Intel’s Latest Processor Boasts Impressive Performance, but It’s Not Worth Buying
A processor that can reach a maximum turbo frequency of 6.2 GHz right out of the box may seem like a dream come true, but Intel’s latest processor is far from the best option on the market at the moment.
This week, Intel officially unveiled the Core i9-14900KS , which boasts an impressive 6.2 GHz turbo frequency. Sure, the processor is impressive with 24 cores and 32 threads, but there’s a reason you probably won’t see this processor in many high-end systems: it’s simply not a feasible option in terms of heat and power consumption. consumption.
Of course, there are a number of reasons why this processor might be tempting. Let’s start with the fact that this is the best Intel product on the market. And, of course, the maximum turbo frequency is a huge achievement. However, TechPowerUp’s tests paint a sobering picture of what you can expect from this processor if you add it to your build.
Firstly, you are seeing wild energy consumption. According to TechPowerUp tests, the new Intel i9-14900KS consumes more than three times more power, based on an average power consumption test of 13 games. Considering that gamers often praise these high-performance processors, it’s likely that no gamer will want to place them next to their PC.
Whether you care about how much power your computer uses or not, drawing so much power means that this processor will generate tons of heat that you will need to somehow remove from your computer. Sure, a water cooler can help, but you’ll have to run this bad boy on the highest possible settings to keep everything cool. And if you pair it with one of Nvidia’s new 4090s, you’ll get even more power consumption and heat dissipation.
There’s also the fact that even with such powerful specs, the Intel i9-14900KS is unlikely to provide any significant performance gains over other processors on the market right now. In fact, the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D often received slightly higher relative gaming performance scores in TechPowerUp tests, and was priced at about half the I9-14900KS’ MSRP of $699.99, although some Amazon listings already list it for over $1,000 . time of writing this article.
There’s no doubt that Intel’s achievements with this new processor are impressive. The processor clocked at 6.2 GHz is impressive. Unfortunately, Intel has a long way to go in how it handles heat and power consumption before this type of processor is truly affordable for gamers and high-end PC users.