Intel® Core™ i9-14900K Desktop Processor

This professional CPU isn't designed for the average user. However, if you're a tinkerer at heart, eager to dive deeper than the surface-level information often presented in YouTube "videos" (or should we say, commercials), this is unquestionably for you. I've acquired multiple units for various builds and configurations from a wide array of retailers—Best Buy, Newegg, and others included. For those considering a purchase, I highly recommend using an Apex/Apex Encore motherboard or another reputable 2-DIMM board, particularly for AM5 or LGA1700, if overclocking is your goal. A high-quality cooler is crucial; for those opting for an AIO, ensure it includes at least an 8th-gen Asetek pump and a 360 Thickboy copper radiator with performance fans. Avoid the aesthetically pleasing but functionally inferior Lian Li reversed SL Infinity fans. Genuine static pressure fans, capable of efficiently doing the job, are what you need. Despite what your favorite YouTuber might suggest, prioritize efficiency over aesthetics. Temperature control with this platform is paramount! When selecting DDR5, opt for well-binned options. If a high-binned QVL-compatible set isn't your choice, at a minimum, go for Hynix A for single-rank and Hynix M for dual-rank. The 14900K, when expertly tuned, becomes a gaming and multitasking powerhouse—achieving 43k to 44k in Cinebench R23, with 6.2GHz boosting, 5.9GHz across its 8 physical cores and 8 threads, and 16 physical e-cores at 4.7GHz, for a total of 32 threads, of which only 8 are virtual. With hyper-threading and e-cores enabled, it supports 8200-8400 MT/s CL38 DDR5 RAM, boasts sub-55ns bus latency, and sub-9.3ns FWL. It's a marvel in AIDA64 full (minus SSD), burn-in stress-test stability. Adjusting all cores down to 5.8GHz and boosting to 6.0GHz can further reduce bus latency to easily below 50ns (easily being relative to your experience). If you're going with Hynix A, you will need additional RAM cooling at 8000MT/s or higher with sub-50ns latency, as the sticks will start to error quickly at higher temps. OCCT and Kahru stability testing are a must. Understanding Important Voltages Voltage management is crucial when overclocking any high-end processor like the 14900K. Incorrect voltage settings can lead to instability or thermal throttling, ultimately degrading the CPU. Here are the key voltages to understand and manage: * Vcore: This is the most important voltage for CPU stability. Overclocking typically requires slightly higher Vcore. I recommend running at a 1.24V-1.26V range for stable performance under load, depending on the CPU's individual characteristics. Some chips may need more or less voltage for the same clock speeds. * VccSA (System Agent Voltage): This voltage controls the power to the memory controller and other components that affect memory and interconnect performance. Increasing VccSA slightly (1.0V–1.2V) can help with higher memory overclocking, particularly when pushing DDR5 to its limits. However, it's a fine balance, and too high can result in unnecessary heat. * Vccio: This voltage affects the CPU core's stability, especially during heavy workloads. A small increase (1.05V to 1.15V) can help ensure stability at higher frequencies. * Cache Voltage: For overclocking, ensuring that the CPU cache voltage is properly tuned helps maintain stability with higher core frequencies. If you're running multi-core loads, this is vital. * Ring/Uncore Voltage: Often overlooked, this voltage influences the performance of the uncore and cache. Keeping this at a lower level can help manage thermals better and improve the overall stability of your setup. Locking Cores for Stability and Performance Boost Locking all cores at a set frequency is one of the most effective ways to manage your CPU's power consumption and thermal output. While some might undervalue this approach, in practice, it's a well-desired strategy for ensuring stability and longevity of the 14900K. By locking cores at 5.8GHz under manual overclocking, you effectively maintain stable performance without relying on fluctuating boost clocks. The CPU will perform at a consistent clock, ensuring a predictable workload, which often leads to more stable thermals