Intel Core i9 14900K vs 13900K performance, specs & price

Trying to find which CPU to get, we compare the Intel 13th vs 14th Gen flagship in terms of performance and price

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In the battle between old gen and new gen, Intel Core i9 14900K vs 13900K, who comes out on top? Another new generation of processors from Intel hit the shelves on October 17th. The specifications for the new CPU were originally confirmed by Intel on their website, along with the pricing for the new range on Amazon, and we even managed to get our hands on one to test and benchmark, so we know how it performs (if you’re looking for a proper breakdown of the new CPU, check out our Intel Core i9-14900K review).

On this page, we compare the current flagship model of the new range, the Intel Core-i9 14900K against its predecessor of the same SKU: the 13900K to find out how they measure up. The 13900K came out in October of 2022, so it has only been a year since that generation came out. Now the 14th Gen release has been and gone. At least this time the socket has been spared from being changed not requiring a new platform upgrade. So if you’re planning on buying a 14th gen CPU, then it may be simpler as we give you the differences to expect and you can keep the same 13th-generation motherboard.

Intel Core i9-14900K

Core configuration:

24 (8+16)

Threads:

32

P-Core Speed:

5.8GHz (boost) 3.2GHz (base)

E-Core Speed:

4.4GHz (boost) 2.5GHz (base)

DDR5 support:

Yes @ 5600MHz

TDP

125W base 253W PL1 & PL2

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Intel Core i9-13900K

Cores

24

Threads

32

Base speed

P-cores 3 GHz / E-cores 2.2 GHz

Boost speed

P-cores 5.8 GHz / E-cores 4.3 GHz

Cache

36MB

TDP

125 W / 253 W boost.

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14900K vs 13900K specs

Specifications	Intel Core i9-14900K	Intel Core i9-13900K
Process size	10nm	10nm
Die size	257mm²	257mm²
No. of cores	24	24
No. of threads	32	32
P-Cores	8	8
E-Cores	16	16
Frequency	3.2GHz	3GHz
Turbo clock	6GHz	5.8GHz
TDP	125W	125W
Release date	17th Oct 2023	27th Sept 2022 (announce) 20th Oct 2022 (release)
Launch price	$599	$589

Above we can see what the new Intel range refresh brings to the flagship Intel CPU. As one of the best CPUs for gaming already, Intel is providing an update to its capabilities.

Although the die size and process are staying, there are some small changes. With the frequency and boosts increasing ever so slightly too. Surprisingly, the TDP of the chip stays the same, but to be fair they do report all of these differently so it might not be the actual true value of power.

There’s support for higher RAM frequencies as well. Although DDR4 stays at around 3200MT/s, DDR5 is up to 6000MT/s, but in fact, XMP overclock should still give you the much higher frequencies that are offered. Overall we could expect these to bring some performance uplift even if marginal.

14900K vs 13900K performance

*UPDATE* our resident CPU expert Mr Jack Howarth has managed to get his mits on one of the new 14900Ks to benchmark. You can read more about this in our dedicated Intel Core i9-14900K review, but if you just want the headline data, the uplift is about 4-6% from the 13900K to the 14900K in both single-core scenarios and multi-core – not exactly an enormous change, though still potentially worth considering if you can pick one up for a good price (see our where to buy page for some listings).

*PREVIOUS LEAKS* There have been some leaks as to the kind of performance increase we might see from the refreshed CPU. As Tom’s Hardware reports, there is an uplift in single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. The 14900K supposedly reaches 978 in single and 118,118.5 in multi-threaded workloads. Compared to the 13900K that gets 978 single but 17,167.5 in multi, that would suggest the newer CPU does provide a better multi-core performance.

However, that is for a synthetic benchmark and without actual release of them, might not be the final results. They may yet change how they perform, so it’s best to wait for actual benchmarks later on.

14900K vs 13900K pricing

Now for Intel 14th Gen pricing, there were some leaks initially from the UK retailer Overclockers, who seems to have blundered and listed the processors early. These have subsequently been confirmed now the product is listed on Amazon.

• Intel Core i9-14900K – $599 US / £580 UK
• Intel Core i9-13900K – £570

This is an approximately 2% increase in pricing, which is fairly reasonable (depending on how the chip performs of course).

What we hope to see improved from the 13900K

In our 13900K review, we did note a few drawbacks of the processor. Even though it’s at the top of our leaderboard it still has some issues with it. As the powerful CPU that it is, it certainly comes at a price, it is a rather expensive component for just one part of your build. Even though those who have the funds will likely not even notice. But it also runs very hot, running all that performance does require some power, and that gets turned into plenty of heat.

The 14900K should offer a better price and power efficiency for it. But as a refresh without that many changes, we hardly expect that to be the case. It might in fact do the opposite, to achieve the higher performance and frequency that have been rumored, we expect the power to in fact increase overall, and get even hotter. So you might have to invest in the best CPU cooler for the job.

14900K vs 13900K Final Word

Now that you have a good look at what the 14900K vs 13900K has to offer, you can decide which processor is the better one for you. Although it seems like a rather unnecessary update, it might just bait you over to Intel’s side. There are others you can consider, AMD CPUs have a lot to offer too such as looking at the 7900X3D vs 13900K. As for the 14900K, we’ll be interested to see how in fact it performs and if it is worth it over the 13900K.