Intel Core i9 14900KS Review
Conclusion
Conclusion
Pluck me it’s charizard hot. Rachel Riley modelling for Victoria’s Secret levels of hot. We do these things so that you don’t have to.
Clearly the newest flagship Intel processor can be quick. It’s 30 seconds faster to render our Blender 4K test than the next best. That was the Core i9-13900KS to save you going back a few pages. It is nearly a minute faster than the Core i9-14900K. It’s a thousand points – 5.9% – better in Cinebench R20. For those of you who prefer R23 the 14900KS is 1800 points – 4.6% – better than its predecessor.
Clearly, as you would expect from a 32 thread processor boosting to 6.2 GHz, it’s blindingly fast in the right circumstances. Truly ridiculous levels of performance from a single CPU. Perhaps most impressively is how, unlike Xeons for example, it’s good in games too. We wouldn’t recommend using just it in games. That would be akin to taking a Ferrari to the shops for some milk. Plus, as we’re get to, it’s not the easiest thing to live with. But if you want performance in a more well-rounded package than dedicated math-crunchers, it’s as quick as it gets.
So it’s quick. What’s the but?
The elephant in the room has to be discussed though. For a start that elephant is leaving straw on the carpet and drinking all the coffee, so we can ignore it no longer.
We knew going into this that the Core i9-14900KS processor would be hot. Our time with the regular K demonstrated that. We tried using the Thermal Grizzly contact frame, but we just couldn’t get it to help out taming our temperatures. So we de-lidded it. Not a job for the faint of heart. Okay the EK kit that helps you remove it – 30 minutes at 70°C in the oven – is easy to use and works. It’s an extreme way to cool what should be an over-the-counter product though. The Rocketcool Copper top we couldn’t get to mount perfectly. Our temperatures still sky-rocketed.
Enter the EK Nucleus CR360 Direct Die AIO. It’s under £200. It worked first time. Our temperatures immediately fell. Happy days. Yes, you still have to take the top off your CPU, but it is about as stress free as the whole process could be. Let there be no doubt though, a de-lidded CPU, with an undervolt, and an incredibly good 360mm AIO, still only got the temperatures down to 86°C. If you’ve got any cooling that is less than that arrangement, don’t bother.
The Intel Core i9-14900KS is an enthusiast product in the most extreme definition of the term. It’s a pain to keep cool. Even then you still can run into scenarios it’s only okay in – see Factorio for example. But if you’re willing to put the time in, the results can be good. We hoped there were alternative, affordable ways to cool your processors than going down this route, but clearly EK know their stuff. Thus, with a huge caveat emptor, the Intel Core i9-14900KS wins our OC3D Enthusiast Award. We’d stick with the regular K ourselves though. It’s just easier on a day-to-day basis.
The EK CR360 Direct Die AIO – well that deserves a huge shout out. Because that is the biggest step forward in easy to use AIO cooling in years. Its legendary just like Dave Alcock who I like to call Captain Chaos. Anyways. Ultimate award. If you buy the KS buy the CR360 DD.
If you havn’t seen Canon Ball run – you’ll basically see what Dave is like at lan’s or big events like Computex or CES after a few beers. Its why he’s such a legend.
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