See full bio

Shehryar Khan

Senior Editor and Content Writer:

• Lead the comparison and blog writing teams at Tech4Gamers.
• Oversee teams with a keen eye for detail and precision.
• Ensure hands-on writing, with benchmarks and testing as guiding principles.
• Guarantee the delivery of the best possible results in concise yet impactful tech tales.

See full bio

Pros And Cons 

Comparison Table

Processor

Intel Core i9-14900K

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X

Thumbnail

Socket

FCLGA1700

AM5

Codename

Raptor Lake Refresh

Zen 5 (Granite Ridge)

iGPU

Intel UHD Graphics 770

Radeon Graphics

Shading Units

256

-

Memory Size

192 GB

192 GB

PCIe Version

5.0

5.0

PCIe Lanes

20

28

Max. Memory Bandwidth

89.6 GB/s

-

Bus Frequency

100 MHz

100 MHz

Best Motherboards

Best Motherboards For i9-14900K

Best Motherboards For Ryzen 9 9950X

Best Coolers

Best CPU Coolers For i9-14900K

Best CPU Coolers For Ryzen 9 9950X

Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Processor

Intel Core i9-14900K

Thumbnail

Socket

FCLGA1700

Codename

Raptor Lake Refresh

iGPU

Intel UHD Graphics 770

Shading Units

256

Memory Size

192 GB

PCIe Version

5.0

PCIe Lanes

20

Max. Memory Bandwidth

89.6 GB/s

Bus Frequency

100 MHz

Best Motherboards

Best Motherboards For i9-14900K

Best Coolers

Best CPU Coolers For i9-14900K

Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Processor

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X

Thumbnail

Socket

AM5

Codename

Zen 5 (Granite Ridge)

iGPU

Radeon Graphics

Shading Units

-

Memory Size

192 GB

PCIe Version

5.0

PCIe Lanes

28

Max. Memory Bandwidth

-

Bus Frequency

100 MHz

Best Motherboards

Best Motherboards For Ryzen 9 9950X

Best Coolers

Best CPU Coolers For Ryzen 9 9950X

Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Architectural Differences

1. Core Count: The Core i9-14900K utilizes 8 performance and 16 efficiency cores, totaling 24 threads. The Ryzen 9 9950X has 16 cores, adding up to 32 threads.
2. Clock Speed: Intel’s newest i9 has a base frequency of 3.2GHz(P cores), and the 9950X sits at 4.3GHz at its base. The boost clocks reach 6GHz and 5.7GHz for the i9 and the Ryzen 9, respectively.
3. Process Node: The 14900K has a 10nm manufacturing process, which seems ancient compared to the 9950X’s 4nm process size.
4. TDP: The maximum TDP of the 14900K is advertised as 253 watts, while the Ryzen 9 9950X had an advertised TDP of 170 watts.
5. L3 Cache: The 9950X takes the cake with its L3 cache as well, with 64MB of shared memory instead of the 36MB of the 14900K.

AMD’s new Ryzen 9000 series, powered by Zen 5, is set to challenge Intel in the realm of gaming performance. Today, we’ll test the Ryzen 9 9950X vs Core i9-14900K to see if AMD has finally forced Intel to step up its game in the desktop market!

Gaming Benchmarks

Technical specs are important, but nothing shows what a chip can do better than its performance in games. The tests below of the Core i9-14900K vs Ryzen 9 9950X will be done in a controlled environment using a test bench, the specifications of which are as follows:

Test Bench

• OS – Windows 11 
• RAM – G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB DDR5-6600
• CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5
• Graphics Card – GIGABYTE RTX 4090 Gaming OC 24G
• SSD – Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus G 2TB
• Power Supply – be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1300W 

Ghost Of Tsushima

• Our first game surprised us, with an average of 179 FPS on the 14900K, while the 9950X had an average closer to 171 FPS, constituting a lead of 4.7% for the 14900K.
• The 1% lows in Ghost Of Tsushima using the Intel processor were 9.6% in the lead with a performance of 114 FPS, while the 9950X had lows of around 104 FPS.

Cyberpunk 2077

• The 9950X also trailed behind in Cyberpunk with RT on, with an average framerate of 124 FPS, around 9.6% lower than the 136 FPS we saw from the 14900K.
• Coming to the lows, the 9950X hovered around 87 FPS in our testing, which was a whole 17% lower than the 102 FPS that the 14900K could pump out.

