Intel took its war with AMD to another level with the release of 13th gen which saw a significant increase in core numbers, improving multi core performance as well as overall performance. With the release of Raptor Lake, we saw a huge performance bump from the 13th gen Intel CPUs.
The 14th gen is called Raptor Lake Refresh. So, just from the name we can assume the newer gen is just a refresh rather than a new lineup. Even after that we should look into the specs just to be sure. Has Intel kept up its performance onward or is it better to sit this one out? Without further ado let’s jump straight at it.
In this comparison we will compare the top tier unlocked K series processors from Intel of 13th gen and 14th gen.
Intel Core i5 Series
Both the 13600k and 14600k have a total of 14 cores. In both instances they contain 6 performance cores and 8 efficient cores. Moreover they also have similar thread numbers amounting to 20 for both of them. They also have a similar Max Turbo Frequency of 5.30 GHz. A slight change is noticed in Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency the 13th gen has 5.10 GHz with the 14th gen has 5.30 GHz. While the 13th gen has a Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency of 3.90 GHz, the 14th gen has 4 GHz. Both gen has 20 MB L2 Cache with similar base Power of 125 W while having similar Maximum Turbo Power of 181 W.
So we can say that other than slight changes in frequency they are both identical.
Intel Core i7 Series
The latest 14th gen 14700k has 20 cores while the previous gen 13700k has 16 cores. Even though both have 8 performance cores, 14700k has more efficient cores numbering to 12 which is 4 more from the last gen. The latest gen also has 4 more threads amounting to 28 while the previous gen had 24 threads. Moreover the 14th gen has a frequency of 5.6 GHz compared to the last gen with 5.4 GHz, slight bump in the clock speed. The latest gen also has a bit more L2 cache having 28 MB compared to 24 for the previous gen. Both have similar base power consumption of 125 W while having max power of 253 W.
The i7 series saw moderate increase in the core count as well as higher frequency for a bit more boost in the performance with the power consumption remaining similar.
Intel Core i9 Series
The old and new gen both have a similar core count in i9 series. The 13900k and 14900k both have 24 cores. 8 of them are performance cores while 16 are efficient cores for both processors. Both of the processors have 32 threads. The new gen has 6 GHz frequency while the older gen had 5.80 GHz. This is noticeable in performance cores. The performance core frequency is 3.2 GHz for the 14th gen while the 13th gen had 3.2 GHz. Both of the CPUs have 32 MB L2 cache. They also have maximum power consumption of 253 W while having base power consumption of 125 W.
Other than slight increase in clock speed no noticeable performance is seen in the newer gen i9 processor.
Benchmarks of 13th and 14th Gen
Benchmarks results show similar performance from the 13th gen and 14th gen. Just a bit of a negligible bump in the performance is noticed. Both the i9 has a blender 3.64 rendering score of 7.3 seconds. They had 132.4 fps and 128.8 fps in Starfield for 14900k and 13900k respectively. So as you can see it’s negligible.
What’s New in 14th Gen?
The 14th gen provides new Wi-Fi 7, which showcases better connectivity performance and the latest. Besides that the 14th gen comes with Thunderbolt 5. So it can do faster transfer than previous gens. If you are an avid user and overclocks the PC to get the extra juice then the 14th gen is a blessing. Overclockers will have an easy time as the newer 14th gen features an AI based overclocking system. The AI will deliver you the best performance without any worries of overworking your hardware.
Should You Upgrade to 14th Gen?
If you are already on the 13th gen, then it isn’t necessary to upgrade as the current gen has similar capabilities compared with the previous one. The added AI technology and newer features are just extra and not necessary to prompt an upgrade. So it’s better to stick with the 13 gen rather than upgrading to 14 gen.
However, if you are still on older sockets like LGA-1151 and want the latest faster DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 access to future proof your build then 14th gen is for you.