At $319, the Intel Core i5-14600K is essentially the most inexpensive 14th gen Raptor Lake refresh CPU to launch this week, and it prices lower than each the Ryzen 7 7700X and Ryzen 7 7800X3D. Nevertheless, in contrast to the Core i7-14700K, it does not supply a core depend improve over its predecessor and has solely a modest clock pace improve, making it a tough promote within the at the moment extremely aggressive gaming CPU market.
Intel Core i5-14600K options
We have been impressed with fairly just a few generations of Core i5 Ok-series CPUs from Intel, particularly these since its gradual core depend will increase from the eighth gen sequence. Nevertheless, it was the Core i5-12600K that actually stepped as much as the problem of taking up AMD’s mid-range Ryzen CPUs, which regularly provided higher content material creation and multi-threaded efficiency for related or much less money. As well as, it was additionally a succesful gaming CPU and match for mid-range and high-end graphics playing cards.
Below the hood of the 14600K, then, is a refreshed model of Intel’s Raptor Lake structure, which is the successor to the unique Alder Lake structure within the firm’s twelfth gen CPUs. It introduced elevated core counts to the thirteenth gen sequence, however for the 14th gen merchandise Intel has solely elevated the core depend of the Core i7-14700K. As such, the Core i5-14600K has precisely the identical core depend and make-up of P-cores and E-cores because the Core i5-13600K with six of the previous and eight of the latter, bringing a complete of 20 threads.
In lightly-threaded workloads you will see a peak increase frequency of 5.3GHz whereas the Core i5-13600K may solely hit 5.1GHz, with a 100MHz being added to the E-core increase frequency too. Beneath the heatspreader is a CPU die that includes the Intel 7 manufacturing course of, which is basically 10nm – a far cry from the 5nm of AMD Zen 4 chips. Intel quotes a most turbo energy of 181W, which is 70W lower than the Core i9-14900K, however in actuality the CPU attracts considerably much less energy than that chip below load.
The Core i5-14600K is backwards appropriate with 600 and 700-series LGA1700 motherboards in addition to being appropriate with DDR4 and DDR5 reminiscence, so homeowners of twelfth gen CPUs are in luck given the lifespan of LGA1700 was attributable to finish with the thirteenth gen launch. Nevertheless, Intel cancelled its plans to launch a desktop model of its Meteor Lake structure this yr, as an alternative providing a 3rd era of CPUs for the socket and shifting to the Arrow Lake structure in 2024 together with a brand new CPU socket and DDR5 reminiscence requirement.
You can transplant DDR4 reminiscence from older Intel or AMD techniques and LGA1700 motherboards are typically cheaper than their AMD Socket AM5 equivalents, however it has not less than a few generations to come back and an extended life span. Nonetheless, for those who want an improve now and do not intend to splash out on a brand new CPU for 3 or 4 years, LGA1700 and a 14th gen CPU are doubtlessly price contemplating.
How we check
At Customized PC, we have been reviewing the most recent CPUs since 2003, and we have examined and overclocked tons of of CPUs, going proper again to the Pentium 4 and Athlon XP period. We have developed an knowledgeable testing methodology that covers all the important thing areas of efficiency, together with single-threaded and multi-threaded efficiency, in addition to gaming.
Our benchmarks embrace our very personal RealBench suite, which has a Handbrake H.264 video encoding check to gauge multi-threaded efficiency, in addition to multi-tasking checks. We additionally now run an Adobe Photoshop benchmark utilizing Procyon, which additionally checks with Lightroom.
We additionally use the only and multi-threaded checks in Cinebench, and we check gaming efficiency with Far Cry 6, Forza Horizon 5, and Watch Canines: Legion. For our recreation checks, we document the 99th percentile and common body charges, and at last, we additionally measure the idle and cargo whole system energy draw on the wall whereas operating Prime95’s smallest FFT check with AVX disabled. For a full rundown of our CPU testing process, take a look at our How we check web page.
Intel Core i5-14600K utility efficiency
The 14600K’s handbrake video encoding rating of 1,060,803 is simply simply forward of the Core i5-13600K’s rating of 1,007,394, so it is undoubtedly not price upgrading from that CPU for this type of utilization. Nevertheless, it’s 40% sooner than the Core i5-12600K because of extra cores and better frequencies. It was additionally sufficient to beat the Ryzen 7 7700X and Ryzen 7 7800X3D convincingly and even sufficient to higher the Core i9-12900K.
AMD’s Ryzen 7000 CPUs had been all faster within the Procyon mixed Lightroom and Photoshop check, however once more the Core i5-14600K was capable of outperform the Core i9-12900K.
Intel Core i5-14600K Cinebench efficiency
Issues swung again in Intel’s favour in Cinebench with the multi-threaded core rating of 24,020 being increased than all AMD CPUs besides the far more costly Ryzen 9 fashions. It was a few thousand factors In need of the Core i9-12900K, so simply outperforming the Core i5-12600K, however once more it was solely a small quantity sooner than the Core i5-13600K.