Forza Horizon 5

• The margin was much less apparent in Forza, with the 14900K getting an average framerate of 248 FPS, around 4.6% higher than the 237 FPS that the 9950X maintained.
• The 1% lows showed a difference of around 6.2% in our tests, with the Ryzen having a framerate of 175 FPS, whereas the 14900K had a framerate closer to 186 FPS.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

• Our fight in Flight Sim resulted in a tie between the two processors, with an average framerate of around 78 FPS.
• The 1% lows had a bit of a difference, with the 14900K hovering around 66 FPS, 8% higher than the 9950X’s 61 FPS.

Starfield

• The gap widened in Starfield, with the 14900K getting an average framerate of 145 FPS, whereas the 9950X was 14% behind with an average framerate of 127 FPS.
• The 14900 K’s 1% lows hung around 90 FPS in our testing, while our 9950X dropped the ball by being 21% behind with a framerate of 74 FPS.

The Witcher 3 (Next Gen)

• The differences were timid in The Witcher 3, with the 14900K getting an average of around 110 FPS, while the 9950X had an average framerate of around 105 FPS, leading to a difference of around 4.6%.
• The 4.6% delta carried over to the 1% lows, with the 9950X hitting around 87 FPS in our testing, whereas the 14900K hung closer to 91 FPS with RT enabled.

Hogwarts Legacy

• This game showed a smaller 6.5% gap, with the 14900K getting an average framerate of 81 FPS, while the 9950X had an average of around 76 FPS.
• The 1% lows fell to around 71 FPS for the 14900K, around 11% higher than the disappointingly low 64 FPS that the 9950X could muster.

Horizon: Forbidden West

• Finally, this PS port’s average framerate was 209 FPS on the Core i9 14900K, which was 6.6% higher than the Ryzen 9 9950X’s 196 FPS.
• The 1% lows had a framerate of 145 FPS on the 14900K, while the 9950X had a framerate around 5.8% lower at 137 FPS.

Overall Gaming Performance

Average Framerate

Much to our disappointment, the 9950X was lost in terms of pure performance in our testing. Across all of our games, it had an average framerate of 148 FPS, around 6.5% higher on average than the 9950X’s 139 FPS.

1% Lows

The minimum frame rates showed a bigger distinction between the two chips, with the 9950X being behind by around 9.6%.

These performance dips were more noticeable than the higher average framerates that we saw, as both CPUs could crank out smooth framerates when it came to averages, though to varying degrees.

Editor`s Note

Though the Ryzen 9 9950X let us down in terms of gaming performance, there is still hope for the Ryzen 9000 series to come out on top with their upcoming X3D processors. Check out the Ryzen 7 7800X3D vs Core i9-14900K to see how the last generation compared!

– Shehryar Khan

Power Consumption

As expected, the 14900K took around 20% more power from the wall than our 9950X, though it also performed significantly better. Our findings show that the older 10nm process nodes on the 14900K are less efficient than those seen on the 9950X.

Temperatures

Higher power readings also lead to higher temperatures, though the difference was not large because of the robust coolers we had attached to these processors. The 14900K had a temperature of about 6.5% higher than the 14900K.

Price And Availability

Being a newer processor, the 9950X is a bit pricier than the 14900K as of writing this article. The current price of this chip is around 17% higher than that of the 14900K, which doesn’t help its case of slightly underperforming.

Final Verdict – What Do We Recommend?

Intel Core i9-14900K: Though it is clinging on to its ancient ways, the 14900K still performs amazing, beating out the newer Ryzen processor while costing less. If power consumption is not an issue for you, get this processor.

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X: Our testing of this processor was disappointing, but realistically, someone going for this chip would not risk bottlenecking at 1080p. This processor performs great while having better power efficiency.

This Core i9-14900K vs Ryzen 9 9950X comparison tugged on our hearts with the disappointment the latter created, but there is still competition between these two behemoths. Keep visiting to see how this comparison shapes when the X3D chips come out!

See full bio

Uzair Qureshi

At Tech4Gamers, I proudly wear the title of Comparisons Specialist. Focused on CPUs and GPUs, I bring forth a wealth of hands-on experience and a keen eye for detail to provide our audience with the latest insights and analyses.

