Intel Core i9 14900K 24-Core, 32-Thread CPU
The Intel Core i9 14900K 24-Core, 32-Thread CPU is Intel’s highest-end 14th generation CPU and offers the highest boost clocks for a consumer-grade CPU from Intel to date, clocking in at an impressive 6 GHz natively.It succeeds the limited-release Intel Core 13900KS as the first mainstream 6 GHz CPU, even as it brings a large power draw and thermal requirement to reach said clock speed.
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is AMD’s latest and greatest CPU when it comes to gaming. With an excellent and highly efficient gaming performance that tops the charts currently, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is here to stay and has a crown to claim thanks to its 3D V-Cache-enabled prowess when it comes to gaming on a PC.The octa-core CPU currently happens to be the fastest in the business for gaming even as it leads efficiency charts at the top, making it a very sought-after gaming upgrade.
Intel’s 14th-generation CPUs have been met with mixed reviews and relatively lukewarm user sentiment. Much of that stems from how close the newer generation is to the old one, with the aptly titled ‘Raptor Lake Refresh’ essentially being just a slightly better-clocked version of the preceding 13th-generation CPUs across the board,baring some exceptions like the 14700K, which also sees a core count bump in play.
At the same time, users are appreciating both the added value from Intel maintaining prices while still offering better performance, and the compatibility of the refreshed CPUs, which work with essentiallyany LGA 1700 motherboardout there provided their power requirements are handled adequately. Most, if not all, 12th and 13th-generation motherboards received BIOS updates recently that enabled support for the 14th-generation ‘Refresh’ CPUs.
This, however, brings many questions to the table about the 14th-generation CPU lineup’s viability when it comes to raw performance, power consumption, and potential upgrades for users who have a 12th or 13th-generation CPU. The overwhelming consensus is that while the 14th generation is a modest upgrade over 12th-generation CPUs, though a mild one over its 13th-generation equivalent processors. This new CPU generation is focused on targeting enthusiasts who upgrade each cycle, as well as users holding out on an upgrade while coming from older Intel or AMD platforms.
Why Is The Ryzen 7 7800X3D The Gaming CPU To Beat?
AMD’s Ryzen 7 7800X3D has yet to cede its position as the CPU to beat for gamers since its launch on the heels of the higher-end Ryzen 9 7900X3D and Ryzen 9 7950X3D, both of which it edges out when it comes to raw gaming performance. AMD does this by leveraging its 3D V-Cache tech, which delivers impressive gaming performance even as most productivity workloads are not impacted meaningfully. It accomplishes this by stacking a large L3 cache on top of the 8-Core Zen4-based CCD that allows for fast data access to larger chunks of data, something that game engines in particular benefit from, resulting in better performance.
The question that needs to be answered for most users is whether the gaming-centric Ryzen 7 7800X3D offers an edge versus a now resurgent Raptor Lake flagship that can push as much as 6GHz clocks on single cores out of the box. This, coupled with the 14900K’s brute force makes it an interesting head-to-head comparison. The Core i9 14900K also has 2 more aces up its sleeve that differentiate it from last year’s 13900K flagship: Intel’s APO scheduler optimizations and an AI-assisted version of Intel’s XTU utility that allows enthusiasts to push the 6 GHz behemoth even further with a capable motherboard, memory, and cooling combination.
A head-to-head comparison between the 24-core, 32-thread Intel Core i9 14900K and the 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7 7800X3D feels very much like a comparison between two different classes of hardware products. That is because they are exactly just that, with Intel leading the number-crunching, power-hungry charts for performance significantly, offering nearly twice the PassMark multicore score and a healthy lead in single-core performance below:
Raphael AM5 “Zen 4”
Oct 17th 2023
April 6th 2023
2-Core Custom RDNA 2
1.65GHz
2.2GHz
24
8
16
Number of threads
32
3.2GHz
4.2GHz
6GHz
5.0GHz
32MB
8MB
36MB
96MB
61138
34416
4786
3755
$545
$362
It does, however, result in the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D having some understated qualities that make it such a strong gaming CPU candidate currently. It happens to be cheaper, significantly more efficient in terms of power draw, requires a less demanding cooling mechanism, and still manages to hold its own as the processor to beat for the gaming crown.
