Raptor Lake Resfresh with the Intel Core i9-14900K, Core i7-14700K and Core i5-14600K Review – Hot dragon battle in the energetic final stage

Temperatures and workarounds

I put this section on the last page on purpose, because otherwise nobody will find it again. And just this much: If you honestly and appropriately adjust the power limit to your used cooling, then Raptor Lake Refresh is even a bit easier to cool than Raptor Lake, if you exclude the unspeakable Core i7-14700K for once or manually slow it down a bit at clock and power limit. Everything still depends on the right contact between the heatspreader (IHS) and the cooler base.

I did not have any cooling problems in any test phase, neither with the Pure Loop 2 360 from be quiet! nor with my Alphacool system including chiller. However, anyone who lets the Raptor Lake Refresh run freely at well over 300 watts just because the motherboard completely brainlessly suggests it (water cooling and 4096 watts) has only themselves to blame in the end. With the usual 181 and 253 watt settings, it works completely uncomplainingly and the CPU has a built-in thermal safety leash anyway. Just like the Ryzen 7000. That’s why there is no detailed discussion here in the conclusion, because those who build such systems themselves should also know what they are getting into.

Summary

Now everyone will probably ask how the dragon fight in the title is actually meant. From a purely statistical point of view, it’s a clear victory of the Core i9-14900K against the Core i9-13900K in gaming, whereby life doesn’t only consist of pure gaming. In the workstation and creation field, the 13th generation even wins from time to time, in all 3 performance classes. Intel will have to clarify why this is the case. Under full load during compute or rendering, it is the undisputed favorite of every power supplier.

Yes, the Intel Core i9-14900K has missed out on the gaming crown, but at least it has the electron crown as a consolation prize. In principle, Intel could have simply given up on this last iteration, but they wanted or had to release something after a year. Nevertheless, I don’t want to completely trash the CPUs, only the current price difference in the shops unfortunately doesn’t do the whole thing justice. It’s the smaller details that count, but you won’t really feel the measurable, small difference from a purely subjective point of view. But it can’t be ignored.

And the CPU is also coolable if you don’t overdo it with the unleashing in the BIOS. It is better not to use Unlimited, otherwise even the strongest AiO compact water cooler will start to sweat at well over 300 to 450 watts. The be quiet! Pure Loop 2 360 used in the test had no problems with the selected power limit of 253 watts in the BIOS, the chiller and the custom loop water cooling anyway.

Especially applications in the partial load range suit the Core i9-14900K and so this CPU, if it doesn’t have to render 24/7, is worth considering for many users in the professional field, as long as you don’t already own the i9-13900K. Then this sidegrade is not worth it in the slightest. The LGA 1700 socket is also a negative factor, which is also coming to an end with Intel’s 14th generation. Whether one now buys such a CPU again will probably also depend on whether one (like me) already owns a good Z690 motherboard or has to buy a new LGA 1700 board with Z790 or Z690 chipset. That would be rather less worthwhile.

However, the Core i9-14900K is certainly an acceptable offer as an upgrade to a smaller 12th generation CPU. In the end, it is once again a small demonstration of power, but unfortunately also shows that the end of the monolithic giant chips has finally been reached and the socket is thus stuck in a dead end. Thus, this CPU is also a good heirloom for the gallery in the future, when it will have served its purpose in a few years. Arrow Lake will certainly be a completely different story then.

 

The Core i7-14700K is neither fish nor fowl, but incredibly thirsty. Unfortunately, only Intel and MSI know why this CPU was absolutely set to 288 watts (at least in my current BIOS). Whereas a more moderate power limit of 253 watts or less led to instabilities under full load. It can be assumed that I either caught a rare bad specimen, or salvage is just generally labeled here. Or maybe even both.

The performance as such is alright, it is usually just behind the Core i7-14900K and also always ahead of the Core i7-13700K. However, the four additional E-cores are hardly noticeable, which Intel could have almost done without. However, you would have surely gotten by with a lower PL2.

However, I wouldn’t consider this CPU an insider tip. The Core i5-14600K is certainly the better and, above all, cheaper offer, especially since the differences become smaller even with a factory-overclocked GeForce RTX 4090 from WQHD onwards.

 

Which brings us to the Core i5. The Core i5-14600K naturally gets a bit lost in the halo of the Core i9-14900K, but it could definitely show that it is not a weakling. Only the problem with the end of the socket LGA1700 hits it much harder, because who wants a side-grade? Well, the smaller B660 boards are available for under 200 Euros and you can definitely still build new systems here. From that point of view, it certainly fits. The current street price will have to do the trick, because it is consistently faster than a Core i7-12700K and Core i5-13600K.

Sometimes it even scratches the old Core i9-12900K’s performance, especially in games and applications in the partial load range. The Ryzen 7 7700X is certainly more expensive, not always really faster, but it at least uses a more promising socket. However, the i5-14600K might still make sense for a change from an old Core i5 or Core i3 of the 12th generation, if you do not have to buy any other hardware. Nevertheless, you really have to weigh up whether you shouldn’t plan better for the future with the Socket AM5.

What could play into Intel’s cards is the wide availability of suitable motherboards in the somewhat cheaper segment and their partly much lower price with adequate equipment. This is exactly where it gets really difficult with AM5 and mid-range or even entry-level motherboards at the moment.

You can easily save 100 Euros with an Intel motherboard in the lower range, and the CPUs are also cheaper in relation. And you can even use DDR4 RAM with Raptor Lake, which is definitely no longer possible with AM5.

Conclusion

Nevertheless, we shouldn’t forget that Socket LGA 1700 is finally dead after Raptor Lake Refresh and that the future belongs to muti-chip designs like the Ryzen 7000 or later Arrow Lake. Raptor Lake is also something like a one-chip fossil immortalized in silicon, but it is anything but tame. However, it also wants to be fed properly with electric food in relation to its performance, and this has to be taken into account at all times. Whoever provides enough food will certainly have enough fun with it. The power supplier as well.

Two of the tested new CPUs were provided by Intel on loan, just like the current Ryzen models were sampled by AMD. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D and all of the older Intel CPUs are from my private inventory and were purchased myself, as was the Core i7-14700K. Motherboard and memory are from retail or MSI as well as Corsair and were provided, as well as the CPUs, only with the condition to keep the lock periods for these products. There was no direct or indirect influence or compensation of expenses.