See full bio

Pros And Cons

Architectural Differences

1. Core Count: Both processors have 8 p-cores and 16 p-threads, though the 14700K has 12 additional e-cores that bring its thread count to 28 threads.
2. Clock Speed: The Ryzen 7 9700X has a higher base clock of 3.8GHz, while the Core i7-14700K has a base clock of 3.4GHz.The boost clock of the 14700K is 5.6GHz, while the 9700X has a boost clock of 5.5GHz.
3. L3 Cache: The 14700K has a slightly larger L3 cache of 33MB, while the Ryzen 7 9700X has a L3 Cache of 32MB.
4. TDP: AMD’s Ryzen 7 9700X has a TDP of 65 watts, while the Core i7-14700K has a PL1 TDP of 125 watts.
5. Process Node: The 14700K is built with the 10nm process, while the Ryzen 7 9700X is built with a 4nm fabrication process.

It’s no secret that the midrange is the most fearsome point of competition for most products, especially tech products. A new competitor is on the block, and this comparison will pit the Ryzen 7 9700X vs Core i7-14700K to see how it performs!

Gaming Benchmarks – 1080p

Technical specifications are important, but nothing demonstrates a chip’s capabilities better than its gaming performance. The following tests compare the Core i7-14700K vs Ryzen 7 9700X in a controlled environment using a test bench with the following specifications:

Test Bench

• OS – Windows 11 
• RAM – Teamgroup T-Force Xtreem 48GB DDR5-8200 CL38
• CPU Cooler – Noctua NH-L9x65 chromax.black
• Graphics Card – GIGABYTE RTX 4090 Gaming OC 24G
• SSD – XPG Gammix S70 Blade 2TB NVMe
• Power Supply – ENERMAX REVOLUTION D.F. X 1050W

Avatar Frontiers Of Pandora

• The Core i7-14700K had an impressive framerate of 207 FPS in our test of Frontiers, which was surpassed by the 9700X’s average of 211 FPS, around 2% higher.
• The 1% lows flipped the scores, with the 9700X hovering around 117 FPS, while the 14700K was a few frames ahead, with 119 FPS as its lows, at an advantage of 1.7%.

Cyberpunk 2077

• Night City was rendered at 111 FPS with the 9700X, whereas the 14700K was around 8% faster with an average framerate of 120 FPS.
• The Ryzen took a big hit in terms of its 1% lows, with the chip getting a framerate of around 59 FPS, while the 14700K was 56% ahead with a framerate of 92 FPS.

Starfield

• Even though Starfield’s production had a partnership with AMD, it ran at 126 FPS on average on the 9700X, while we measured the 14700K to be 11% faster at 140 FPS.
• The 58 FPS 1% lows of this game on the Ryzen were around 13% lower than the 14700K’s lows of around 66 FPS, which is above that 60 frames threshold.

Ghost Of Tsushima

• The difference in Ghost Of Tsushima was more minor, with the 9700X getting an average framerate of 178 FPS, 4% lower than the 14700K’s 186 FPS.
• The lows were around 132 FPS on the 9700X, around 13% lower than the 149 FPS figure we found with the Intel Core i7-14700K.

Forza Horizon 5

• There was also a small delta between the two in Forza, with the 9700X hitting 273 FPS on average, about 2% lower than the 14700K’s 278 FPS.
• The lows of the 9700X were around 193 FPS in our testing with this game, while the 14700K stuck closer to around 206 FPS when the going got tough.

Hogwarts Legacy

• The 9700X ran with an average framerate of only 66 FPS in Hogwarts Legacy, which was 12% worse than the 14700K’s average of 74 FPS.
• The 55 FPS lows of the Ryzen 7 9700X were also around 13% lower than the more reasonable 62 FPS lows of the 14700K.

Horizon Zero Dawn

• Horizon Zero Dawn was our closest performer yet, with the 9700X getting an average framerate of around 281 FPS, only a frame lower than the 282 FPS of the 14700K.
• Both processors were tied in terms of 1% lows at 172 FPS in the more graphically challenging scenes in this PS port.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

• Finally, Flight Sim showed an average framerate of 90 FPS for the 9700X, while the 14700K had an average closer to 95 FPS, constituting a 5.5% difference.
• The 1% lows were around 3% higher on the 14700K in our testing, with lows of around 75 FPS, while the 9700X held around lows of 73 FPS.

Overall Gaming Performance

Average FPS

In our tests, the 14700K showed an average framerate around 3.5% greater than the 9700X, though the difference varied quite a bit from game to game. In general, though, both processors have comparable performance in averages.