This does not mean that the Intel Core i9 14900K is a slouch by any measure. It offers 16 more efficient cores, allowing it to dominate benchmarks and more demanding workloads in addition to higher single-core clocks. This allows it to get a lead in certain titles that require more number-crunching potential or otherwise benefit from single-core performance gains, such asCivilization 6,Diablo 4, andStarfield.
- It is important to note that PassMark CPU scores are an aggregate of how much the average Intel Core i9 14900K or Ryzen 7 7800X3D performs. There could be a variety of settings, overclocked conditions, or thermal restrictions in play which could skew numbers slightly thanks to certain outliers. This is particularly true for both of the CPUs above because they do not come bundled with a stock cooler and much of their performance gains are contingent upon having adequate cooling in play.
On the flip side of this argument, one could point out that these might be some of the best real-world ratings one can get for CPU benchmarks currently. Both the 14900K and 7800X3D have at least 1000 and 3000 samples respectively, making Passmark a great way to gauge the raw compute power each CPU offers to an end user, but it is not a reliable indicator for gaming performance. The Team at Game Rant has listed Passmark scores that match the latest numbers available at the time when the article was written.
A Power-Hungry Refresh
The Intel Core i9 14900K isn’t just a new CPU. To its naysayers, it is essentially a re-badged Core i9 13900KS with better pricing and availability, a notion that is hard to argue with given how closely it compares in benchmark tests. For others, however, in a PC market that sees nearly all hardware costs push upwards, getting better performance at essentially the same price that the 13900K commanded at launch ($589 as notified by Intel) and being able to make a linear upgrade from a lower end 12th or 13th generation CPU has its perks.
As Intel’s most expensive consumer-grade CPU currently, the Intel Core i9 14900K offers significant power thanks to its 8-performance core, 16-efficiency core configuration that delivers a combined 32 threads for its mammoth $589 MSRP. At the same time, it is demanding in more ways than one. It requiresa high-end motherboardwith VRMs to handle its power draw at higher clocks, with a PSU that can handle its increased power demands. On the cooling end, it requiressome of the best AIOsin the business to avoid any thermal throttling for a chip that can draw as much as 400W of power and generate heat in the same vein.
The Core i9 14900K is simply a slightly tweaked version of the 13900K, with higher clocks and power draw to boot. This makes it vulnerable to criticism from enthusiasts looking for something that comprehensively beats the competition in games and efficiency. That doesn’t make 14900K an inferior product for any new users, but one that will potentially allow consumers to hold off on an upgrade for longer than those who pass on it.
Intel does, however, have an ace up its sleeve, but only time will tell how effective it is. The company is pushing its APO (Intel Application Optimization) solution as a means to generate significantly higher frames than the competition by tweaking code on existing games that implement it for better handling by the Windows scheduler. Where implemented, it has been quite impressive, showcasing anywhere from 15 to 20% gains in frame rates.
This is also where its limitations may lie. It is limited to the penultimate Intel Core i7 14700K/KF and the Intel Core i9 14900K and its iGPU-less 14900KF variant. This means that games aiming to use this underlying tech are going to see gains only in Intel’s highest and second-highest tier of 14th-generation CPUs. This could effectively limit the implementation of APO in many titles until a more widespread launch with a 15th-generation CPU down the line. If it receives more widespread support over time, it could, however, essentially result in the 14900K wresting back the gaming crown from AMD’s CPUs this generation.
The Octa-Core Gaming CPU Of The Year
The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is an 8-core, 16-thread CPU that can best be summarized as a fusion of a slightly lower-clocked Ryzen 7 7700X, coupled with a chunk of L3 cache stacked on top. It follows the logic of “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it,” applying the 3D V-Cache approach that made the 5800X3D a CPU that can still hold its own in modern games.
It continues to lead gaming charts with a healthy margin over both its higher-end, higher-core alternatives and Intel’s higher-clocked 13th and 14th-generation CPUs. This is despite Intel pushing higher clocks in the 14th generation in a bid to make them more competitive. However, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is not a number-crunching behemoth. Due to the lower clocks it offers, it is generally slower than the Ryzen 7 7700X in most productivity-related workloads.
