Intel has launched the 14th-gen processor, which is Meteor Lake refresh. Similar to the previous 13th gen, it will feature support for both DDR4 and DDR5 memory and will be supported on 600&700 series Intel motherboards.
The i5-14600K includes a total of 14 cores (six P-cores and eight E-cores) and 20 threads. It has a base clock of 3.5GHz on the P-core side and up to a 5.3GHz boost. 14600K is a solid mid-range processor for gaming and productivity.
It is priced the same as the i5-13600K, and as of now, the price difference between the two processors is barely INR 2000. If you are building a new PC or upgrading, this will give you a clear idea of whether you should buy the i5-14600K.
Intel i5-14600K Productivity Performance
Being a refresh, the i5-14600K doesn’t provide much benefit over its previous generation counterpart, the 13600K. In various benchmarks and tests, it barely gives an uplift of 3-5% over the previous generation.
Here are the performance highlights of i5-14600K compared to the previous generation and its closest AMD competition:
- i5-14600K is 6% faster compared to the 13600K in a Cinebench test. Compared to the similarly priced AMD Ryzen 7 7700X, the i5-14600K is 29% faster.
- In the Cinebench multi-core and single-core test with E-cores disabled, there are no significant gains in performance compared to the 13600K.
- On average, i5-14600K gets no significant improvement over 13600K. Compared to the Ryzen 7 7700X, it is just 10% faster, although it also consumes significantly more power.
Intel i5-14600K Gaming Performance
There is no significant improvement in gaming performance compared to the 13th-gen counterpart. Even though it gains a few frames more, it is mostly due to the extra power pumped into it.
- On average, the i5-14600K is just 1-2% faster than the i5-13600K.
- 14600K is 3% faster than the similarly priced Ryzen 7700X but at the cost of power inefficiency.
The i5-14600K Power Consumption
The power consumption is problematic in 14600K as its total system power draw (with RTX 4090) is more than 450W for gaming. In productivity workloads, AMD is much better in terms of efficiency.
Even though the i5-14600K will not thermal throttle with good cooling, the power it draws is insane. For example, in an all-core workload, 14600K consumes 12% more power compared to Ryzen 7950X3D while being 33% slower.
If you are using this processor for productivity, you might wanna look at other options, as you will most probably use your PC for longer durations. The power cost can add up significantly over time with so much difference in power consumption.
Also Read: Best Graphics Card to buy Under ₹25000 for 1080p gaming
Should You Buy i5-14600K?
The simple answer is NO.
There is absolutely no reason to buy 14600K. It’s just another i5-13600K wrapped up in a shiny new name and a few software optimizations. There are plenty of better options for a processor at this price range. You could simply just buy an i5-13600K and save some money or choose a better alternative at this price, depending on your workload.
Better alternatives at this price range are:
- AMD Ryzen 7 7700X (Efficient and suitable for gaming and productivity)
- Intel i7-12700K (cheaper and more sensible option for gaming and productivity)
Intel 14th-gen as a whole doesn’t offer any significant. The 14600K gives no reason to buy this. It is wrapped up in a new name, but it is just 13600K for INR 3000 more.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.