1% Lows

According to our measurements, the dips in performance were much more different between the two chips on average, with the 14700K having around 9.5% more performance than the 9700X. The delta went over 50% in some games.

Overall, the Core i7 14700K took the lead in terms of performance, while the Ryzen 7 9700X was neck and neck in some tests while being disappointing low in others.

Temperature 

The Core i7-14700K’s average temperature was around 6% lower than that of the 9700X. To be fair, both of these chips had acceptable temperatures, and the difference between the two isn’t anything to worry about.

Power

The Ryzen 7 9700X took around 18% less power than the 14700K. The low difference between the performance of these chips coupled with this large difference in power consumption makes the Ryzen 7 9700X much more power efficient than its rival.

Price And Availability

Surprisingly, the Ryzen 7 9700X is around 6% or around $20 cheaper than the Core i7-14700K at the time of writing this article, despite it having been released much more recently compared to the 14700K. 

The price of the 14700K might go down with the release of the 15th generation products, which will likely even or beat the price of the 9700X, though this is to be seen in the future.

What We Recommend

Ryzen 7 9700X: This processor performs well in games, with a few hiccups in the 1% lows across the 8 games we tested. These issues can probably be ironed out with some optimization for Zen 5, making this an excellent power-efficient processor.

Core i7-14700K: This chip performed better than its rival in this test, though it lacked power management, especially in some titles. This, coupled with the slightly higher asking price, makes it a harder sell, though it is still an excellent processor.

Having gone over all the major aspects of the Ryzen 7 9700X vs Core i7-14700K, we would be more comfortable recommending the Ryzen over the Intel processor because of good performance, efficiency, and probably better support for its platform.

See full bio

Shehryar Khan

Senior Editor and Content Writer:

• Lead the comparison and blog writing teams at Tech4Gamers.
• Oversee teams with a keen eye for detail and precision.
• Ensure hands-on writing, with benchmarks and testing as guiding principles.
• Guarantee the delivery of the best possible results in concise yet impactful tech tales.

See full bio

Pros And Cons 

Comparison Table

Processor

Core i7 14700K

AMD Ryzen 9 9900X

Image

Codename

Raptor Lake Refresh

Zen 5 (Granite Ridge)

Integrated GPU

UHD Graphics 770

Radeon Graphics

Socket

LGA-1700

AM5

GPU Boost Clock

1600 MHz

2200 MHz

Memory Size

192 GB

192 GB

Max. Memory Channels

2

2

Best Motherboards

Best Motherboards For i7-14700K

Best Motherboards For Ryzen 9 9900X

Best CPU Coolers

Best CPU Cooler For i7-14700K

Best CPU Coolers For Ryzen 9 9900X

Best RAM

Best RAM For i7-14700K

-

Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Processor

Core i7 14700K

Image

Codename

Raptor Lake Refresh

Integrated GPU

UHD Graphics 770

Socket

LGA-1700

GPU Boost Clock

1600 MHz

Memory Size

192 GB

Max. Memory Channels

2

Best Motherboards

Best Motherboards For i7-14700K

Best CPU Coolers

Best CPU Cooler For i7-14700K

Best RAM

Best RAM For i7-14700K

Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Processor

AMD Ryzen 9 9900X

Image

Codename

Zen 5 (Granite Ridge)

Integrated GPU

Radeon Graphics

Socket

AM5

GPU Boost Clock

2200 MHz

Memory Size

192 GB

Max. Memory Channels

2

Best Motherboards

Best Motherboards For Ryzen 9 9900X

Best CPU Coolers

Best CPU Coolers For Ryzen 9 9900X

Best RAM

-

Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Architectural Differences

1. Core Count: The 14700K has 20 cores (a mix of performance and efficiency), totaling 28 threads. On the other hand, the 9900X has 12 cores, totaling 24 threads.
2. Clock Speed: The base clock of the 14700K’s P-cores is around 3.4GHz, while the 9900X hangs around 4.4GHz. The boost clocks are the same between the two at 5.6GHz.
3. L3 Cache: Though the 14700K has a sizeable L3 cache of 33 MB, the 9900X almost doubles this by offering a cache of 64 MB.
4. Process Node: The 14700K sticks to an older 10nm process node, while the 9900X makes use of a much more recent 4nm process size.
5. Memory Types: Since the Ryzen 7000 series of chips, AMD has only supported DDR5 memory, while Intel still continues to support both DDR5 and DDR4 memory.

