Introduction

Intel today debuted the 14th Gen Core desktop processor series codenamed Raptor Lake Refresh, and the new Core i7-14700K is the biggest beneficiary of this refresh. This latest Core i7 joins a long line of predecessors that have received a CPU core count uplift with each generation—the i7-11700K was an 8-core/16-thread chip, followed by the i7-12700K, which was 8P+4E (or 12-core/20-thread); and the i7-13700K was 8P+8E (or 16-core/24-thread). The new Core i7-14700K is 8P+12E (or 20-core/28-thread).

The new Raptor Lake Refresh line of processors are just that—a refresh. There is no new silicon, no hardware-level changes, but just generational clock speed uplifts for each SKU compared to its predecessor from the 13th Gen, the addition of a couple of features for the Core i9-14900K; but the Core i7-14700K is the most interesting part from the three processor models Intel is launching today. Besides clock speeds and and additional cores in case of the Core i7, the 14th Gen core processors are also said to come with updates to the memory controller that supports even higher DDR5 speeds, especially when using 12 GB and 24 GB DIMMs.

The Raptor Lake Refresh silicon is built on the same Intel 7 process node as its predecessor, it physically features 8 Raptor Cove P-cores (performance cores), 16 Gracemont E-cores (efficiency cores), organized in 4-core clusters, and 36 MB of L3 cache that’s shared among the P-cores and E-core clusters. Each P-core has 2 MB of dedicated L2 cache, while each E-core cluster shares a 4 MB L2 cache among its cores. Intel carved the i7-14700K out of this die by enabling 3 out of 4 E-core clusters, giving the chip 33 MB of L3 cache.

Besides more cores, the Core i7-14700K comes with a slight clock speed increase over the i7-13700K. The P-cores have a base frequency of 3.40 GHz, with a maximum boost frequency of 5.60 GHz, which it reaches using the Turbo Boost Max 3.0 algorithm, this is a 200 MHz generational speed bump. The E-cores get a slight clock speed increase, too, with 2.50 GHz base frequency, and 4.30 GHz turbo. Perhaps the best aspect of Core i7 chips from these past two generations, is that they’ve enjoyed power limits on par with the Core i9 parts from their respective generations. The i7-14700K gets a maximum turbo power (MTP) of 253 W, on par with that of the i9-14900K. With one less E-core cluster to feed, there’s slightly improved boost residency for all cores.

Intel is pricing the Core i7-14700K at $409, but you can save $25 by opting for the i7-14700KF, if you don’t need integrated graphics, and spend the savings on a slightly better memory kit or motherboard.