So finally here it is: the newest part from Intel, the Intel Core i7-14700K. This is what we’ve been waiting for. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this powerhouse of a processor. I wanted to see whether this lives up to expectations. It has a 20-core CPU design and boost speeds as high as 5.6 GHz. There looks to be a really solid prospect both for gaming and content creation.

Below is our in-depth review of what makes the Intel Core i7-14700K tick. We’ll do a deep dive into how well the processor performs with most major titles. This will include Total War: Warhammer III and the ability for content creation. We will also test out the overclocking capability of this silicon. We’re also going to check out how it compares with the best. We’ll see how much juice it draws from your power supply. We’ll check precisely how much heat this chip is putting out. This will be important if it’s the one to beat on your next PC build. Let’s dive in.

Performance Benchmarks

Anyway, let’s delve into the fine details of how the Intel Core i7-14700K performs. I’ve spent some time getting this chip to work, and I’m excited to share with you what I found. We’ll look at single-core and multi-core performance and even how it games. Buckle up—this is going to be a crazy trip!

Single-core performance

Single-core performance-wise, the 14700K does well. Running in Geekbench 6, this processor posted a blistering 2948. It was calibrated against the baseline score of 2500 for an Intel Core i7-12700. That’s an impressive uplift over its predecessor. It shows that Intel is quite determined in pushing the envelope further with single-core performance.

Its base frequency is 3400 MHz, while it can go as high as 5600 MHz for its maximum frequency. With the higher clock, the 14700K will hold an advantage in single-threaded operations. That would be up from about 100–200 MHz on its predecessor, the 13700K. For a CPU, that not much, but indeed, every hertz counts!

Multicore Performance

Interestingly, it’s the multi-core performance that will get many users antsy. The i7-14700K has a total of 20 cores—8 performance cores and 12 efficient cores—for a total of 28 threads. This has seen quite a significant uptick compared to its predecessor, the 13700K, which came with four fewer E-cores.

For reference, the Geekbench 6 multi-core test scored the 14700K at 19198. But, for context, let’s put that in real-world application:

1. Blender: Finishing this render took the 14700K just 8 minutes, a full 12% quicker than the 13700K. For creators of 3D content, that’s going to be a very welcome uplift.

2. 7-Zip compression: Here, the 14700K managed 171K MIPS, which is 9% higher than the 13700K. As common, such a boost in performance can make a real difference when handling large files.

3. Adobe Premiere: The 14700K scored 822 points, which is a 3.1% improvement over its predecessor. While that be somewhat modest, anything taken is good news when it comes to video editing.

4. Adobe Photoshop: The 14700K scored 1548 points, which is over 3.5% more than the 13700K.

Extra E-cores pull especially hard in multithreaded workloads. This alcove also makes the 14700K a pretty decent choice. It suits content creators and professionals. They have to handle many CPU-intensive tasks.

Gaming Benchmarks

Now, probably what most of you want to get to gaming performance. Once again, the i7-14700K does not disappoint, often trading blows with several of the best gaming CPUs on the market.

In Rainbow Six: Siege, the 14700K managed an excellent showing. It averaged 650 at 1080p. This performance essentially matches the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D. The CPU showed impressive results in the 1440p tests. This includes comparisons with other high-end CPUs, such as the Ryzen 7 7700X and even the i9-13900K.

That makes Total War: Three Kingdoms, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Metro: Exodus all have the 14700K. It is just one frame behind the significantly more expensive Core i9-14900K. That’s an impressive performance from a significantly cheaper pick.

Of course, it’s not all roses. Far Cry 6 was a title in which the 14700K fell behind the 14900K by a count of nine frames. Still, let’s get real—at these lofty frame rates, you’d be hard-pressed to notice this difference in real-world gaming.

Mind you, one consideration is that the 14700K has already proven a powerhouse for gaming. However, it’s not the most efficient chip in the world. The maximum load hits about 253W while running over 200W on average. It does touch 96°C under load even with a chunky 360mm all-in-one cooler. Proper cooling is something you do want if ever you decide to push this chip to its limits.

Conclusion: The Intel Core i7-14700K is quite a powerhouse in single-core and multi-core performances. It surely can run most demanding games quite smoothly. In many ways, it’s a great option not just for gamers but also for content creators. For one, it’s a big jump from its predecessor, and really, it stands tall against even costlier options.