Gaming Benchmarks – 1080p

We kept our testing of these chips short in this comparison, only looking at around 7 games. These tests were done on an identical setup for both chips, paired with the same GPU, memory, and storage. You can give the specs a read below:

Test Bench

• OS – Windows 11 
• RAM – Teamgroup T-Force Xtreem 48GB DDR5-8200 CL38
• CPU Cooler – Aigo AT360 CPU Cooler
• Graphics Card – GIGABYTE RTX 4090 Gaming OC 24G
• SSD – Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus G 2TB
• Power Supply – Teamgroup T-Force Z540 2TB Gen5 NVMe SSD

Dragon Dogma 2

• The first game of our testing showed the i7’s average framerate of 102 FPS, close to 13% higher than the disappointing 90 FPS average we saw from the 9900X.
• The 1% lows were measured close to 50 FPS on the AMD chips, which had the 14700K in a 10% lead with an average framerate of around 55 FPS.

Final Fantasy XIV: Dawn Trail

• Maxing out the graphics at 1080p to stress the CPUs gave us an average framerate of 333 FPS on the 9900X, which was around 9% higher than the 306 FPS average of the 14700K.
• The 1% lows were much closer between the two chips, with the 9900X hovering around 162 FPS, only 1.2% higher than the i7’s minimum of 160 FPS.

F1 2024

• F1 ran at blazing fast framerates, with the 9900X getting an average framerate of 382 FPS, 2.4% higher than the 373 FPS that the i7-14700K supplied in our test.
• The minimum framerates flipped to favor our Intel CPU, with 1% lows of 232 FPS on the chip, around 10.5% higher than the 210 FPS that the 9900X brought to the table.

Baldurs Gate 3

• In our test of Baldur’s Gate 3, the Ryzen 9 was behind its rival by around 9.7%, with an average framerate of 103 FPS, while the 14700K had a framerate of around 113 FPS.
• The 14700K blazed ahead by around 22% in this title with its lows, with a framerate of around 63 FPS, while the 14700K hung around 77 FPS.

Cyberpunk 2077

• The 9900X took another loss in Cyberpunk 2077, where we measured an average framerate of 176 FPS, 32% behind the 14700K with an average framerate of 232 FPS.
• The 1% lows tanked by a similar 31% with 1% lows of around 142 FPS, while the Core i7-14700K had a framerate of around 186 FPS.

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare III

• The tides swung in favor of the Ryzen in MW III; with an average framerate of around 399 FPS, it came ahead by around 17%, while the 14700K had an average framerate of around 341 FPS.
• The lows were close to 211 FPS on the 9900X, around 11% higher than the 189 FPS we saw with the Core i7-14700K.

Forza Horizon 5

• Finally, our testing reached a conclusion in Forza Horizon 5: the newer chip had an average of 297 FPS, while the i7 was around 3.7% ahead with 308 FPS on average.
• The minimum framerates also differed by only 3.5%, with the 9900X coming close to 232 FPS, while the 14700K held 1% lows of around 240 FPS.

Overall Performance

Average FPS

Surprisingly, the Core i7-14700K and the Ryzen 9 9900X were neck and neck in terms of average framerate, with the difference being only 0.28% in favor of the 9900X.

Though this figure might signify that both chips performed identically, the difference from game to game was quite drastic.

1% Lows

The minimum framerates saw a much more substantial difference between the two chips, with the 14700K being around 6.4% higher on average in our testing.

The games we tested ran at such high frame rates that the performance difference between the two chips was negligible. The CPU is no longer the bottleneck at higher resolutions, making both processors perform nearly identically to the human eye.

Power Consumption

Despite having a much more recent manufacturing process, the Ryzen 9 9900X consumed around 13% more power than the Core i7-14700K. This, coupled with its slightly lower average framerate, makes it significantly less power efficient, at least when it comes to gaming.

Temperatures

The 9900X dissipated the heat it got from its extra wattage without a sweat, with an average temperature of around 13% cooler than the 14700K. Even though the 14700K was more toasty, its temperature did not raise to an alarming level.

Price And Availability

Now comes the most vital aspect of every processor: its price. The 14700K is around 16% cheaper than the 9900X, which is a hard sell considering its lower price tag. Both processors should be available at any computer store near you.

