Intel's new 14th Gen Chips

The 6 GHz $589 Core i9-14900K, $409 Core i7-14700K, and $319 Core i5-1600K are the three top-end overclockable models in Intel's 14th-generation Core "Raptor Lake Refresh" series, which competes with AMD's Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 lineup. The 6 GHz 14900K from Intel sets a new record for the highest clock rate for a standard chip. However, it's actually the second chip from Intel to achieve that high benchmark; the expensive $700 special-edition Core i9-13900KS also reached 6 GHz, but it cost roughly $100 less.

In order to counter AMD's Ryzen 7000X3D models, which presently top our list of the best CPUs for gaming, Intel kept the prices of its three new 14th-generation models the same as those of the previous generation. The company even states that its fastest chip outperforms AMD's best when it comes to gaming. Even so, AMD should face fierce competition from Intel's Raptor Lake Refresh, which offers a well-balanced combination of productivity and gaming performance, until the Zen 5 Ryzen 8000 lineup is released.

The codename suggests that Intel's most recent chips are an updated variant of the 13th-Gen Raptor Lake processors, which were first introduced about a year ago. Intel optimized its chips to make them more appealing, even though its refresh generation doesn't offer the significant gen-on-gen leaps we would usually see with new core microarchitectures—there are no IPC gains because the chips use the same underlying design as their Raptor Lake predecessors.

With twelve E-cores (efficiency) now compared to eight with the previous generation, Intel's Core i7-14700K is just four E-cores short of matching the Core i9 model. The Core i7-13700K from the previous generation offered almost the same gaming performance as the Core i9-13900K at a much cheaper price, and the gaming performance difference between the Core i7 and i9 has become even smaller.

While the boost frequencies of all three chips are marginally higher, the Core i5-14600K and Core i9-14900K have the same number of cores as the previous generation of chips. The 14th generation chips are able to achieve these higher frequencies within the same power envelopes (PL1/PL2) as the previous generation models, thanks to tight binning and a more recent version of the 'Intel 7' process node. They do draw more power than the models from the previous generation, though, if you leave your motherboard at the factory default settings that raise the power limits. Actually, we used the 14900K to measure a peak of 359 watts; further details are provided below.

Utilizing machine learning, Intel has integrated a new AI Assist program into its XTU tuning tool to provide personalized one-click overclocking settings for the Core i9 models. Additionally, the business has a brand-new Application Optimization (APO) program that recognizes specific games and instantly modifies thread affinities to improve performance.

Now you know what all the fuss is about