One could argue that the octa-core 7800X3D specializes in games only and caters exclusively to that market. This makes it unfair to compare it with higher core, higher clocked CPUs that are more general-purpose processors and more consistent in workloads that do not resemble games. That does mean that the Ryzen 7 does have its disadvantages for power users looking for a more well-rounded CPU for their needs.
For users looking for more power under the hood,the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3Doffers another octa-core CCD, taking its core count up to 16 versus the 8 that the Ryzen 7 7800X3D offers. This allows it to game nearly as well as the Ryzen 7 CPU while delivering massive gains on the productivity front as an alternative CPU to the Intel Core i9 14900K.
For gamers, however, the massively disproportionate discounts on the Ryzen 7 7800X3D coupled with its already better value for money for gaming PCs make it a no-brainer purchase versus its core-heavy sibling.
Intel Core i9 14900K Vs Ryzen 7 7800X3D: Gaming Performance Overview
The Core i9 14900K decimates the Ryzen 7 7800X3D in raw computing power because of its 8+16 core performance plus efficiency core configuration, versus the lower-clocked 8-core Zen 4 offerings that the latter brings to the table. At the same time, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D holds its own versus a processor that is at times twice as fast in non-gaming workloads.
Gaming benchmarks available via the South Korean site QuasarZone show the 7800X3D maintaining an overall lead in FHD titles, with the 14900K gaining ground at higher resolutions.
Most gaming benchmarks generally follow a rule-of-thumb approach of lowering the resolution as much as possible in a bid to discover how well a CPU can perform in a situation where a GPU bottleneck is not a factor. The South Korea-based hardware enthusiast site QuasarZone has tested both using the RTX 4090 FE and offered test results in FHD, 2K, and 4K. As expected, to a certain degree, the results in FHD (where there is no bottleneck in play) show that the Ryzen 7 7800X3D still holds its own as the faster gaming CPU, even as Intel’s Raptor Lake Refresh push aims to narrow the gap with the 14900K.
However, the tests also indicate that the higher clock speeds on the 14900K do come into play at higher resolutions, as a more visible bottleneck potentially limits the 7800X3D’s performance, with the 14900K winning slightly at the 2K and 4K benchmarks across a 10-game test bench. The difference is slightly more pronounced in the 4K benchmark, however.
The 4K benchmark puts the 7800X3D in an overall lead, but one that users could discount currently at higher resolutions with meaningful gains, as pointed out earlier in titles such asStarfield, PUBG: Battlegrounds, Overwatch 2, andDiablo 4. It also shows that while Intel can’t comprehensively beat the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, it does noticeably reduce the gap to the point that power users and gamers could overlook it, especially at higher resolutions.
It is important to point out that the most accurate benchmark would be to run at the lowest graphics settings and a low resolution (FHD or lower) to gauge the CPU’s potential in terms of raw performance. The tests above use a ‘very high’ graphics preset, which could skew graphs slightly for certain titles.
Intel Core i9 14900K Vs Ryzen 7 7800X3D: Value Proposition
The Intel Core i9 14900K clocks in at a high $589 MSRP, while the Ryzen 7 7800X3D commands an MSRP of $450. This difference, however, is amplified by a street price of $600 and $370, respectively, at the time of writing, with the latter processor dipping to as low as $350 during Amazon’s Prime Day and competing shopping events. This makes it a more David versus Goliath situation both in terms of core count and price points, even as both CPUs cater to slightly different audiences and overlap when it comes to enthusiast gamers.
Intel offers 24 cores and 32 threads for $590, which translates to slightly better performance per dollar spent when it comes to most benchmarks that involve number-crunching or workloads that are heavily multithreaded. Likewise, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D easily decimates it when it comes to value for money in terms of frames per second per dollar spent, thanks to its low price and de facto discount over the suggested retail price.