Editor`s Note

Our recommendation may vary depending on the platform you’re coming from. If power efficiency isn’t a problem and you’re on an AM5 platform, go for the 9900X. If you have an LGA1700 platform, then go for Intel. If you’re making a PC from scratch, then go with our recommendation!

– Shehryar Khan

What We Recommend

Core i7-14700K: In our testing of both chips, the 14700K comes on top in all categories but temperatures. Despite being older than the 9900X, it outperforms it in every metric, which is why it’s still our go-to recommendation for high-end builds.

Ryzen 9 9900X: Even though it is more recent and has a much more advanced manufacturing process, it underperformed in our testing. The improvements with the 9900X can be meaningful, but their application in gaming is debatable at best.

Having reviewed all the aspects of the Ryzen 9 9900X vs. Core i7-14700K, we think that the latter chip is the better deal. It is more power efficient in games, has better performance, and costs less.

See full bio

Uzair Qureshi

At Tech4Gamers, I proudly wear the title of Comparisons Specialist. Focused on CPUs and GPUs, I bring forth a wealth of hands-on experience and a keen eye for detail to provide our audience with the latest insights and analyses.

See full bio

Pros And Cons

Comparison Table

Processor

Core i7 14700K

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X

Image

Codename

Raptor Lake Refresh

Zen 5 (Granite Ridge)

Integrated GPU

UHD Graphics 770

Radeon Graphics

Socket

LGA-1700

AM5

GPU Boost Clock

1600 MHz

2200 MHz

Memory Size

192 GB

192 GB

PCI Express Lanes

20

28

Best Motherboards

Best Motherboards For i7-14700K

Best Motherboards For Ryzen 9 9950X

Best CPU Coolers

Best CPU Cooler For i7-14700K

Best CPU Coolers For Ryzen 9 9950X

Best RAM

Best RAM For i7-14700K

-

Best GPU

Best GPU For Core i7-14700K

-

Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Processor

Core i7 14700K

Image

Codename

Raptor Lake Refresh

Integrated GPU

UHD Graphics 770

Socket

LGA-1700

GPU Boost Clock

1600 MHz

Memory Size

192 GB

PCI Express Lanes

20

Best Motherboards

Best Motherboards For i7-14700K

Best CPU Coolers

Best CPU Cooler For i7-14700K

Best RAM

Best RAM For i7-14700K

Best GPU

Best GPU For Core i7-14700K

Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Processor

AMD Ryzen 9 9950X

Image

Codename

Zen 5 (Granite Ridge)

Integrated GPU

Radeon Graphics

Socket

AM5

GPU Boost Clock

2200 MHz

Memory Size

192 GB

PCI Express Lanes

28

Best Motherboards

Best Motherboards For Ryzen 9 9950X

Best CPU Coolers

Best CPU Coolers For Ryzen 9 9950X

Best RAM

-

Best GPU

-

Amazon

Buy on Amazon

Architectural Difference

1. Core Count: The Core i7-14700K has 20 cores comprising efficiency and performance, totalling 28 threads. In contrast, the 9950X only has 16 cores, totalling 32 cores.
2. Clock Speed: The 14700K’s performance cores have a base clock of 3.4GHz, and their boost frequency goes up to 5.6GHz. In contrast, the 9950X has a base clock of 4.3GHz, which boosts to 5.7GHz.
3. Process Node: The 9950X is built on top of a 4nm manufacturing process, whereas the 14700K sticks to a much older 10nm process node.
4. L3 Cache: The Intel chip’s L3 cache size is 33 megabytes, whereas the 9950X doubles it to 64 megabytes.
5. TDP: The 14700K has a PL1 of 125 watts and a PL2 of 253 watts, whereas the 9950X has a TDP of 170 watts.

The new releases from AMD have proved to be underwhelming compared to the competition. To check out Intel’s limits, we have pinned the Ryzen 9 9950X vs Core i7-14700K, which also shows how well the new AMD chip performs in games.

