Wednesday, March 13th 2024
Intel Core i7-14700K Slides Down to $389
The sub-$400 desktop processor segment is heating up, with the recent arrival of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D 12-core/24-thread processor in this segment, at $389. The 7900X3D boasts of 3D V-cache technology, and is tested to offer gaming performance comparable to the Core i9-13900K. Did you know which other chip offered the same performance as the i9-13900K at a much lower price? The Core i7-14700K. Pricing of this chip is on a downward trend, and Newegg is selling it for $389. The chip is listed for $399, with a coupon shaving off $10. At $389, the i7-14700K should offer comparable gaming performance to the i9-13900K, and by extension, the 7900X3D.
The Core i7-14700K "Raptor Lake Refresh" processor features an interesting 8P+12E core-configuration, with 8 "Raptor Cove" performance cores, and 12 "Gracemont" efficiency cores. Each P-core has 2 MB of dedicated L2 cache, each of the three E-core clusters shares a 4 MB L2 cache among its four cores; while the eight P-cores and three E-core clusters share a 33 MB L3 cache. The i7-14700K is compatible with all Intel 600-series and 700-series chipset motherboards, with some of them requring a UEFI firmware update. An interesting point to note here, is that while the i7-14700K is selling at $389, its sibling without the iGPU, the i7-14700KF, remains at $399.
Source:
Tom's Hardware
The Core i7-14700K "Raptor Lake Refresh" processor features an interesting 8P+12E core-configuration, with 8 "Raptor Cove" performance cores, and 12 "Gracemont" efficiency cores. Each P-core has 2 MB of dedicated L2 cache, each of the three E-core clusters shares a 4 MB L2 cache among its four cores; while the eight P-cores and three E-core clusters share a 33 MB L3 cache. The i7-14700K is compatible with all Intel 600-series and 700-series chipset motherboards, with some of them requring a UEFI firmware update. An interesting point to note here, is that while the i7-14700K is selling at $389, its sibling without the iGPU, the i7-14700KF, remains at $399.
35 Comments on Intel Core i7-14700K Slides Down to $389
Gaming is the only reason you would want to have 7800x3d.
Is it?
X3D CPUs are the fastest for gaming and that's a fact either you like it or not.
Some people play in Ultrawide resolutions that fall between 1440p & 4k, which might show a CPU bottleneck.
Some people are going to upgrade to something more powerful than a 4090 in the future, in which case, the 5090 may see some/more games that are limited by the CPU at 4k.
Bonus for the 7800X3D is that it uses ~30% less power during gaming than the 13600/14600k, per TPU aggregate.
In the real world though you see several use cases where the fastest possible CPU matters, sometimes even more than having the fastest GPU.
It also applies to ANY game you want to play at high FPS and have no issues dropping image quality to get there.
But nah, don't get a 7800X3D, its only the fastest thing you can have for gaming across the board, most notably in the situations where it matters because every CPU is brought to its knees in said game loads.
Better off buying a sub par Intel CPU that guzzles power to reach performance parity. :roll: :roll: How lost can you get. There is barely any gaming use case where Intel has a better offer right now.
2 days ago we tested an x3d against a stock 12900k in cyberpunk. Performance was exactly the same. According to TPU though, the 7800x 3d is 30% faster in that game. So your real world scenario goes completely against the point you are making
When you look at the benches that focus on real gaming situations that are specifically CPU heavy, such as 4X/strategy end-game, games that move lots of assets and game logic all the time, you see the X3D's shine. Its precisely the kind of situations you won't find reviewers doing, because they'd have to nick a savegame somewhere or actually play a game for 3-4 hours to get to that point.
It's not true either that the x3d shines in those games. Factorio, which has become the foremost game to show the x3ds prowess shows the exact opposite of what you are claiming. In reviews the x3d is twice as fast as their competition. In real world situations after 4 hours of gameplay in big maps the 14900k is actually faster even in factorio. The game has its own database of performance based on the size of the map, and the "goal" is to maintain 60 fps with the biggest map available. Intel takes the top spots there. The x3d only does well in the small 10k maps with only a handful of units.
So the question is, how do you know that the 3d does better in real world benchmarks? Have you actually tested the 2 cpus? I've posted some numbers from real gameplay on hogwarts, tlou, cyberpunk, kcd, starfield the x3d can barely match a 12900k. Are these games flawed too?
Its interesting, your input. Perhaps my view is clouded too. Defo going to look more into this :)
Thing with stelaris is, even if you play 10k maps, the game on the official servers is played at 60 fps. So the fact that the x3d can get 500 is irrelevant. But in the big 60k maps that a lot of cpus actually struggle to get that 60, the x3d doesn't have the lead anymore.
Anyways we are being very specific, my question was more like, how do we know which is better in the real world unless we specifically test them for that?
Also, much greater focus on minimums and frametime impact more so than averages, for mostly the same reasons as GPU reviews having put focus on that.
Also, future upgrades. If you have 4080 or 4090, you might jump to a faster one in a year or two. Then the CPU bottleneck will be even more evident.
The 14700 seems like it is something OK for gaming but the price is still high and X3D would still be better purchase. Also the upgrade from a 14700 isn't in any way comprehensive. Same goes for 13600
but sure, CP2077 is the game that describes performance reality. Not likely.