The 14th generation of Intel CPUs can be seen as a refresh rather than a new beast. Intel tweaked the flagship i9 14900K to boost it to 6GHz out of the box while the number of cores and other specifications remained the same. The non-overclockable Intel i9 14900 gets the same treatment with slightly higher clock speeds than the previous generation 13900, and the performance difference is minimal.
Intel i9 14900 Vs 13900 Performance Benchmarks: Is It Worth The Upgrade?
The Intel i9 14900 has a hybrid design, so it has performance and efficiency parts. The performance part of the chip has 8 cores and 16 threads while the efficiency part features 16 cores and 16 threads. The previous generation i9 13900 has the same specifications but the 14900 can boost to 5.80 GHz while the 13900 can only get up to 5.6 GHz. With that out of the way, the following is the test setup used to test both CPUs:
- Motherboard: Gigabyte Z790 AORUS Elite AX-W DDR5
- Memory: G.Skill DDR5 6000 MHz CL30 (30-38-38-96)
- Graphics Card: Nvidia RTX 4090 24GB Founder’s Edition
- Power Supply: ASUS ROG STRIX 1000W Gold PSU
- Storage: SK Hynix Platinum P41 2TB
- OS: Windows 11 Pro 23H2
- Drivers: Intel Chipset Driver 10.1.19600.8418, Nvidia GeForce Game Ready Driver 546.33
Both the Intel i9 14900 and 13900 were tested using 4 benchmarks and 5 games including:
- Cinebench R23.200
- Cinebench 2024.10
- Blender 4.0.2
- Handbrake 1.7.2
- Lost Ark
- PUBG
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Lies of P
- Baldur’s Gate 3
Intel i9 14900 Vs 13900 Performance In Synthetic Benchmarks
The performance benchmarks for the Intel 14900 compared to the 13900 show minor gains in performance across the board including Cinebench R23.200, Cinebench 2024.10, Blender 4.0.2, and Handbrake 1.7.2.
Cinebench R23.200
| Single Core | Multi-Core | |
| 14900K | 2310 | 41230 |
| 14900 | 2235 | 39269 |
| 13900 | 2159 | 37950 |
Cinebench 2024.10
| Single Core | Multi-Core | |
| 14900K | 137 | 2292 |
| 14900 | 132 | 2189 |
| 13900 | 132 | 2183 |
Blender 4.0.2
| CPU | Total Time (Lower Is Better) |
| 14900K | 62.26 seconds |
| 14900 | 65.93 seconds |
| 13900 | 67.04 seconds |
Handbrake 1.7.2
| CPU | Total Time (Lower Is Better) |
| 14900K | 296.74 seconds |
| 14900 | 298.36 seconds |
| 13900 | 297.55 seconds |
Intel i9 14900 Vs 13900 Gaming Benchmarks
1080p Gaming Benchmarks
While the Intel i9 14900 and Nvidia RTX 4090 are not meant to be 1080p components, it is still interesting to see that the 14900 only offers a minor performance improvement over the 13900, and the relative performance difference is in the single digits.
| Games | 14900 | 13900 | 14900 Relative Performance To 13900 |
| Lost Ark | 310.6 FPS | 307.1 FPS | 101.1% |
| PUBG | 257.8 FPS | 252.5 FPS | 102% |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 209 FPS | 207.5 FPS | 100.7% |
| Lies of P | 350.5 FPS | 342.8 FPS | 102.3% |
| Baldur’s Gate 3 | 331.1 FPS | 327.1 FPS | 101.2% |
| Total | 101.5% |
1440p Gaming Benchmarks
We see the same trend as we increase the resolution from 1080p to 1440p. The Intel 14900 still offers single digital percentage improvements over the previous generation 13900.
| Games | 14900 Relative Performance To 13900 |
| Lost Ark | 103.4% |
| PUBG | 102% |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 100.3% |
| Lies of P | 100.2% |
| Baldur’s Gate 3 | 100.4% |
| Total | 101.2% |
4K Gaming Benchmarks
Things do improve very slightly at 4K but even the increase is within the margin of error. The Intel 14900 still offers minor performance boosts in these 5 tested games compared to the 13900.
| Games | 14900 Relative Performance To 13900 |
| Lost Ark | 101.4% |
| PUBG | 101.3% |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 100.4% |
| Lies of P | 100.7% |
| Baldur’s Gate 3 | 100.5% |
| Total | 101.8% |
Conclusion
If you are already using the Intel i9 13900 then upgrading to the 14900 is not going to give you significant gains in performance. This makes sense since Intel has not promised any major improvements in single-core or multi-threaded performance. This is essentially what you would call a refresh. I can only recommend the Intel i9 14900 if you are using a much older CPU and are interested in upgrading and cannot afford to skip another generation. With that said, there are AMD CPUs that deliver similar performance and offer much better value. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, for example, is a great option.
Let us know what you think about these Intel i9 14900 vs 13900 synthetic and gaming performance benchmarks and whether or not you are interested in upgrading to the new 14th-generation Intel CPUs.
