Intel is introducing its 14th-gen desktop processors this week, promising a 6GHz boost to its flagship Core i9-14900K. Known as the Raptor Lake Refresh, Intel is maintaining pricing for its 14th Gen Core i9, i7 and i5 processors this year, sticking to the same retail price as the 13th gen when the new chips launch on October 17th.
Intel says the 6GHz boost in the new Core i9-14900K is the “fastest desktop processor in the segment,” referring to its special edition 13900KS, which first broke the 6GHz barrier at stock speeds last year but never shipped in quantity. . Perhaps the most impressive 14th-gen processor in this update is the Core i7-14700K, however, thanks to a significant improvement in its performance cores.
This year, Intel increased the core count of its Core i7 processor, moving from eight performance and eight performance cores to 12 performance and eight performance cores. A total of 20 cores for the Core i7-14700K, close to the 24 found in the Core i9-14900K. Base clocks are 3.4GHz on the B-core and 2.5GHz on the E-core 14700K, which last year saw at 13700K. These added performance cores should help with creator tasks and gaming performance for titles that take advantage of multithreading.
Intel has some favorable benchmarks against AMD’s Ryzen 9 7950X and its own previous Core i7 chips, but we’ll have to wait and see how this new Core i7-14700K compares to AMD’s impressive 7800X3D chip for gaming benchmarks.
On the flagship side, Intel’s Core i9-14900K adds the 6GHz thermal boost frequency previously seen in the $699 special edition Core i9-13900KS variant. Frequencies for the B-Core Max Turbo this time range from 200 Hz to 5.6 GHz, with the E-Core Max Turbo side having a 100 MHz bump. Both P- and E-cores have base frequencies of up to 200MHz.
Intel has an updated Core i5 this year. The i5-14600K includes a total of 20 cores (six P-cores and eight E-cores) and has a base clock of 3.5GHz and a boost of up to 5.3GHz on the P-core side.
All of these 14th-gen processors will work on Intel 600- and 700-series motherboards because Intel uses its LGA 1700 socket. This also includes support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 via a unique option that motherboard manufacturers can add to updated Z790 boards. Intel also supports DDR5 5600 and DDR4 3200 memory speeds with its 14th Gen chips.
The Core i9-14900K will launch at $589, the Core i7-1700K at $409 and the Core i5-14600K at $319. All three processors will be available from system builders and retailers on October 17.
