Intel 14th Gen Processors Review
Introduction and Technical Specifications
Introduction
If you’ve been following along with our previews of the new Z790 motherboards that are appearing you’ll be aware that we were only able to reference these processors as the Intel “Next Gen” CPUs. Finally, we’re now able to reveal that, yes, the model that followed the 11th, 12th and 13th Gen will be the Intel 14th Gen Processors. We’ve got three different models covering the main offerings for you today. The Core i5-14600K, the Core i7-14700K, and the flagship Core i9-14900K.
Intel often follow a Tick-Tock system, wherein a new product is released, and usually with a new socket, and then the next models are an evolution of those. This launch slightly varies from that established format, as it is the third set of processors which fit into the LGA1700 socket and are able to be used on current motherboards – with a BIOS update, naturally. We’ll cover the main points on our third page, but if you’re familiar with the 13th Generation processors then these new Intel 14th Gen models will also be familiar. They fit into that ‘same as before but more’ category that we all love so much.
What’s new with 14th Gen?
The primary upgrades over the earlier ones are the potential to hit 6 GHz on the flagship Core i9 out of the box, more efficient multi-core performance, and some interesting new overclocking options for those of you who aren’t confident enough to push the limits without assistance. That isn’t all that’s new though. The Intel 14th Gen also sees an improvement on the Core i7-14700K core count and L3 cache when compared to the Core i7-13700K.
With support for PCIe Gen 5 and the new 5 Gig Wi-Fi 7 as well as integrated USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 20G support, the latest Intel platform promises plenty of bandwidth for all your creative and gaming requirements. That’s without mentioning the support for Thunderbolt 4 – with Thunderbolt 5 on the horizon – nor Bluetooth 5.4. Those of you who can’t get enough blazing fast memory will also be pleased to see that the Intel 14th Gen CPUs support increased OC frequencies on both cores, enabling DDR5 XMP beyond 8000 MT/s.
Technical Specifications
Naturally you can click to embiggen, but this table shows all the important information related to these new Intel 14th Gen Processors. We think it’s particularly interesting how the core count of both the Intel Core i5 and Intel Core i9 are identical to their predecessors from the 13th Gen range. However, the new Intel 14th Gen Core i7-14700K ups the ante, going from 8 Performance Cores and 8 Efficient Cores on the i7-13700K, to 8 Performance Cores and 12 Efficient Cores on this i7-14700K. Not to get into spoiler territory but that difference really stands out in our testing.