and lower peak voltages compared to using adaptive turbo modes. This approach also reduces the chances of sudden voltage spikes and temperature fluctuations that can cause instability, especially during gaming or other intensive tasks. It's an excellent way to optimize both gaming and multitasking without pushing the system to its thermal or voltage limits. Essentially, locking cores can lead to: * More consistent performance (especially in sustained workloads). * Lower overall temperatures. * Reduced power draw, keeping your CPU running at its peak without over exertion. Real-World Performance Considerations Despite the capability of 3 EATX connections to easily deliver over 400W of power, I'd advise against exceeding 325W bursts daily. The performance gains beyond this point are minimal without extreme overclocking and cooling methods. Increased voltage/power requirements could significantly shorten the lifespan of your CPU. For tinkerers, this CPU is a dream come true. The X3D Elephant in the Room: Don't worry, I own one, and this is about science, not purchase bias. We'll sidestep intricate discussions about CLDO, FCLK, and MCLK concerns, and why the substantial L3 cache has become an essential workaround for the instability caused by chiplet-based IMC in handling DDR5 for gamers. If the augmentation of the L3 cache wasn't primarily to address DDR5 issues stemming from the chiplet design, why not significantly enhance and accelerate the L1 cache? The design doesn't allow for it since it's not monolithic, which wouldn't be practical. Those well-versed in the subject matter understand this. While chiplets represent the future, we must acknowledge that this future hasn't fully materialized for every aspect of computing, allowing us to look beyond the "normie YouTuber AMD cults." Indeed, I own a 7800X3D build and absolutely adore it! It excels in gaming... primarily in GAMING! Thus, there's no cause for concern. Let's briefly touch on the "benefits" like reduced thermals and supposed platform longevity (as if motherboard chipset upgrades and advancements in power delivery methods don't occur... humor me, over the planned 6 years). I, too, long for Z390 features on my Z790 board (/end sarcasm), not to mention the potential for longer boot times when tinkering with DDR5 or PBO, or even under normal conditions, and texture stutter/tearing... oops, and all those other delightful topics Lisa tends to highlight without addressing the influence of influencers with communications degrees rather than computer science degrees. Just having fun—do what you love! I don't blame Amazon, Intel, AMD, or Nvidia more than the other. Manufacturing and shipping issues happen. The chip I received from Amazon didn't meet my expectations, but my other purchases have been exceptional. By chance alone, the other four 14900Ks I've received from various distributors have been stellar! Note: Settings in pictures have been daily-driven—no stability concerns—all AIDA64 stress-tested for multiple hours and hundreds of gaming/workload hours. I can get bus latency down to under 50ns but need to decrease core clock to a locked 5.8GHz and some other tunes. It depends on what needs to be done—either/or is screaming fast, even 55ns at that bandwidth. I wouldn’t recommend going for 6.2 daily UNLESS YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING, are willing to DELID, and have amazing cooling. KNOWING WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS NOT WATCHING TECH TUBE. Update—As of Dec 28, 2024, I have not experienced ANY stability issues so far, nor have any of the other well-versed system builders and tuners/XOC nerds in our Discord (about 600 people). Most are running on OG microcode lol... it is all about keeping vCORE down and the steps needed to do so... Eg. if you configured your system properly in the first place there would have never been a stability concern less you got an early 13th gen.. YES, YOUTUBERS ARE WRONG, IMAGINE THAT LOL. If you want stability and do not have years of experience tuning, you will need to properly handle PL1 and PL2 values, as well as lock core clocks to a reasonable frequency that corresponds with safe voltage according to your VID and what you can under-volt while maintaining STABILITY during active use. Be sure to stay within thermal, voltage, and power guidelines. THERE IS NO COOKIE-CUTTER SOLUTION—each piece of silicon from any manufacturer is different. Do NOT leave this stock. If you do not at least understand what VID and Vcore are, this is not the processor for you and you need to buy something more plug-and-play. These are built for experienced enthusiasts. My daily tune, still stable all this time later: zero gaming issues, zero shader crashes, it just works. 