While a new socket was expected to be introduced after two years, Intel continues to use Socket 1700 for its 14th generation of Core processors. The top model, the Intel Core i9-14900K, has a total of 24 native cores and 32 threads, which is equivalent to what was already available in the Intel Core i9-13900K. However, Intel has made some improvements to the clock speed, which now directly reaches the 6.0 GHz limit. We were able to determine this in our test, so these are not empty promises from the manufacturer. Unfortunately, Intel hasn’t changed much in terms of power consumption, so the new flagship gets the same PL2 value that we already know at 253 watts. If you also deactivate all restrictions in the BIOS, the power consumption continues to increase significantly, as we will see later in our test. In addition to the top model, we also take a closer look at the Intel Core i5-14600K in this test report. With 14 cores and 20 threads, it achieves the same numbers as the Intel Core i5-13600K Intel Core i5-13600K. However, Intel has also increased the clock speed in this model in order to get a little more performance out of its P and E cores.
We don’t expect any major jumps in performance and Intel hasn’t changed anything in the basic structure of the CPU. For the time being, Intel does not offer a counterpart to AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology, which has enabled AMD to achieve significantly better results in the recent past and put the competition under pressure.
Intel’s pricing also shows that we are on par with the launch of last year’s Raptor Lake S models. With demand typically increasing in the fourth quarter, it remains to be seen where the new models will land. What also plays a role here (in Europe) is the exchange rate between the euro and the dollar.