Ryzen 7 9700X vs Core i7-14700K: What We Recommend

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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.

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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.

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Uzair Qureshi

[Comparisons Specialist]

I’m a passionate computer hardware expert specializing in CPUs and GPUs. With a lifelong curiosity for hardware and extensive hands-on experience, I provide valuable insights, practical advice, and in-depth analysis on these components. Engaging with the hardware community, I exchange knowledge and stay at the forefront of technological advancements.

Get In Touch: uzair@tech4gamers.com