Intel continued its climb up the clock-speed ladder by launching the Core i9-14900KS, a “special edition” desktop chip that gives the very quickest clock velocity of any present PC processor, at 6.2GHz. As anticipated, although, you’ll pay for it, with a value of $689.

But don’t count on it to simply outclass the competitors, both. Intel acknowledged that, in sure video games, AMD’s current Ryzen 7000X-series chips outperform it.

Last yr, Intel announced the Core i9-13900KS, a 6.0GHz chip that outdated the quickest “normal” chip in Intel’s desktop lineup, the 5.8GHz Core i9-13900K. The present Core i9-14900K tops out at 6.0GHz. (All of those speeds characterize the highest velocity beneath Intel’s Thermal Velocity Boost.) You can see the development.

Otherwise, the quickest iteration of the 14th-gen “Raptor Lake Refresh” era is an identical to the Thirteenth-gen “Raptor Lake” chip: It has 24 cores (8 efficiency cores, 16 effectivity cores) and 32 threads, with 36MB of Intel Smart Cache and 32MB of degree 2 cache. That’s necessary, as consumers will examine it to the Ryzen 9 7950X3D and its large 144MB of complete cache. Intel’s new Core i9-14900KS additionally runs on the identical 150W as its predecessor, demanding 253W beneath load.

Intel

Intel selected to launch the Core i9-14900KS at present, nonetheless, just a few months later within the yr than the January announcement of the Core i9-13900KS. Coincidence or not, that additionally signifies that Intel revealed some efficiency benchmarks, each compared to its Thirteenth-generation chip in addition to AMD’s personal Ryzen 7000-series chips. (AMD has introduced its personal 65W Ryzen 7 8700G processors for entry-level gaming, however nothing but in its newest era for the excessive finish.)

Intel outlined a number of video games during which the Core i9-14900KS clearly outperforms the sooner Core i9-13900KS, with a slight 3 p.c margin in Starfield and a a lot bigger 15 p.c improve in Metro: Exodus.

Intel

Nevertheless, Intel acknowledged that AMD’s Ryzen typically holds a efficiency benefit, in direct comparisons to each the Ryzen 9 7950X3D in addition to a broader vary of Ryzen 7000-series chips.

It’s necessary to notice, nonetheless, that Intel’s comparisons are additionally being made with Intel Application Optimization enabled. Intel Application Optimization (APO), in accordance with Intel, “optimizes thread scheduling,” presumably pushing as a lot of the workload as doable to the efficiency cores. But APO was also skipped entirely in Intel’s 12th- and 13th-gen Intel Core chips, though it was supposedly a software program characteristic.

And, even then, with APO turned on, Intel’s Core i9-14900KS can’t beat AMD’s Ryzen 7800X3D in Read Dead Redemption 2. That would appear to provide AMD a big alternative when its personal Ryzen 8000X3D processors debut.

Intel’s new i9-14900KS processor will likely be suitable with motherboards constructed across the Z790 and Z690 chipsets, with assist for as much as 192GB of DDR5-5600/DDR4-3200 reminiscence. As at all times, Intel recommends that prospects search out BIOS updates from their motherboard producers.

Intel

Remember, AMD hasn’t launched its Ryzen 8000-series X3D chips for the high-end gaming market but. Will we see them earlier than the Computex present in early June, or will AMD’s chief govt Dr. Lisa Su wait to announce them there?