Intel Core i9-14900KS Review: The Swan Song of Raptor Lake…

For quite a few generations of their desktop processor releases, Intel has made obtainable a collection of high-performance particular version “KS” CPUs that add a bit further in comparison with their flagship chip. With lots of curiosity, primarily from the fanatics on the lookout for the quickest processors, Intel’s newest Core i9-14900KS represents a super-fast addition to its 14th Generation Core lineup with out-of-the-box turbo clock speeds of as much as 6.2 GHz and represents the final processor to finish an period as Intel is eradicating the ‘i’ from its legendary nomenclature for future desktop chip releases.

Reaching speeds of as much as 6.2 GHz, this units up the Core i9-14900KS because the quickest desktop CPU on this planet proper now, not less than when it comes to frequencies out of the field. Building on their ‘common’ flagship chip, the Core i9-14900, the Core i9-14900KS can be utilizing their refreshed Raptor Lake (RPL-R) 8P+16E core chip design with a 200 MHz greater increase clock pace and likewise has a 100 MHz bump on P-Core base frequency. 

This new KS collection SKU reveals Intel’s drive to supply an excellent quicker various to their desktop common Okay collection choices, and with the Core i9-14900KS, they look to present one of the best silicon from their Raptor Lake Refresh collection with extra efficiency obtainable to unlock to those that can. The caveat is that reaching these ridiculously quick clock speeds of 6.2 GHz on the P-Core comes at the price of energy and warmth; preserving a processor pulling upwards of 350 W is a problem in its personal proper, and customers have to issue this in if even considering a KS collection SKU.

In our earlier KS collection assessment, the Core i9-13900KS reached 360 W at its peak, significantly greater than the Core i9-13900Okay. The Core i9-14900KS, constructed on the identical core structure, is anticipated to surpass that even additional than the Core i9-14900Okay. We goal to check Intel’s last Core i collection processor to one of the best of what each Intel and AMD have obtainable, and it is going to be fascinating to see how a lot efficiency may be extrapolated from the KS in comparison with the common Okay collection SKU.

Intel Core i9-14900KS: Raptor Lake At 6.2 GHz From The Box

Over the previous few years, AMD and Intel engineers have been competing neck-and-neck to greatest one another in numerous metrics, such because the variety of cores, IPC efficiency, and worth. A cocktail of core rely and frequency typically earns flagship standing by itself, though that is normally reserved for the highest SKU of any CPU household. Intel and AMD sometimes cram new silicon to try to beat one another in each metrics, together with an abundance of cores with large and daring clock speeds. Over the final couple of years, each Intel and AMD have experimented to the brink with what their silicon can do to get forward of their friends, and the Intel Core i9-14900KS isn’t any completely different in that regard.

So what makes the Intel Core i9-14900KS worthy of a particular version SKU? Well, initially, it has a most increase clock pace on two of the Performance (P) cores as much as 6.2 GHz; that is quick, pushing the Raptor Lake silicon to its limits on ambient cooling strategies. Extreme overclockers can far surpass 6.2 GHz, however the important thing for the KS collection is robust silicon that may deal with these overclocks. It would not essentially imply all Core i9-14900KS chips will manually overclock additional than Core i9-14900Okay chips. Still, utilizing a binning course of to gleam out the weak silicon for the KS collection means you are seemingly in a strong place to discover a higher pattern.