Intel Core 14th Gen Unboxing & Preview

[Ruru]

Record breaking power consumption

Hey, winter is coming so a great time for their release.

 

[chrcoluk]

A board manufacturer confirmed is larger L3 cache, was wondering if that was getting a bump. (in your preview slides also).

 

[Dr. Dro]

Didn't 13th gen come out like 2 months ago? Maybe it just feels like, but I guess at least it's fun to read new reviews.

One year, with the 13900KS specifically being released in mid-January. This is physically the same silicon with the same stepping and the same microcode, so I would be quite cross if the Application Optimization thing is left out of the original Raptor Lake models just to create a gap between these CPUs. They... offer us absolutely nothing this time.

@W1zzard

"The Core i9-14900K is an 8P+16E processor, with the full 36 MB L3 cache available on the silicon. Intel has re-introduced the Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) technology exclusively for the 14th Gen Core i9. If the cooling is found suitable, the i9-14900K can boost up to 6.00 GHz. This is different from the Limited Edition Core i9-13900KS, which used the Turbo Boost Max 3.0 algorithm to reach 6.00 GHz. The maximum Turbo Boost Max frequency is still 5.80 GHz (same as the i9-13900K)."

This does not seem to be correct?

According to the chart in the article, it seems that the only official changes seem to be a formality of increasing E-core boost frequency by up to 100 MHz and the P-core TBT 3.0 frequency by up to 200 MHz. Average clock frequency of both should be roughly identical, the 13900KS also supports TVB and that is how the 6.0 GHz target is achieved, not through TBT 3.0 Max - whose frequency on the i9-13900KS is also 5.8 GHz. From my personal experience, the stock 13900KS will keep all P-cores at 5.6 GHz and boost two of them to 6.0, and back off to 5.8 once temps get too high, and then to 5.6 again and it tends to stay there regardless of temp.

Intel® Core™ i9-13900KS Processor (36M Cache, up to 6.00 GHz) Product Specifications

Intel® Core™ i9-13900KS Processor (36M Cache, up to 6.00 GHz) quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.

ark.intel.com

The TVB target on the 13900K is 5.8, with 5.7 TBT 3.0 Max and 5.4 TBT targets.

Intel® Core™ i9-13900K Processor (36M Cache, up to 5.80 GHz) Product Specifications

Intel® Core™ i9-13900K Processor (36M Cache, up to 5.80 GHz) quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.

ark.intel.com

It will be an interesting review, that's for sure... just sad that this CPU offers me absolutely nothing

 

[theouto]

I am very much looking forward to what AMD will do this generation, with intel taking a nap they could seize their opportunity and gain a nice lead, even if for just a generation, or they too could take a nap, the market is unpredictable like that.

Hoping that is not the case however, no performance improvements for a generation would be terrible, hoping we don't have another gpu market situation on our hands.

 

[BoggledBeagle]

....
It will be an interesting review, that's for sure... just sad that this CPU offers me absolutely nothing

So what? 13600K is one of the best universal CPUs available today and 14600K with slight frequency and performance improvement is even better.

And the larger models will find their buyers too. Especially the enthusiasts with water loops. YOU HAVE TO HEAT THE WATER SOMEHOW when you built a nice system to cool it.

 

[chrcoluk]

I am very much looking forward to what AMD will do this generation, with intel taking a nap they could seize their opportunity and gain a nice lead, even if for just a generation, or they too could take a nap, the market is unpredictable like that.

Hoping that is not the case however, no performance improvements for a generation would be terrible, hoping we don't have another gpu market situation on our hands.

Hopefully AMD also go small improvements, my chip stays relevant longer then. No need to upgrade every gen.

 

[W1zzard]

pictured the beast gulping electricity from the socket

Publishing obfuscated test results is still breaking the NDA, no?

 

[simlariver]

I don't think that this unboxing was necessary, it's kinda redundant.

 

[Dr. Dro]

So what? 13600K is one of the best universal CPUs available today and 14600K with slight frequency and performance improvement is even better.

Thing is, it's nothing a tuned 13600K won't match or exceed, and in my case, I already have a 13900KS. So like... I really get nothing

I feel like these CPUs are not worthy of a full generation, they should have been called -13650K, -13750K and -13950K instead.

