Intel Core i9-14900KS
2024Type
CPUPrice
$699 USConclusion - Great For Tuners, Nightmare For The Rest
The Intel 14th Gen CPUs mark the end of the LGA 1700 platform and I must say that it has been a really good run for the blue team. Introducing its first hybrid desktop design, offering a huge jump in core counts, ramping up the clock speeds beyond 6 GHz, and offering a platform with a robust set of features.
The last hurrah for this platform comes in the form of the Intel Core i9-14900KS, a stupendously clocked chip that operates at up to 6.2 GHz and it's a king of the hill, dethroning the 14900K and several of the top-end AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs off of our multi-threading benchmarks suite. In terms of SKU-vs-SKU performance, the Core i9-14900KS is around 5% faster in multi-threading and about 2% faster in single-threaded applications which comes from the 3.3% clock speed bump and higher power limits.
What's interesting about the Intel Core i9-14900KS is that it has two modes, a default rating that sets the PL1 and PL2 directly at 253W and an extreme profile that essentially unlocks the full power limits by setting the PL1 & PL2 at 320W. This does give the CPU a whole lot of headroom but the gains are bare minimum at best. We saw at best a 1% gain which I think isn't that great when you factor in the higher wattage and temperatures that are associated with this chip. When it comes to cooling, this chip is just crazy hot, hovering over 95C in the default mode and almost touching 110C with the extreme profile.
I had to ramp up our test cooler up to 100% RPM to limit the temps below its 115C peak limit. This limit was also possible thanks to MSI's Fast Throttle Threshold feature on its top MEG Z790 boards. The motherboards also offer the P-Core Beyond 6.4 GHz features which squeezes additional clocks out of this chip but given that we were already struggling to keep this chip running at extreme modes, we avoided it for now (maybe we'll revisit this as an update to this review in the future).
For gaming performance, the Intel Core i9-14900KS is about as fast as you can get. It topples the Ryzen 7 7800X3D in several titles where it was leading over the 14900K and while the 3D V-Cache proves beneficial in certain games, the bigger advantage that you get with the 7800X3D is its price and efficiency. Those are two big reasons why gamers should consider the 7800X3D over the Core i9 chips. But going the 7800X3D route does nets you way slower multi-threaded app performance and the 14900KS is the faster solution versus AMD's top 7950X chip.
The one major issue that comes with such as power limits and temperatures is stability within games. We have encountered various issues running Core i9-14900K/13900K chips that occur over time and after prolonged uses. The auto/default settings on certain motherboards along with Intel's own high power limits can cause lots of instability while running games and many game developers have asked users with such chips to underclock/undervolt their chips to ensure good stability. The 14900KS already has high power limits and temperatures out of the box so as you use this chip, there are chances that stability can degrade over time leading you to underclock the chips below its rated clock frequencies.
The pricing of the Core i9-14900KS is set at $699 US ($671 US retail as of 3/31/24). This is a fairly large sum to pay for but here's the thing, some would see this as a killer multi-threaded chip and some enthusiasts/gamers will get this chip because it's the best of the crop but underneath all of these, the 14900KS is essentially a tuner's dream. It is a highly binned Raptor Lake silicon that has been made for overclockers and tuning specialists who want to set some records. There's also the fact that binned silicon is now harder to come by ever since the closure of the silicon lottery and this is why Intel knows that it can charge an extra sum for a chip that is fully unconstrained and meets the requirements of overclockers.
The Intel Core i9-14900KS is a very dangerous chip with a massively huge power envelope, crazy high temperatures, and speeds that would've been unheard of just a few years back. It takes a lot to tame this chip but for those who are experts, this is a dream chip to own and tune to your liking.
- For Tuners & Overclockers: Core i9-14900KS
- For Gamers: Ryzen 7 7800X3D / 14600K/13600K
- For Multi-Threaded Use: Ryzen 9 7950X / Core i9-14900K
- For Both Gaming & MT Use: Ryzen 9 7950X3D/7950X / 14900K/13900K
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About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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