5.8GHz locked, 8200MT/s CL38. YOU MUST UNDERSTAND YOUR VOLTAGES. Each CPU will be different and require its own specific tune to hit what I have here IF IT CAN AT ALL. My processor has an Asus rating of 120 on the P cores—it's GREAT. It runs -0.135V at all listed frequencies and never really goes above 1.26 Vcore at idle or load, on average hovering around 1.19V-1.24V vcore YOUR results WILL vary. I could run 6.0GHz without any worry for degradation likely still under 1.325 max and average around 1.27-1.29, or even with boosts to 6.2GHz, but why? If you can show me real-world performance issues caused by an average 200MHz less, I'll concede I'm wrong! But yeah, 6.0GHz stable with very low chance of degradation is achievable on this chip. YOUR chip may vary. All of the above should be a given but if you are here reading this, this is not advice, you need to fundamentally understand hardware and anything said here will not get you where you need to be. Intel could have done better by letting the public know this processor is NOT beginner friendly, I lock at 5.8, still score 40-44k r23. We can still do moonshot runs to 6.2 but the processor becomes so inefficient past 5.9 with reasonable cooling, there is no real point as does any other modern CPU. Stop the boosting on all platforms, AM5, Core Ultra, I9 and etc. If you are going to leave it enabled, MONITOR THE RIGHT VOLTAGES! Most of all, enjoy this beast, but as with all beast, it requires the respect it deserves, if you are a person who needs to watch LTT to build a PC, this cpu is not for you. Love you Linus. <3

So I finally upgraded my home workstation, and went to this new i9-14900K. It is incredibly fast. I had a Davinci Resolve video project file that I rendered on my old setup, the i7-6850K and it took just over 22 minutes to complete the render. On the new i9, the exact same file was re exported, took just over 8 minutes..! almost a 3x speed increase.! Also, when you speed up footage in Resolve, the old cpu could not play it back smoothly, it would jump and chug like crazy, the new i9, it plays it back sped up 800% no problems and I can actually see how it looks without having to export the entire video clip to see it playback the retimed footage smoothly. Applications open u p much faster too, but that could be more due to the pcie4.0 nvme system drive that is much faster than the previous version nvme I had in the old build. The one thing I do not like about the new cpu, is the number of pci lanes. You only get 20, 16 are pcie5.0 and 4 are pcie4.0. This wont be an issue for most people, but my old cpu had 40 lanes, allowing me to run 3 GPU's at the same time, and YES, I needed them, I use GPU rendering software that can use up to 8 GPU's in one system on one license and every additional GPU speeds up your render times a lot when rendering out 3D sims. With this new cpu, I can only run 2 GPU's and they run at 8x, cause they share the 16x, and that does leave me 4 full pcie4.0 lanes for the system drive. It is not a deal breaker, and the increased speed overall is well worth it. One thing EVERYBODY should be aware of, is these new intel chips have P cores and E cores. Something my old cpu did NOT have. E-cores can severely impact certain software performance. When I booted up the new machine and tried my Ableton DAW for the first time, I was expecting to be so happy with a performance boost, and the software was literally almost unusable.! The E-cores were slowing the software down so bad, I could barely change settings in the preferences.! It was that bad. I had to install process lasso ( fantastic software that is free if you have never heard of it ) and disable the use of E-cores for Ableton and then it worked very fast and is great.!

