Intel Core i9-14900K assessment: Too scorching to deal with

Intel’s 14th Gen has lately arrived, however the CPUs have been fairly lackluster to this point. Each the Core i5-14600K and the Core i7-14700K have simply been refreshes in each sense of the phrase, and sadly, the Core i9-14900K appears to observe that development. It is an important CPU in its personal proper, but when the Core i7-14700K was laborious to chill and tame beneath stress, wait till you see how unhealthy this Core i9 can get.

About this assessment: The Intel Core i9-14900K was despatched to us by Intel for the needs of this assessment, and it didn’t have any enter into its contents.

Pricing and availability

The Intel Core i9-14900K is offered for buy now. The KF model, which does not embody built-in graphics, prices $564. With built-in graphics, it goes as much as $589.

Specs

A rise in enhance frequency, and that is about it

The Intel Core i9-14900K is a refresh of final yr’s i9, and there is actually not that a lot of a distinction. There is a minor bump in enhance frequency together with 4 extra E-cores, which is greater than may be stated for the opposite Raptor Lake Refresh processors. The cache is identical, and the fabrication course of continues to be Intel 7.

Wanting on the above desk, there actually is not a lot completely different concerning the Core i9-14900K. It has the identical variety of P cores, E cores, and the one main distinction is a slight enhance in enhance frequency and base frequencies.

Our testing setup

We examined the Intel Core i9-14900K on an Asus Z790 ROG Maximus Darkish Hero motherboard with 32GB of DDR5 6000MHz RAM. We examined this and different processors with an NZXT Z53 Kraken 240mm AiO and a Noctua NH-D15 for cooling. All of those benchmarks have been run on Home windows 11 with an AMD 7900XTX put in.

All information for this assessment was collected through the use of HWInfo and processing that information. HWInfo polls sensors each two seconds by default. The followers on the NZXT Kraken Z53 have been additionally set to 100% to fight any potential thermal limitations and to measure the uncooked efficiency of the CPU.

Energy consumption and thermals

Peak efficiency in sustained multi-core masses

The height measured wattage when testing the Intel Core i9-14900K was 256W, which is sort of 30W shy of the Intel Core i7-14700K. That is not as a result of the i9 is a much less power-hungry chip however quite as a result of it hits 100 levels Celsius so rapidly that it has to tone again its personal efficiency and wattage earlier than it could actually even hit these excessive figures.

You’ll be able to see within the chart above how rapidly it hits that extreme temperature, however it throttles its efficiency over time because it must additional tame the thermal vitality it creates. That is an insane quantity of energy, and whereas it scores 32,518 in Cinebench R23, it is clear that you’re going to want some actually highly effective cooling to tame this beast. Even when idling, it merely doesn’t go beneath 30 levels Celsius in our testing machine.

From our testing, these outcomes should not fully indicative of general efficiency and are decrease than you’d anticipate with higher cooling. Nevertheless, it appears nearly unimaginable to really successfully cool this chip and forestall it from throttling. As I’ve examined this whole lineup, it is felt extra like these are overclocked Raptor Lake CPUs quite than an precise refresh lineup.

Peak efficiency in sustained single-core masses

In single-core, the Intel Core i9-14900K peaks at 72 levels Celsius with a most wattage of 92W. It scores 2,238 in single-core in Cinebench R23, which places it across the typical outcomes of the Core i9-13900K. There aren’t actually every other huge enhancements to be discovered right here, and the outcomes are akin to an overclocked thirteenth Gen i9.

CPU-Z

Curiously, the Intel Core i9-14900K scores worse in CPU-Z than the i7-14700K did. If I have been to guess, I think about that is due to the speedy throttling that takes place beneath load that forestalls this CPU from performing higher, whereas the i7 has somewhat bit extra thermal headroom, although admittedly not a lot.

Geekbench 6

From our testing, it appears fairly clear that the Intel i9-14900K merely cannot sustain its sustained efficiency beneath the thermal situations that it is beneath. With each the NZXT Kraken Z53 and the Noctua NH-D15 it struggled to take care of any excessive stage of output, and that is possible because of the upper core depend and better frequency boosting.

My principle is that within the case of the i7-14700K, it could actually keep extra constant, increased sustained efficiency because of having fewer cores and producing much less warmth, however the i9 generates a lot warmth it has to throttle down beneath even the capabilities of the i7. That is not confirmed, however from the information I’ve collected, that appears to be what’s taking place.

How does the 14900K evaluate to a few of the better of AMD?

We collected information from over 1,000 benchmarks achieved on the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D and AMD Ryzen 9 7900X platforms on Geekbench to get a way of the median efficiency a traditional consumer will get with these CPUs. Our check bench, because of this, is a considerably unrealistic customary compared, as anyone can carry out a Geekbench check, so they are not consultant of real-world peak efficiency.

Nevertheless, since these outcomes are taken from “regular” customers, the exams are probably indicative of the usual consumer and not a extremely targeted check bench constructed with the only real goal of extracting efficiency out of {hardware}. What’s fascinating to notice is that the i9-14900K carried out worse than our i7-14700K, suggesting once more that there could also be thermal-related points that hamper our outcomes to finish up being worse than an i7-14700K in sustained utilization.

Do you have to purchase the Intel Core i9-14900K?

You should purchase the Intel Core i9-14900K if:

• You want the most effective CPU irrespective of the associated fee
• You may have an ideal cooling system
• You may have the funds for a extra highly effective GPU to match

You should not purchase the Intel Core i9-14900K if:

• You do not have enough cooling or do not need to improve your cooling
• You need a clear improve path sooner or later
• You need extra substantial upgrades

The Intel Core i9-14900K is undoubtedly a strong CPU and in a vacuum the most effective CPUs in the marketplace, however that does not imply it is price shopping for. It runs extraordinarily scorching, makes use of lots of energy, and can even be aged significantly with the subsequent technology and Tiles. Should you actually need to persist with the LGA 1700 socket, then that is the most effective CPU you should purchase for it, however should you can maintain of it in any respect, then you definitely’d be higher off ready for the extra appreciable upgrades subsequent yr. You may want some severe cooling to even run this chip on the stage that it is able to, and we advise a 360mm AIO no less than. Even then, I might be skeptical.

Meteor Lake is a number of leaps forward of Raptor Lake. It is produced on a smaller fabrication course of for higher energy effectivity and decrease thermals, makes use of new packaging applied sciences, has an AI NPU engine, and even contains smaller enhancements like Wi-Fi 7. The perfect factor about Raptor Lake Refresh is that anybody on a Twelfth-generation CPU can improve with out upgrading their board, however in any other case, Intel’s Arrow Lake seems to be like it will likely be the subsequent main leap ahead on desktop. Save your cash, await the subsequent technology, and get a brand new motherboard alongside it when it comes out.