Introduction

Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the 14th Gen Intel Core processor launch. In this article, we find out how the flagship Core i9-14900K processor behaves with tighter power limits manually set, with the aim of lowering power draw and processor heat. Be sure to catch our comprehensive reviews of the Core i9-14900K, the Core i7-14700K, and the Core i5-14600K. While technologically the same, the new Intel flagship is a step up from its predecessor, the Core i9-13900K, featuring performance rivaling the limited edition i9-13900KS that was priced at least $200 above the regular i9-13900K at launch; and introduces a handful new features such as Intel Application Optimization (APO), which provides a means for Intel to release application-specific performance optimizations. There's also the AI Assist feature for the Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU) that simplifies overclocking for beginners. What isn't new, however, is the underlying silicon.



The Core i9-14900K is based on the Raptor Lake Refresh silicon, which is physically the same microarchitecture as Raptor Lake, and built on the same Intel 7 process node. The processor has very steep power limits, including a 125 W processor base power (PBP), and 253 W of maximum turbo power (MTP). Intel apparently needs such high power limits to achieve its advertised performance, especially in multi-threaded workloads that utilize both its 8 P-cores, and its 16 E-cores.

For a quick technical recap, the PBP is the time-averaged power dissipation that the processor is validated to not exceed during manufacturing while executing an Intel-specified high complexity workload at Base Frequency and at the junction temperature as specified in the Datasheet for the SKU segment and configuration, whereas the MTP is the maximum sustained (>1s) power dissipation of the processor as limited by current and/or temperature controls. Instantaneous power may exceed Maximum Turbo Power for short durations (<=10 ms). Note: Maximum Turbo Power may be configured by the system vendor and can be system specific.

Going beyond the specs lists, the Core i9-14900K is designed to operate at 253 W, with PL1=PL2, so there is no power throttling after a minute or so. Of course this limit can either be increased, or lowered, in the motherboard BIOS setup program or through software like XTU and ThrottleStop. We take advantage of this feature to test the i9-14900K with a variety of manually set power limits, including 125 W (the official base power value); 95 W, 95 W with a vCore undervolt, and a couple of low-power settings, including 65 W and 35 W. The idea here, is to see whether Intel can get close to AMD's power efficiency, what the tradeoffs are in terms of performance, and whether it is possible to find a good 24/7 power limit setting that trades reasonable amount of performance for a large amount of power saving.

Test Setup

• All applications, games, and processors are tested with the drivers and hardware listed below—no performance results were recycled between test systems.
• All games and applications are tested using the same version.
• All games are set to their highest quality setting unless indicated otherwise.