Intel’s 14th Gen Raptor Lake Refresh is out for desktop and DIY users. A rebrand of the 13th Gen Core family, it is based on the same silicon with better-binned dies. Consequently, real-world performance won’t differ much from existing Raptor Lake SKUs. Quasarzone tested the 14th Gen Core i9-14900K and got nearly the same numbers as the 13900K. Compared to the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, we’re looking at a deficit of 4.6%, with the 7800X3D beating the 14900K in all but three titles.
In roughly half of the games, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D maintains a lead of 7% (or 25 FPS) or more over the 14900K. The Core i9-13900K performs within 1% of the 14900K in seven out of ten titles tested.
Considering that the Core i9-14900K retails at the same price as the 13900K, it can be regarded as a minor firmware update with revised specifications and packaging. However, it’s hard to recommend it as a flagship gaming CPU when the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is faster, more efficient, and significantly cheaper.
The Core i9-14900K renders the 13900KS obsolete as it’s technically (more or less) the same chip but at a cheaper price. If that weren’t enough, the real-world gaming performance varies by just 0.2%.