Gaming Benchmarks – 1440p

To make these tests more realistic to the resolution people buying these chips will game at, we decided to run these tests at 1440p. All the equipment we used to construct the test bench is written below:

Test Bench

• OS – Windows 11 
• RAM – V-Color Manta XPrism RGB DDR5 7200MHz 32GB RAM
• CPU Cooler – ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 A
• Graphics Card – GIGABYTE RTX 4090 Gaming OC 24G
• SSD – CORSAIR MP700 PRO 2TB
• Power Supply – ENERMAX REVOLUTION D.F. X 1050W

Cyberpunk 2077

• We observed that the 9950X’s average framerate was around 121 FPS, while the 14700K ran slightly slower, at about 1.7% less, averaging 119 FPS.
• When testing Cyberpunk 2077, we noticed the 1% lows on the Intel chip were around 89 FPS, whereas the 9950X averaged 82 FPS. This puts the 14700K ahead by 8.5%.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

• AMD’s chip was ahead by around 9% in our test of AC Valhalla, supporting a framerate of 120 FPS, while the 14700K had an average framerate of 110 FPS.
• The 1% lows also favoured the 9950X, which hovered around 88 FPS, 7% higher than the 14700K, which hovered around 82 FPS.

Red Dead Redemption 2

• The average framerate of the 9950X in RDR2 was around 134 FPS, which was around 4.5% lower than the 140 FPS average we measured from the 14700K.
• The 9950X’s minimum framerate was around 82 FPS, which was 3.6% lower than the 14700K’s low of 85 FPS.

Watch Dogs Legion

• Watch Dogs had an average framerate of 125 FPS on the 14700K, whereas the 9950X averaged 121 FPS in our tests, around 3.3% behind the Intel CPU.
• The 9950X swung back with slightly better 1% lows at 107 FPS compared to the 14700K’s 101 FPS, which was around 6% lower.

Horizon Zero Dawn

• In our test of Horizon Zero Dawn, the 9950X had an average framerate of 157 FPS, whereas the 14700K was only 1.2% behind, with an average framerate of 155 FPS.
• The 1% lows were slightly higher on the 14700K at around 114 FPS, whereas the 14700K had lows of around 109 FPS.

God Of War

• Finally, our last test showed the 9950X’s average framerate of around 131 FPS, whereas the 14700K was around 7.3% behind, with an average framerate of 122 FPS.
• The 1% lows were around 121 FPS on the 9950X in this game, which was around 6.1% better than the 114 FPS that the Core i7-14700K rendered in our tests.

Overall Gaming Performance

Average Framerate

Considering the overall gaming performance of these chips, the Ryzen 9 9950X is only 1.68% ahead of the lower-tiered Intel processor, which is a disappointing result. 

Game-to-game performance varied, with the Ryzen pulling ahead in some games while the Core i7-14700K fought back with leads in others.

1% Lows

The difference was even smaller when we isolated the 1% lows in our testing, with the Ryzen being ahead by only 0.68% on average, making performance functionally identical on both chips.

Though the Ryzen performed better than the 14700K, it was not by much. If you swapped between these chips with no FPS counter, you’d be hard-pressed to notice much of a difference between the two.

Editor`s Note

This comparison pinned the 14700K against a much higher-tiered CPU. If you want to see how the 14700K compares to a much cheaper chip than itself, designed for gaming by AMD, check out our i7-14700K Vs Ryzen 7 5800X3D comparison!

– Uzair Qureshi

Power Consumption

On average, the Core i7-14700K used around 27% more power than the Ryzen. However, we conducted these tests with the power limit removed from both processors, meaning they could use all the power they wanted from the wall.

Thermal Performance

The thermals between these chips were virtually identical in our testing, with the Core i7-14700K being slightly cooler. Still, the difference between these temperatures is not a concern, and you can push these CPUs a similar amount because of their identical thermal headroom.

Price

Being a newer and higher-tiered processor, the Ryzen 9 9950X is over twice as expensive as the Core i7-14700K. The meagre improvement in performance makes it very hard to justify this huge difference in price, which brings us to our next section.

What We Recommend

Ryzen 9 9950X: With all the improvements that AMD made over Intel’s latest and greatest on paper, the 9950X disappoints when it comes to real-world performance. It barely bests the Core i7-14700K while costing much more, though it has better power efficiency.

Core i7-14700K: Intel sadly does take the cake here, with its performance being almost as good as the highest-end Ryzen chip available. Though we still have hope for the upcoming Ryzen 9000X3D processors, as it stands, Zen 5 is bested by Meteor Lake.

As I hope this point has made clear, the comparison of the Ryzen 9 9950X vs Core i7-14700K for strictly gaming tests is one-sided. The 14700K performs just as well while costing a whole lot less.