Today we're allowed to publish our performance results for Intel's new Raptor Lake Refresh processors. For our launch coverage we've posted reviews of all three new models released today: Core i9-14900K, Core i7-14700K and Core i5-14600K.

This year's Intel Core processor launch looks like it'll be the last one with the "Core i" branding. The company's next-generation Meteor Lake CPUs will use an updated naming scheme, and will just be called "Core" and "Core Ultra." Under the hood, 14th Gen uses the same Raptor Lake dies that we've seen in 13th Generation CPUs, with some improvements. During their briefings Intel confirmed that they have "optimized the design and process technology," but also that the same manufacturing node, core design, IPC and Thread Director capability is used. All the SKUs released today are based on a single die and revision (unlike 13th Gen). There's some new features like XTU AI Assist and Intel Application Optimization, more on those later.

Intel's Core i5-14600K is very similar to the 13600K. It comes with the same 6+8 core configuration, which results in a total thread count of 20. The cache sizes are identical, too, at 24 MB, just like the power limit setting of PL1 = PL2 = 181 W. Clock frequencies are slightly improved though. While the 13600K ran at 5.1 GHz, the 14600K has received a 200 MHz frequency bump, in our testing it sustained 5.3 GHz all the time, except when exceeding the power limit.

Averaged over the 45 tests in our application test suite, the Core i5-14600K gains a meager 3% over the 13600K, which isn't unexpected given the minimal set of changes and Intel's branding as Raptor Lake "Refresh." Still, this performance increase helps catch up to the 12900K—a flagship CPU from not long ago. The Core i5-14600K is also almost as fast in applications as AMD's Ryzen 9 7900, the gap is just 2%. It's impressive what this little 6-core CPU can do in applications. It's faster than both the Ryzen 7 7700X and the Ryzen 7 7700, the Ryzen 5 7600X is almost 25% behind. Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a lean gaming machine, but in applications it can't even touch the Core i5 in this review. Just like the 13600K, the 14600K is a compelling option for upgraders who want to join the Raptor Lake / DDR5 train, without spending too much money on a top CPU.

Gaming on the Core i5-14600K works extremely well and is barely any slower than what the 14700K and 14900K achieve. Compared to the 14700K, the FPS difference is only 5%, 2% at 4K. The 14900K might be Intel's fastest gaming CPU, but with a 3 to 9% lead over the 14600K it's not easy to justify its much higher pricing, unless you want the best and are willing to pay for it. Having said that, the 6 P-cores may disadvantage this processor in specific game genres such as RTS, compared to 8-core AMD offerings in this price range, such as the 7700X. Compared to AMD's offerings, the 14600K is able to beat every single Ryzen processor out there, with the exception of the X3D models. A recent poll on TPU has shown that a lot of gamers are betting on AMD's 3D Vertical Cache Technology, and rightfully so. While the 7950X3D trades higher application performance for some compatibility issues in games, and is much more expensive, the 7800X3D is a pure gaming monster that tops our FPS charts. It consistently beats the 14600K on average at all our four tested resolutions, but at $400 it's $80 more expensive. The performance delta to the other non X3D Ryzens is just a few percent, so it could be a reasonable compromise. Overall it's important to realize that these performance differences are not that big, especially in subjective gameplay. All Intel 14th Gen, 13th Gen with large cache, and 12900K, 12700K, other Zen 4 CPUs and more will give you an outstanding gaming experience.

We've seen very high power consumption numbers in today's Core i9-14900K review, the Core i5-14600K does much better here, because it has fewer cores, a lower power limit setting and generally runs at lower clocks, which means the silicon is operating closer to its maximum efficiency point. With 93 W on average in applications, the 14600K is much less power-hungry than the Core i7-14700K (155 W) and the i9-14900K (170 W). Especially in gaming its power consumption is much closer to AMD, 76 W on the 14600K vs 49 W on the 7800X3D is still a big percentage difference, but not so much in absolute terms. Low power consumption also means lower heat output. This makes the 14600K much easier to cool and any decent heatsink should be able to keep it cool—no need for an AIO.

Our overclocking experience on the Core i5-14600K was fantastic. Thanks to the unlocked multiplier and the low base heat output, we could increase the voltage by quite a bit, which let us reach an impressive 5.7 GHz on all P-Cores. This gives a nice boost to the 14600K, and it's able to challenge much more powerful processors as long as thread counts are low enough. Once its six P-Cores are saturated it will fall behind an eight-core Raptor Lake CPU of course. Still, given these OC results I feel that this is the most fun processor for overclocking, and its price point will definitely help, too.

On the Core i9-14900K we saw pretty decent results from Intel's AI Assist overclocking option in the XTU overclocking utility. At launch, this option is only available on the 14900K, Intel confirmed that they are looking into adding support for the other 14th Gen SKUs, too. AI Assist works surprisingly well, it takes less than a minute to run and will provide you with a good starting point that goes beyond just a fixed multiplier on all cores like we're doing in our OC testing. It's a shame that it doesn't work on the other models, but I understand the problem Intel is facing. AI Assist could also do with more love, right now saving the recommendations to BIOS isn't possible, so you'll have to reapply them with XTU on every restart, or copy them over manually. A major issue is that XTU does not work with Windows VBS enabled, which is the default on all new OS installations. Still, it's good to see that Intel is making improvements for overclockers. On the other hand, I wish they gave us more manual controls with better BIOS integration, like AMD does.

Intel's biggest "new tech" announcement is their Intel Application Optimization technology, or just "APO." The promise is that Intel will release hand-optimized profiles for specific games to control the thread count and thread type in real-time, which goes beyond what Thread Director offers. Unfortunately Intel was unable to provide reviewers with access to APO, so we couldn't test the technology to verify Intel's claims. Intel did confirm that APO works only on two older games at this time, which is a surprisingly small number of titles for a new release, especially coming from a resourceful company like Intel.

Intel has announced an MSRP of $320 for the Core i5-14600K, which matches the current pricing of 13600K. If both processors are priced the same, you should always opt for the 14600K over the 13600K. I'd even spend another $20 for the clock frequency improvement. AMD doesn't offer much that's a compelling alternative to the 14600K. The Ryzen 7 7700 non-X costs $330 and is slightly slower in both applications and gaming. The Ryzen 7 7700X costs $350 and is still slower, too. While they both offer better energy efficiency, the differences are smaller, not sure if these would affect my buying decision. Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a bit more expensive at $360, but it offers a fantastic cost-efficient upgrade path for owners of AM4 platform systems, especially when their focus is gaming, but the 14600K will still run faster. For gaming specifically, AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D is probably the strongest challenger to 14600K. It offers better gaming performance, at a price of $400, or $80 more, which I'm sure will still be tempting for many gamers.

At this time it looks like Meteor Lake isn't coming to the desktop space, mostly because it tops out at just six P-Cores, so Intel needed something they could sell this holiday season, which explains why 14th Gen is released as Raptor Lake Refresh. I think Meteor Lake could be an amazing release for entry-level and midrange PCs, which is where most of the sales are anyway. The next desktop release for Intel seems to be Arrow Lake, with core counts reaching 8+16, but that's scheduled not before 2024, possibly even later. AMD's Zen 5 is expected to release next year, but we don't know about the improvements yet, I'd still expect that AMD will defend the gaming crown for the foreseeable future. Performance isn't everything though, and if Intel adjusts their pricing, they could spoil AMD's party. It seems likely that we'll be seeing price cuts on 13th Gen processors, which could make them an attractive choice for people who know what they are buying, without looking at model numbers.