The only-thread rating of two,041 was increased than the Core i9-12900K and just a little over the Core i5-13600K too, whereas matching AMD’s greatest end result achieved with the Ryzen 9 7950X.
Intel Core i5-14600K gaming efficiency
Within the majority of our recreation checks, the Core i5-14600K was greater than a match for the Ryzen 7 7700X, beating it in Far Cry 6 and Forza Horizon 5, however the AMD CPU was faster in Watch Canines: Legion. The Core i5-14600K was additionally noticeably faster general than the Core i9-12900K.
The 14600K’s actual nemesis, although, is the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, which whereas dearer, does see its 3D V-Cache present large boosts to border charges. It was sooner than the Core i5-14600K in all our recreation checks with a very large benefit in Watch Canines: Legion with a median body price of 192fps in comparison with simply 135fps for the Intel CPU, though this was admittedly an distinctive end result that wasn’t mirrored elsewhere.
Intel Core i5-14600K energy draw
The huge energy draw of the Core i9-14900K is fortunately not current with the Core i5-14900K. As an alternative, it sat at 312W for the entire system’s energy consumption whereas operating the Cinebench multi-threaded check.
Avid gamers will wish to observe the Ryzen 7 7800X3D draw simply 193W in the identical scenario whereas the Ryzen 7 7700X was additionally extra energy frugal by practically 40W.
Intel Core i5-14600K boosting and temperatures
The Core i5-14600K was comparatively straightforward to chill at default settings with a 240mm liquid cooler, solely simply topping 80°C below sustained multi-threaded workloads of a minute or extra then levelling off.
It was a lot cooler in video games the place it typically wasn’t taxed as a lot. We recurrently noticed the utmost 5.3GHz utilized throughout all Efficiency cores too with the Environment friendly cores sitting at 4GHz.
Intel Core i5-14600K execs and cons
Execs
- Good all-round efficiency
- Usually faster than Core i9-12900K in video games and lightly-threaded duties
- Sooner than the Ryzen 7 7700X in most checks
Cons
- Ryzen 7 7800X3D is quicker in video games
- Not a worthwhile improve from the Core i5-13600K
- No improve path
Intel Core i5-14600K specs
| Base frequency | 3.5GHz (P-Cores), 2.6GHz (E-Core) |
| Max increase frequency | 5.3GHz (P-Cores), 4GHz (E-Cores) |
| Core | Raptor Lake |
| Manufacturing course of | Intel 7 (10nm) |
| Variety of cores | 6 P-Core, 8 E-Core |
| Variety of threads | 20 |
| IGP | Sure |
| L3 cache | 24MB |
| L2 cache | 20MB |
| Reminiscence controller | Twin-channel DDR5 and DDR4 |
| Packaging | LGA 1700 |
| Thermal design energy (TDP) | 125W (Max Turbo Energy 181W) |
| Hyperthreading | Sure |
| Options | Utility Efficiency Optimisation, Thread Director, AES, AVX, AVX2, AVX512, FMA3, MMX(+), SHA, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, SSE4A, SSSE3 |
Intel Core i5-14600K worth
The Intel Core i5-14600K worth is $319, making it far more inexpensive than the Core i9-14900K, and lower-price than the Ryzen 7 7700X and Ryzen 7 7800X3D. It is also barely any dearer than the Core i5-13600K, which is simply in addition to the distinction between the 2 is minimal.
Worth: Anticipate to pay $319 / £325
Intel Core i5-14600K assessment conclusion
The principle situation with the Core i5-14600K is that it barely presents any profit over the Core i5-13600K. The variations are so small that you just query its launch in any respect. A core depend improve would have been very welcome right here if it had been potential as would increased clock speeds, particularly because the Core i7-14700K is a lot extra highly effective with its E-core improve.
If the distinction is simply $20-30, we might in all probability get the Core i5-14600K over the Core i5-13600K simply because it’s a little sooner plus it seemingly has higher resale worth down the highway.
Nevertheless, that is for those who’re coming from a low to mid-range twelfth Gen CPU in fact. House owners of older Intel and AMD CPUs, whereas they’d be massively outclassed by the Core i5-14600K in most conditions, ought to pay attention to the non-existent improve path for Intel’s LGA1700.
As an alternative, think about the Ryzen 7 7800X3D for a gaming system, or maintain on to your {hardware} till 2024 with new AMD and Intel CPUs on the horizon. If you happen to’re determined for a pre-Christmas improve, although, and need to have the ability to transplant your present DDR4 reminiscence and have discovered an affordable LGA1700 motherboard the 14600K is an honest possibility.
Will you be making a beeline to your nearest retailer or on-line outlet to seize the 14600K? Tell us your ideas on the Customized PC Fb web page, through Twitter, or be part of our Customized PC and Gaming Setup Fb group and faucet into the information of our 420,000+ members.
Curious to see how this processor runs when enjoying different video games? Take a look at these CPU benchmarks over on the PCGameBenchmark FPS calculator.
