performance. We also saw much faster render times in HandBrake on the 14900K. It seems the single-thread or core performance is quite a deal higher than the 7950X in the right scenarios.
When it comes to game performance, this is also in favor of the Intel Core i9-14900K over even the Ryzen 9 7950X3D. Starfield was significantly faster on the Intel Core i9-14900K by 20% over the Ryzen 9 7950X and 10% faster than the Ryzen 9 7950X3D. Those are significant gains that matter. This trend continued in Counter Strike 2 where the 14900K was 18-19% faster than the Ryzen 9 7950X/3D as well. Even in Cyberpunk 2077, the 14900K was 15% faster than the 7950X and 7% faster than the 7950X3D. In Dying Light 2 the 14900K was also 6% faster than the 7950X3D and 10% faster than the 7950X.
Final Points
The Intel Core i9-14900K can be faster than the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and Ryzen 9 7950X3D in gaming. However, this does come at a cost, and that cost is power and temperature. The Intel Core i9-14900K is fast in multi-core/thread workloads, single-core/thread workloads, and games.
It’s competitively fast, and undeniably faster in many scenarios. The cost is power. It takes a lot of power to feed the Intel Core i9-14900K to get it to those levels, and at 37% more power than the Ryzen 9 7950X, and 117% more power than the Ryzen 9 7950X3D it is very inefficient in that regard. If you set the BIOS to Intel defaults and clamp power, it will be more restrained, but also slower.
All of that said, if you are an enthusiast, and pair the Intel Core i9-14900K with a good AIO, you can potentially experience games running faster on a fast GPU like the GeForce RTX 4090. With the power debate, all of what we said rides on the fact of running your CPU at full-throttle, all-cores maxed out.
While gaming, this is never the case, the CPU won’t be pulling as much power at this point. Therefore, for gaming, the power concern is minimized. If you want better than Ryzen 9 7950X3D performance and want to swing toward Intel, this is your best option for performance. For office work or content creation, it is also very powerful and rivals the Ryzen 9 7950X a lot more in those scenarios as well.
At the end of the day, the Intel Core i9-14900K is not a replacement or upgrade from the Intel Core i9-13900K or any 13th-gen CPU. It is in fact an iterative update, a refined update, that will carry on the platform longer. It is actually not a terrible upgrade if you have a platform prior to 12th Generation Alder Lake, if you have been waiting to upgrade, moving to a 14th Gen DDR5 platform from an older platform is a pretty decent upgrade that will get you a big bump in gaming performance.
If you are on 12th Gen Alder Lake or newer, you may just want to wait for the next big desktop architecture upgrade from Intel. With the Ryzen 9 7950X3D being more expensive, the Intel Core i9-14900K is not a bad value. It loses a bit of that value against the Ryzen 9 7950X, which is more competitive in efficiency for its performance and price.