UPDATE: Been at this for days and days. Intel core i9-14900k on ASUS z790 Strix is a BSOD MACHINE. Previouslyit would run for many minutes. Now it barely goes one ir two minutes before freezing and a BSOD. Now I'm doing ASUS BIOS MemTest86 so far so good (for the RAM). While Windows 11 Pro was working I did the Memory Diagnostics and it said it passed. So either the CPU or the Motherboard is bad. New ASUS Z790 Strix, with new Intel i9-14900k, with new T700 2TB Gen5 PCIE 5 NVME M2, and new 64GB DDR5 6400 RAM, with Runs Windows 11 Pro. All drivers up and Windows are up to date. I've not done any overclocking or XMP in the bios to push the RAM 4000Mhz to the advertised 6400. I avoided buying RAM that can go 8000Mhz with XMP because there are so very many failures with those--and I wanted 8000 because I wanted a system with no bottlenecks as much as possible. Runs great for about 5 to 30 minutes. Temps run from 30s to 50s to high 80s bouncing up and down like normal. Then BOOM BSODs. I will do tests including memory, cpu, and double check drivers. Most websites point to a CPU issue. Some mention RAM or drivers. I'm either going to solve this issue or return this i9-14900 CPU and replace it with an i9-13900. I hope to remember this review and update it with success info.

This thing is a beast. Plain and simple. I have an arctic water cooler to go with it and it works great. The limit i put this as is 320w and it gets 5.5ghz and stays at 84-85C. To save power i just keep it at 260-270w and cant notice the difference. There it gets 5.2-5.3ghz. Also have a slight undervolt. Temp stays at 74C under that setup at max load. To get the peak performance out of it a watercooler is a must, this thing runs hot.

I'm not going to go over the same performance reviews others have done, yes its very fast for only $550 its the king of the poor mans build PC. my last PC its replacing was a $1000 10980xe and looking at the numbers the 14900k in average is 70-77% faster than the 10980xe. the only disadvantage between the 2 was the 10980xe had 48 PCIe lanes and ran 32c to 56c hot. i can't say the same about the 14900k heat, its spreader is almost half of the 10980xe. you can't just simply add a stock cooler or a "MC'watercooler" and expect the problem will solve itself. this is the first CPU in my 26 yrs of building PC's you have to plan out your cooler set up. ever since a 2012 water leak from these Mc'watercoolers (all in one 2 fan radiator kits sold by name brands) Ive never trusted them cost me $1500 in damages. The only water coolers that don't leak for me were the ones i built but water cooling is expensive and you have to inspect them at least every 3 months for debris in the tank or leaks. with air i only have to clean the pc 2x a year. yes you can control temps with an air cooler, and get the same temps as a 3 fan radiator water cooler. I'll post the results without adding a watt limit in the mobo post screen. here is the parts i bought to air cool running the new cinabench 2024 for 30 mins i can get max performance on a defualt non OC not hitting above 99C on the P cores 1. Noctua NH-D15 chromax.Black | Dual-Tower CPU Cooler | 140mm | Black 2. Noctua NF-A15 HS-PWM chromax.Black.swap (this adds a 3rd fan for the air cooler you'll need it) 3. FDXGYH 4 Pcs CPU Heatsink Fan Buckle PC Mainboard CPU Radiator Fan 12CM Wire Buckle Upper Hook Type Fixing Clip (these buckles are compatible with noctus 140mm fans) 4. Easycargo 40mm Heatsink Kit 40mmx40mmx20mm (this you place on the flat base of the noctua cooler will help dissipate heat) 5. Easycargo 100pcs Heatsink Assortment Kit Small Cooler Aluminum Heat (these you throw on the back of your mobo on and around the mount brackets you'll me amazed how adding heat sinks on the back of the mobo will reduce temps) 6. Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut (this is the best thermal grease cooler by 1-2c cooler than artic silver mx 6) 7. Thermalright Intel 12th/13th Generation LGA1700 Anti-Bending Buckle ( a must add a little thermal grease on the cpu side flaps this buckle is 100% aluminum will al help dissipate heat. then i went to my mother board software options (mobo is an MSI MEG Z790 ACE MAX) select "CPU cooler tuning" select "tower air cooling" which will limit the wattage draw to under 300w also note if you are not using a Water Cooling Reservoir you should also use this option, water cooling a 14900k and OC really does require a reservoir, and a 4x 120 fan size radiator if you're simply using a pre-built 2x fan radiator its not enough to handle the 14900k and the CPU is known for drawing 370w plus!! so using air cooled i got a 2371 score with no watt limiter option an temps were 78-100c on the p cores, and with the 300 watt limit the score was 2328 with temps 70-99c never hit 100c case the limiter would kick in. (note this is from CPU testing that punishes the CPU realistically i don't see this CPU going over 88c even on the most demanding game in 3 years. i personally do not recommend OC this CPU its already been pushed to its limits by INTEL at best for another 100 watts when all you're getting is 3-4 more FPS and that's not worth it. and all these people bragging a 6.2-6.5ghz OC, there just flexing for clout, then they take the CPU back to default. i already have my P cores spiking to 6.002 at 288-300 watts, and under 99c temps; adding 0.198mhz will meaning nothing for apps and gaming. personal note the MSI MEG Z790 ACE MAX Gaming Motherboard is absolutely amazing at squeezing out all the performance of the 14900k worth the $700 price never crashed during testing that 26 power phases is godly compared to my last gen EVGA x299 dark had 12 phase...RIP EGA :(

Fantastic, incredibly low temps (idle 24-28) and 100% load @ 80-90c max. Undervolted -0.100 and passing the latest intel chips easily in benchmarks. Love it.