 

[chrcoluk]

Appreciated you asked the obvious w1zzard. Hopefully Intel dont do an Nvidia and allow raptor lake and alder lake to use this optimizer.

APO is supported in just two games at this time. Going forward, Intel promises to test a lot of games and add APO profiles where gains can be found. We asked Intel whether profiles can be created or customized by the user, and whether Linux is supported. The answer was "not at this time" to both questions.

Thing is, it's nothing a tuned 13600K won't match or exceed, and in my case, I already have a 13900KS. So like... I really get nothing

I feel like these CPUs are not worthy of a full generation, they should have been called -13650K, -13750K and -13950K instead.

Difference is, a silicon lottery user might not be able to do what you did, a assured spec bump from a manufacturer is always better than "it might overclock to that if I am lucky".

I agree on the generation thing though, there seems to be an obsession now days to always release something new on a schedule, instead just release something worth releasing when ready, even if its a multi year gap. A minor revision change could still be done as you suggested.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Difference is, a silicon lottery user might not be able to do what you did, a assured spec bump from a manufacturer is always better than "it might overclock to that if I am lucky".

Agreed, but... it's not really a substantial bump on the i5 segment either. It seems like the star of this show is specifically the i7-14700K, it's the only one that offers a meaningful improvement over the 13700K, or a meaningful improvement at all.

 

[BoggledBeagle]

Publishing obfuscated test results is still breaking the NDA, no?

I think they are fine. If they had a third dino on the scene holding a power meter with a number on it, it could be really hard to explain.

More than 350, yes or no?

 

[chrcoluk]

Agreed, but... it's not really a substantial bump on the i5 segment either. It seems like the star of this show is specifically the i7-14700K, it's the only one that offers a meaningful improvement over the 13700K, or a meaningful improvement at all.

Should probably be "raptor lake +"

Interesting that Intel have pre prepped results, and also at same time imposed an embargo on independent results, and if thats not enough w1zzard adds a warning for people to wait independent reviews.

So feels like something not good is going to be revealed.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Should probably be "raptor lake +"

Interesting that Intel have pre prepped results, and also at same time imposed an embargo on independent results, and if thats not enough w1zzard adds a warning for people to wait independent reviews.

So feels like something not good is going to be revealed.

I mean, there's no meaningful changes, and not even a new hardware stepping. These 14th gen chips are just the same ones we got almost a year ago but with bumped clock ceilings, on a very liberal up to basis. It will change nothing and bring nothing, really... and all the games where AMD had a spectacular lead with their Ryzen X3Ds will remain with the same lead. In that sense, yeah, you can expect something not good to be revealed. Not bad, but not good either... it's just what we already knew. Booooring.

The honest truth is that Intel stalled... and I have no idea why. This time they have Intel 4 ready to ship, my only guess is that based on their internal testing, it doesn't achieve high frequencies enough to mitigate the core count regression on the Meteor Lake design for it to be worth placing as their Core Ultra flagship.

 

[chrcoluk]

I mean, there's no meaningful changes, and not even a new hardware stepping. These 14th gen chips are just the same ones we got almost a year ago but with bumped clock ceilings, on a very liberal up to basis. It will change nothing and bring nothing, really... and all the games where AMD had a spectacular lead with their Ryzen X3Ds will remain with the same lead. In that sense, yeah, you can expect something not good to be revealed. Not bad, but not good either... it's just what we already knew. Booooring.

The honest truth is that Intel stalled... and I have no idea why. This time they have Intel 4 ready to ship, my only guess is that based on their internal testing, it doesn't achieve high frequencies enough to mitigate the core count regression on the Meteor Lake design for it to be worth placing as their Core Ultra flagship.

My guess is that the graphs made by intel are relying on that new intel software. So not native so to speak. Kind of like Nvidia making graphs based on DLSS.

 

[W1zzard]

This does not seem to be correct?

According to the chart in the article, it seems that the only official changes seem to be a formality of increasing E-core boost frequency by up to 100 MHz and the P-core TBT 3.0 frequency by up to 200 MHz. Average clock frequency of both should be roughly identical, the 13900KS also supports TVB and that is how the 6.0 GHz target is achieved, not through TBT 3.0 Max - whose frequency on the i9-13900KS is also 5.8 GHz. From my personal experience, the stock 13900KS will keep all P-cores at 5.6 GHz and boost two of them to 6.0, and back off to 5.8 once temps get too high, and then to 5.6 again and it tends to stay there regardless of temp.