Thermal and Power Efficiency

Speaking of which, the Intel Core i7-14700K is a real powerhouse. It requires some serious rising to the occasion in terms of thermal management. It also demands careful consideration of power consumption. So, let’s get down to brass tacks about what this chip brings to the table—talking heat and energy use.

Temperature under load

We’ve put the i7-14700K through all manner of stress testing. I’ve got to say that this chip runs very hot. Let me try and explain a bit more: we’re talking 96 to 97 degrees Celsius after a stress test. Intel says this processor is designed to handle up to 100°C. This means while it’s running hot, it’s still within spec.

In real-world gaming, this drops a bit: I’ve seen temperatures usually sit in the 70- to 75-degree Celsius range. They spike up to 80 degrees Celsius at times. Those are pretty normal figures for a high-performance CPU under load. It’s a lot like a sports car in that the engine is running hot because you’re pushing it hard.

The funny thing is that some did report improvements in temperature regulation after an update of the BIOS. There was one case that went from shooting at 100°C during stress to a max of 85-86°C now. Amazing, and goes to show just how important it is to keep your system updated.

Power Consumed

Now, power consumption. Brace yourself. The i7-14700K is quite the energy guzzler. In applications, it’s pulling about 155 W. This isn’t far off from the i9-14900K’s 170 W. We’re looking at 132 W during gaming.

Just to put that into perspective, AMD’s offerings are far more energy-efficient. The Ryzen 7900X uses a paltry 86W in applications. The 7800X3D sips only 49W in gaming. This is just a third of what this 14700K is pulling.

Even on an all-core workload with Blender, the i7-14700K was chomping through a monstrous 284W from the EPS12V rails. That’s not total system power—that’s the CPU and VRM efficiency losses alone. This is a marginal increase from the 13700K predecessor, which pulled around 280W.

The 14700K is far more efficient in power and scored 37.7Wh in our battery test, where lower is better, than the 42.4Wh on the 13700K, though it is still below the benchmarks set by most of its competition.

Cooling requirements

With thermal and power characteristics such as these, active cooling is a must. The i7-14700K comes with a base power draw of 125W and up to 253W maximum turbo power. With all this heat, a decent cooling solution will be in order.

I would recommend a large amount of surface area in radiators to cool the best. For the case that can fit it, 420mm with three 140mm fans is your best bet. For cases where this isn’t possible, 360mm is good for more modest setups. It does great and still fits most mid-towers.

This is the major consideration when using a 240mm radiator: It can cool in tighter spaces. Still, it forces you to run fans higher in speed to keep up with heat output. Air cooling for this build will be adequate. Ideally, you’d want a high-end cooler rated for at least 180W TDP. This will help to cool this chip’s thermal output.

Remember, poor cooling will thermal throttle your CPU, meaning your expensive CPU is not running at full performance. I have seen the i7-14700K thermal throttle at 100 degrees. This was with some air coolers. So a good cooling solution is worth investing in.

In other words, the Intel Core i7-14700K is an unchanged powerful chip with great thermal and power demands. It does handle high temperatures quite well. Cooling must be put right for things to keep running at their best. Power consumption will have that electric meter spinning just a little bit faster. For the vast majority of users, the payoff in performance will be well worth those extra watts.

Compare with Competitors

To pick a CPU for your needs, you must understand how the Intel Core i7-14700K performs. It should be compared to the current crop. Now, let’s dive into head-to-head comparisons showing where this chip flies and where it hit some snags.

vs AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D

The Intel vs. AMD debate will always be interesting; however, i7-14700K vs. Ryzen 7800X3D are something special, as both are good options but thrive in completely different domains.

It tends that the 7800X3D often leads the way in gaming performance, especially when it comes to those cache-sensitive games. This Microsoft Flight Simulator does sometimes show us performance differences. These differences are about 20% higher on the 7800X3D because it has a much bigger cache. This gives an advantage in some titles.

It’s not a clean sweep for AMD, though. The 14700K pulls even—or a shade lower than—the 7800X3D in those games less sensitive to cache. So, if gaming is your main gig, the 7800X3D have the slightest edge overall.

