Conclusion
In today’s CPU gaming performance comparison review, we took the Intel Core i9-14900K and compared it versus the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D in 20 games to see who offers the fastest gameplay performance. Has Intel taken back the performance crown in gaming? Well, yes and no, depending on the game.
The Intel Core i9-14900K is Intel’s 14th Gen Desktop Processor, sitting in the top flagship position from Intel. Though this Raptor Lake-based CPU is a Refresh, it does have consistently higher clock speeds and DLVR (Digital Linear Voltage Regulator) enabled. The extra clock speed boost helps in-game performance, providing a consistent and expected performance uplift. The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D was launched earlier in 2023 and contains AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology to stack a lot of L3 cache onto one CCD providing something games crave. Where Intel has pushed clock speed, AMD has pushed for more L3 cache.
Performance Summary
As we can see from the game testing in this review, out of 20 games tested, the Intel Core i9-14900K was faster than the Ryzen 7 7800X3D in 10 out of those 20 games, technically. However, a couple of games were very close in performance, within 1 or 2 FPS, so it’s hard to count that as that much faster. Overall then, it looks like the games are split right down the middle, with half being faster on the 14900K, and the other half faster on the 7800X3D. Some more recent games, like Starfield do appear to be faster on the 14900K.
The Intel Core i9-14900K’s performance advantage ranged from 1%-15% over the Ryzen 7 7800X3D depending on the game. The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D’s performance advantage ranged from 1%-15% over the Intel Core i9-14900K depending on the game. Therefore, both had an equal amount of performance advantage headroom over the other, depending on the game’s sensitivities. When performances were under 10%, the practical advantages were minuscule and undetectable in gameplay. When you start reaching over 10% in a few games, in the 14% or 15% range, then it becomes more meaningful.
Final Points
As we can see from this 20-game benchmark, the advantage that one CPU has over another is specifically game-specific. Every game behaves differently, and some crave extra L3 cache, while others really prefer raw CPU frequency. While frequency will generally allow higher game performance, L3 cache won’t always, and that creates more randomness in regards to possible performance gains with games on the 7800X3D.
If the game doesn’t benefit from the extra L3 cache, then you are completely bound by the frequency for a performance uplift. This is where the Intel Core i9-14900K’s strength lies, as it has the raw boost speeds in frequency that generally are more predictable and reliable as a means to improve game performance in every game compared to just increasing the L3 cache size. In an ideal world, you’d want both frequency and the highest L3 cache, with low latency.
In addition, the uplift usually only occurs in CPU-limited scenarios, such as 1080p with a really fast GPU. If you are playing at 1440p, and especially 4K, you are GPU-bound even with a GeForce RTX 4090. If you prefer to play games at maximum settings, and with Ray Tracing, you are also GPU-bound more often than not, making the differences a bit moot here.
One thing that cannot be denied, however, is the power draw differences between the Intel Core i9-14900K and AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D. You can read our full Intel Core i9-14900K review for power data, and our Ryzen 7 7800X3D review also for power data. You will find that the Ryzen 7 7800X3D has a much more efficient, and eloquent approach for improving game performance by increasing the L3 cache size, while the Intel Core i9-14900K is a brute-force approach by pushing power and frequency as hard as possible. Both methods have merit for increasing game performance, and in an ideal world, you’d want both frequency and L3 cache size increases.
If we have to put our finger on the best value for gaming, it is easily the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D. It uses less power, is cheaper, and is competitively fast for gaming. But it is certainly not the best CPU for productivity, and that is something the Intel Core i9-14900K can provide in addition to being the fastest gaming CPU. It’s going to cost more, and it’s going to demand greater energy and cost, but with the 14900K, you get the fastest gaming CPU and the fastest productivity CPU all-in-one. It all depends on your needs.
