Intel Core i7 14700K review

Our VerdictThe Intel Core i7 14700K delivers high frame rates in games and doesn’t let up in terms of multithreaded performance, either. While it runs a lot hotter than AMD’s alternative, you can make a strong case for picking this processor up for your next PC build.

Our Verdict

The Intel Core i7 14700K delivers high frame rates in games and doesn’t let up in terms of multithreaded performance, either. While it runs a lot hotter than AMD’s alternative, you can make a strong case for picking this processor up for your next PC build.

ForGreat for gamingMultithreaded champA genuine step-up over 13700KAgainstHotHigh power draw

ForGreat for gamingMultithreaded champA genuine step-up over 13700K

AgainstHotHigh power draw

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The Intel Core i7 14700K brings something genuinely new to the table. It offers four more E-cores than the Core i7 13700K, and it’s a touch faster, for a couple dollars more. With tangible benefits and near-enough price parity, it’s arguably the only 14th Gen processor worth seeking out instead of the 13th Gen for your next PC build.

The 14700K comes with eight Performance-cores (P-cores) and 12 Efficient-cores (E-cores), bundled together for around$418today. That’s roughly on the mark for Intel’s recommended customer pricing but more importantly only a few dollars more than a Core i7 13700K at$415, effectively killing the last-gen chip cold. While the architecture remains the same between the two—both utilise the Raptor Lake hybrid architecture—the 14700K comes with four more E-coresand100–200MHz higher clocks on both E-cores and P-cores under Boost.

The slight gain in clock speed will only amount to a minor boost in games, as I’ve seen to be the case with the rest of the 14th Gen K-series processors. However, those extra E-cores do amount to a tangible benefit in applications that prefer a little more horsepower, and you are clearly better off for having the extra silicon under the hood.

Core i7 14700K specs(Image credit: Future)Cores (P+E):8+12Threads:28L3 Cache (Smart Cache):33MBL2 Cache:28MBUnlocked:YesMax PCIe lanes:20Graphics:UHD Graphics 770Memory support (up to):DDR5 5600MT/s, DDR4 3200MT/sProcessor Base Power (W):125Maximum Turbo Power (W):253Recommended customer price:$409 (retail price today:$418)

Core i7 14700K specs

(Image credit: Future)Cores (P+E):8+12Threads:28L3 Cache (Smart Cache):33MBL2 Cache:28MBUnlocked:YesMax PCIe lanes:20Graphics:UHD Graphics 770Memory support (up to):DDR5 5600MT/s, DDR4 3200MT/sProcessor Base Power (W):125Maximum Turbo Power (W):253Recommended customer price:$409 (retail price today:$418)

(Image credit: Future)

An Intel Core i7 14700K with an Intel Raptor Lake branded box.

Cores (P+E):8+12Threads:28L3 Cache (Smart Cache):33MBL2 Cache:28MBUnlocked:YesMax PCIe lanes:20Graphics:UHD Graphics 770Memory support (up to):DDR5 5600MT/s, DDR4 3200MT/sProcessor Base Power (W):125Maximum Turbo Power (W):253Recommended customer price:$409 (retail price today:$418)

Nevertheless, the 14700K comes within touching distance of the pricierCore i9 14900Kin the majority of the gaming benchmarks I’ve run. In Total War: Three Kingdoms, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Metro: Exodus only a single frame separates the two. In F1 2021, two frames. The largest delta was nine frames in Far Cry 6, but I’m honestly fine with that sort of difference if it means saving quite a lot of cash—at time of writing, you’d be saving yourself$158.

And that’s a lot of money to pay for four more E-cores (remember: these E-cores don’t have Hyper-Threading and only count for one thread) and some slightly higher clocks. It’s maybe an odd way to think about it, but you could argue Intel’s happy to hand you that same sort of bump free-of-charge with the 14700K. Rather, if you’re planning to use your PC for more heavy-duty processing applications outside of gaming, the 14700K is still a suitable stand-in for the 14900K.

The cheaper chip is seriously impressive in tests of its multithreading muster including scoring major points across Cinebench R23, Blender and X264 benchmarks. You do need to care about multithreaded performance to go for this Core i7, too, as theCore i5 14600Kperforms incredibly similarly in gaming benchmarks.

Though if you do feel strongly for multithreaded performance, this is where Intel’s chip shines versus AMD’s excellent 3D V-Cache competition: theRyzen 7 7800X3Dcan’t really get close in many synthetic multithreaded benchmarks.

The 14700K frequently trades blows with theRyzen7 7800X3D in gaming benchmarks, too. The benefit with AMD’s chip is its high efficiency and low package power draw, neither of which are the 14th Gen’s strong suit. You can also pick one of the red team’s chips up for a small amount less than a 14700K, but otherwise there’s a really good case to be made for the 14700K for the multithreaded performance.

(Image credit: Future)

An Intel Core i7 14700K with an Intel Raptor Lake branded box.

(Image credit: Future)

An Intel Core i7 14700K with an Intel Raptor Lake branded box.

It makes for one tough decision: do you favour multithreaded performance or efficient operation? That can come down to a few key factors, but with the two often giving as good as they get in gaming performance, the lower power consumption of the AMD chip does begin to sway me to the red team’s offering.

That said, Intel is offering a lot more chip for your money with the 14700K over previous generations. If you’re chasing multithreaded power and don’t want to sacrifice leading gaming performance, you won’t find a rival for the same money.

Intel Core i7-14700K: Price Comparison

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The Verdict83Read our review policyIntel Core i7 14700KThe Intel Core i7 14700K delivers high frame rates in games and doesn’t let up in terms of multithreaded performance, either. While it runs a lot hotter than AMD’s alternative, you can make a strong case for picking this processor up for your next PC build.

The Verdict

83Read our review policyIntel Core i7 14700KThe Intel Core i7 14700K delivers high frame rates in games and doesn’t let up in terms of multithreaded performance, either. While it runs a lot hotter than AMD’s alternative, you can make a strong case for picking this processor up for your next PC build.

83Read our review policy

Intel Core i7 14700KThe Intel Core i7 14700K delivers high frame rates in games and doesn’t let up in terms of multithreaded performance, either. While it runs a lot hotter than AMD’s alternative, you can make a strong case for picking this processor up for your next PC build.

Intel Core i7 14700K

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