You are absolutely right. Not sure how I missed TVB in my 13900KS review.

http://imgur.com/JkfTHdA

This is 13900KS. Right is TVB settings, I just took that screenshot. Please note the 0's for temperatures, which means TVB is not temperature dependent.
Verified with the testing on the left, load on just the two 6 GHz cores and CPU fan disconnected

I've updated our article accordingly. Thank you!

 

[BoggledBeagle]

I feel like these CPUs are not worthy of a full generation, they should have been called -13650K, -13750K and -13950K instead.

Well, somebody thinks that Intel should release some new CPUs every single year and this is all Intel can do at the moment. They could have added some cores to 14600K too though.

 

[Dragokar]

Honest question, was the unboxing part of the sampling agreement?

 

[Dr. Dro]

You are absolutely right. Not sure how I missed TVB in my 13900KS review.

http://imgur.com/JkfTHdA

Right is TVB settings, I just took that screenshot. Please note the 0's for temperatures, which means TVB is not temperature dependent.
Verified with the testing on the left, load on just the two 6 GHz cores and CPU fan disconnected

I've updated our article accordingly. Thank you!

Sweet, no problem! Glad to be of any help. I assumed temps because, well, name, and it's always hovering at 6.0 when I start using my PC but eventually drops a little if the CPU sustains load for some time, my cooling isn't the absolute best for a 13900KS, but it gets the job done. I wish my MSI board had the binning info like the ROG one does. I get so curious to see how my sample stands

 

[BoggledBeagle]

Honest question, was the unboxing part of the sampling agreement?

What do you mean? I do not think that the publishers are oblidged to unbox it, or publish the review the very first second they are allowed to. They just choose to do it because it brings some views and money. The more and the sooner they do, the more views they get.

 

[Chrispy_]

This trend of separate unboxing and review embargos is nonsense. F*ck Nvidia for starting this BS and f*ck Intel/AMD/Apple for copying such marketing-centric, anti-consumer behaviour.

This isn't even a new product, it's just a goddamn new label on the old ones with a lukewarm overclock, ffs....

 

[progste]

This trend of separate unboxing and review embargos is nonsense. F*ck Nvidia for starting this BS and f*ck Intel/AMD/Apple for copying such marketing-centric, anti-consumer behaviour.

This isn't even a new product, it's just a goddamn new label on the old ones with a lukewarm overclock, ffs....

while it's silly marketing I wouldn't go as far as to say it's anti-consumer.

 

[Chrispy_]

while it's silly marketing I wouldn't go as far as to say it's anti-consumer.

It floods the press with contentless content, diluting the ratio of actual independent reviews to marketing fluff content like unboxings and obfuscating the real job of independent review sites.

Articles like this will clog up future search results, too - so this isn't just a problem for today, but it impacts consumers looking for independent reviews for the entire duration of the products useful lifespan.

If you like it, that's fine. This is just my opinion and I don't like the increasing manipulation Nvidia/Intel/AMD/Apple have on the independent review cycle. Many content creators have independently expressed their dislike of the multi-stage embargos and the goal of the corporations dictating these embargos is simple - to flood all the content streams with more of their marketing. If you like having a single release rammed in your face by every site and channel six times with pre-anouncement teasers, announcements, official preview performance benchmarks, not-so-unofficial leaks, unboxings, and then finally actual reviews - then fine.

Personally, I was quite happy to have the "classic" release schedule of an announcement, and then a launch review. Nice and simple, no extra hype, and no portion-controlled steady dribble of content at a rate and frequency of the corporation's choosing.

 

[Braegnok]

I would like to see the BIOS screenshot V/F Point Offset's, to compare to 13900KS.

 

[Selaya]

This trend of separate unboxing and review embargos is nonsense. F*ck Nvidia for starting this BS and f*ck Intel/AMD/Apple for copying such marketing-centric, anti-consumer behaviour.

This isn't even a new product, it's just a goddamn new label on the old ones with a lukewarm overclock, ffs....

they didnt even deign to sample the only actual new product.
that's how meme it's gotten.
brave new world indeed.