The most interesting part of comparing the Ryzen 7 7800X3D to the Intel Core i9 14900K is the power efficiency. This is relevant for multiple reasons. Primarily, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D runs at a low 50W versus the Intel Core i9 14900K, which can push near the 140-150W mark while gaming. This is important because the 14900K simply costs more to run in terms of raw power, and will cost more in the long run by as much as three times if CPU power alone is measured.
This would result in an overblown number, however, because the main power draw while gaming comes from the GPU, though a sub-100W power draw increase is nothing to scoff at since there is more than just the power draw in play here. Intel’s CPU requires better VRMs to perform to spec and therefore a better class of motherboard. This adds to its cost even further, especially when including the PSU considerations that some gamers might have to deal with due to the 14900K’s peak power draw, which in some cases hits as much as over 400W (not while gaming, however).
Likewise, cooling is another factor, with users having to invest significantly in the 14900K to factor in what is the hottest CPU chip across the board this generation in terms of TDP when under load. This adds to a significant amount of cost for users looking to run Intel’s finest CPU in all its glory.
Intel’s Core i9 14900K vs AMD’s Ryzen 7 7800X3D In 2024
Not much has changed in 2024 when users look to compare the Ryzen 7 7800X3D to the Intel Core i9 14900K, with the former still leading most gaming benchmarks and the latter leading or trading blows against the Ryzen 9 7950X3D in most productivity tests. While the Ryzen 7 7800X3D saw a brief uptick at the start of 2024, closing in on a sub-$400 price tag after multiple Prime Days and Black Friday events sent it lower, it seems to have pushed it down towards asub-$375 price tag again.
On the other side of the fence, Intel’s Core i9 14900K can now be had for below its suggested retail price,clocking in just below $550on retailers including Amazon and Best Buy at the time of writing. This makes for a nice price cut of around 10% that was not in play before. At the same time, many of the factors that add to the cost basis for building around the 14900K such as a beefier PSU, a better motherboard, and significantly higher cooling requirements in play.
For gamers, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D remains a great gaming CPU that does all one could ask for from a specialist CPU. For users with more power-hungry productivity-related requirements, such as 3D rendering or other number-crunching work, the 14900K is a slightly more affordable option now than it was when the guide was first put up. This is partly due to cheaper DDR5 RAM modules and much cheaper Z790 motherboards on offer in 2024, but also due to the aforementioned price cut on the CPU itself.
All in all, users leaning one way or another would be hard-pressed to change their outlook given the different niches both the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and the Core i9 14900K currently serve, making them relatively different options that cater to different use cases even as the 14900K continues to offer great gaming performance thanks to its 6 GHz clock speeds on offer.
The Verdict: All-Purpose Compute Versus Specialist Gaming CPU
At the end of the day, Intel’s 14900K CPU offers small performance gains, a core architecture akin to the 13900K, and a high single-core performance that allows it to perform in more than just games. However, it does come at a cost. Users lose power efficiency and are expected to invest heavily in better motherboards, power supplies, and cooling. It caters to power users, enthusiasts, and gamers alike.
The Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a different beast in its own right. It is a CPU designed purely for gaming. As such, it only caters to gamers, enthusiasts, or those who are otherwise looking to get a head start in their games and avoid CPU bottlenecks for the near future. It is not designed for power users, as while the CPU holds its own, it does significantly lose against higher-core, higher-clocked CPUs.
AMD itself acknowledges this, branding the Ryzen 7 7800X3D as a ‘for gamers’ CPU while marketing the higher-end Ryzen 9 7950X3D as a ‘for creators’ offering that should compete better in most non-gaming benchmarks versus the Core 14900K.
To explore more about Game Rant’s coverage and suggested builds for the 14900K, users can view the guides below:
For users wanting a more gaming-centric CPU, such as the 7800X3D, the Game Rant team has them covered with in-depth guides for gamers looking to get the most out of their new CPU:
FAQ
Q: What Is The Fastest CPU for Gaming?
The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D remains the fastest CPU for gaming since its release in April 2023 to date.
Q: What Is The Fastest CPU I Can Buy Currently?
The Intel Core i9 14900K is the fastest consumer-grade desktop CPU currently available based on a mix of gaming and productivity workloads, along with its high clocks (Up to 6GHz) and 24-core, 32-thread CPU offering.