Dark matter research cluster: I have two i9 14900K systems in a cluster using a100GB bidirectional NIC for astrophysical research. We rack them above ground on a vented computer rack with 10 fans: 6 inlet (Artic P12) and 4 out (3 are in the ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 - AIO CPU Cooler). Both systems are run to precise Intel spec, on ASUS Z790-plus bios 1820 (253 watt limit). We'll add one RTX 5090 to each one within 90 days, so we got the Thermaltake 1350 PSUs in each. But here's what NO ONE in the reviews will tell you: two of these at spec beat anything on Passmark up to $10,000. and two 5090s outperform an NVIDA H100. This processor got a bad name unfairly. Everyone on here seems to be an expert overclocker. Yes, users CAN half the life of thier silicon for 7 percent more performance, but never get close to what we get running two i9 14900Ks at spec. Bios 1820 is the answer to the 14th gens heat problems. If you want to go fast, cluster. I got these on a fire sale because they had a bad name. Under $700 for two i9 14900Ks. This processor is the buy of the century. Regarding memory: we run everything in 64GB ram drives which blows away gamers raid zero setups. We use primocache software on Win 11 9not Unix). Both nodes have 128GB DDR5 at 5600 or better, but what no one tells you is that 128GB drops memory speed to JDEC (4200 - 4800) because the memory controller is optimized for 64GB. We do NOT overclock memory. Operating systems: We run both Ubuntu 24.04 and Win Pro 11 on these systems. No blue screens on either EVER. Our PCIe 4.0 NVMe are 8TB or better (up to 20TB) on each system, and as a rule, two 4TBs is faster than one 8 for simulations and modeling. AI tells us that there are less than 100 systems like this (privately owned) in the world (Aug 2025). Frankly I am amazed clustering isn't more common. The i9 14900K is the best bet for all of this, as nothing comes near it for price, performance or stability - at Intel spec. Wanna cluster? Use RDMA and Message Passing Interface. Good luck !

I built PC with the new Intel i9-14900k, and I must say, it's a beast of a processor. Coming from an i7-8700k, the performance boost is nothing short of incredible. Multitasking, gaming, and content creation have all seen a significant improvement. Multithreaded applications and gaming experiences run smoother. It's a productivity powerhouse. The clock speeds are no slouch either, making it excellent for single-threaded tasks and gaming. The major downside of this CPU is the heat it generates. Even with a high-end cooling solution, it tends to run hot, and that's something you must take into consideration when setting up your cooling solution. Be ready for this CPU to draw a significant amount of power at full load. It can put quite a load on your power supply and might necessitate an upgrade if you're not already prepared. The Intel i9-14900k is an incredible processor, and the upgrade from an i7-8700k is substantial. Its exceptional performance in various tasks justifies its price tag. If you're willing to address these challenges, you'll be rewarded with a fantastic computing experience.