But this is where it gets interesting: in productivity chores, the i7-14700K starts to flex its muscles. This CPU boasts 28 threads compared to the 7800X3D’s 16. In tasks like rendering and photo editing, it shines. If you use your PC for creation as much as gaming, the 14700K well be the better all-rounder.

The big win for this 7800X3D, though, is in power efficiency. Based on its Zen 4 architecture and 5 nm process node, it is taking massively lower power. It matches performance with the 14700K. That might make the 7800X3D a bit more appealing if you’re worried about your electricity bill.

vs Intel Core i9-14900K

Now let’s take a look at how different the i7-14700K is from its big brother, the i9-14900K. And somewhat surprisingly, that gap isn’t all that big.

The 14700K posted numbers within 3-6% of the beefier 14900K’s results in our gaming benchmarks. That’s a pretty impressive number, especially considering these price differences. You’d have to be rather sensitive to spot that difference. Take, for example, games like Rainbow Six: Siege. In those games, up to 10 frames per second at frame rates of around 600 per second separate them.

The gap widens a tad more with the 14700K in content creation chores. However, it still does quite well. And if it’s gaming that tickles your fancy over content creation, then the $409.00 Core i7-14700K will be a whole lot more cost-effective in your pocket.

Vs. previous generation i7-13700K

There is some improvement noticed in 14700K compared to the predecessor model, i7-13700K, in multi-threading tasks.

We saw upwards of 25 percent gains in Blender, for instance, in the Monster benchmark alone. With an average of almost 20 percent boosts between tests, its Cinebench R23 multithreaded benchmark leaped 17 percent. V-Ray 5 also leaped to come in under 17 percent.

These are improvements primarily due to the extra four E-cores in the 14700K. You will see the most generous double-digit gains in those multi-threadable tasks. This includes encoding and rendering, in particular.

That works out to a general uplift of 5.4% for the performance of the 14700K over the 13700K. Drilling even deeper, we get the following: 4.5% better single-core, 13% better in multi-core, 9.9% better in creative workloads, and 1.5% better in gaming.

With that said, the Intel Core i7-14700K seems to be a pretty decent processor for its respective market. It is very close to a higher-class gaming performance. It is also very productive, substantially outperforming its predecessor. The i7-14700K is not literally on the edge of power efficiency. Yet, it delivers balanced performance across a wide range of tasks. It fits a wide circle of users.

Conclusion

The Core i7-14700K is, without a doubt, an able processor. It offers an unusually massive performance boost from its predecessor. It shows great results in single-core and multi-core tests combined with very great gaming performance. There is little question that this makes it known in line as a contender. It really can’t be denied that the new E-cores thrash multi-threaded tasks. Therefore, they allow a lot of leverage in content creation and productivity applications.

The i7-14700K shines in every regard. That should also put into perspective its thermal output and power consumption. Buyers should be ready to invest in decent cooling solutions that can keep this processor at its best. The i7-14700K is a little hungry in the power-draw department compared to similar offerings from the competition. However, it has good performance throughput in many tasks. This makes it an option that lures system upgrades or new high-performance rig builders.

FAQs

1. How does an Intel Core i7-14700K perform in gaming?

Yes, the Intel Core i7-14700K is a higher-frame performer in games and also works comfortably in threaded applications. Well, it does run hot compared to some of its AMD counterparts. It will still undoubtedly be a great option for gamers planning their next PC build.

2. How effective is the Intel Core i7 for gaming purposes?

While both Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors are fantastic, gaming is where they excel. The Core i5 leans somewhat toward budget-friendliness, while the Core i7 caters to better performance in heavy multitasking scenarios. That said, streamers or heavy multitaskers can save better money toward a Core i7.

3. Does the i7 14700K tend to overheat?

The i7 14700K does run a bit warmer. Perhaps, it runs warmer than many would have hoped for. This is true even with a dual-fan liquid cooling system. Fast, but runs on the warm side.

4. What is the maximum supported RAM speed by i7 14700K?

The i7 14700K will provide proper support for the RAM’s effective speed up to a maximum of 5600 MHz. Setting for over 6400 MHz can be made, but stability can become an issue beyond the 5600 MHz mark. One is advised to set 5600 MHz for the best performance of RAM speed.