RANKING

Rank 47 out of 54 Summarized in this category Rankings based on: • Pros-to-cons ratio • Number of reviews • Category average

Intel

Core i9-14900KS

Name: Core i9-14900KS
Brand: Intel

around $699

All prices are estimates and may vary from actual prices.

137 Pros

52%
7 reviews (1h 37m)

126 Cons

The Intel Core i9-14900KS claims the title of "fastest gaming CPU" with its impressive 6.2 GHz peak clock speed, a slight but noticeable bump over the i9-14900K. This translates to a genuine, albeit marginal, performance uplift in both gaming and multi-threaded tasks like video editing and rendering, outpacing even the 13900K in certain scenarios....

Summary of pros and cons from human reviewers, put together by AI

65%

43 vs 23

Performance

14%

4 vs 24

Value for Money

85%

17 vs 3

Compatibility

36%

8 vs 14

Cooling Requirements

15%

7 vs 40

Power Consumption

Reviewer verdict

Across 7 YouTube reviews, the Intel Core i9-14900KS earns an Index score of 3.1/5, ranking #47 among CPUs. Reviewers most often praise its performance, other, core count & speed, while the most common criticisms concern power consumption, value for money.

The Core i9-14900KS is praised primarily for outright performance, with reviewers (20 mentions) calling it the fastest available CPU in many applications and reporting measurable uplifts versus previous Intel parts (several quotes noting ~3–7% over the 14900K/13900K and larger gains in specific multi‑threaded workloads like Blender). Multiple reviewers (10 mentions) highlighted its higher clock speeds and boosted maximum turbo (up to 6.2 GHz) as a key factor, and a number of reviewers (17 mentions) also noted it runs cooler and sustains high clocks in lightly threaded scenarios. Reviewers additionally flagged improved memory compatibility and overclocking headroom in several tests, making it attractive for users wanting the absolute top single‑ and multi‑thread performance.

Critics focused heavily on power and efficiency tradeoffs (20 mentions), pointing out much higher power draw compared with non‑KS and competing chips and large wattage spikes under load that drive heat and cooling needs. Value concerns were common (15 mentions), with reviewers noting a high price premium for a modest average performance uplift (roughly mid single‑digit percent improvements) and saying most buyers will get poor price‑to‑performance. Reviewers also warned about thermals and cooling requirements (7 mentions), including very high temperatures under sustained multi‑threaded loads and the need for beefier cooling and power delivery to realize the KS gains.

Analysis based on 7 YouTube reviews (1h 37m of video) with 137 pros and 126 cons extracted.

Pros (137)

Performance (20)

the fastest processor for applications that is available ▶ Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind @ 7:11
30% faster than the 12900k ▶ Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind @ 5:25
the very most performance that you can buy ▶ Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind @ 8:25
about 3% faster than the vanilla 14900 K ▶ Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind @ 5:12
the fastest card available ▶ Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind @ 5:07
noticeably faster than the ryzen 9 7950 x3d ▶ Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind @ 5:15
slightly faster than the 14900k ▶ Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core i9- @ 0:52
overall performance boost between the 13900 K and the 14900 K of about 4 to 5% ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 1:29
7 to 10% on your unen uh Valley which again was at 1080p ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 11:47
gaming benchmarks uh were they were approximately the same ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 7:45
blender which is a test that goes on for an hour is around a 10% faster rendering time ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 8:08
power draw was down the heat was down whilst the performance in all the multicord benchmarks that we ran was up ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 7:15
cine bound sh 23 offering up 8 to 10% better results ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 8:15
12% on your super position uh which was at 1080P ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 11:44
physics score which is more multi-threaded that yielded a 2 3% uh improvement over the stock result ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 7:54
standout improvements here were uh 15% for five strike Graphics a really solid Improvement ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 11:38
the 4900 KS with about 4,400 points is about 2% faster than normal 1400k ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 2:22
overall the average increase is about 5.6% so it is a is a reasonable Improvement in terms of performance 5.6% uh is not to be sniffed at ▶ Fixed with Overclocking?! | Intel Core i9 14900KS Review wit @ 4:52
faster variant of the 14900 K ▶ Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind @ 0:06
Performs very well in Blender and other multi-threaded applications. ▶ The CPU you HAVE to de lid | Intel 14900KS Full Review @ 11:02

Other (17)

Intel is still the better choice because they allow over clocking and AMD doesn't ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 14:24
the 14900 K was consistently running 130 to 200 MHz faster than the 13900 K ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 9:16
newer chip is cooler yet again ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 5:11
the i 94900 k it's actually a lot better than you might think it is ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 0:23
I always saw stable 5.9 GHz across all of the Pees ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 12:15
the 14900 K doesn't cons consume any more power than the 13900 K ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 7:55
that is something I usually don't observe on the Intel CPUs ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 12:47
that is insane ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 6:14
the 14900 K does run a bit cooler at the same power level ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 5:05
it seems like Intel is doing this a little bit better than AMD ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 12:55
the 14900 K also has the benefit of running a lot cooler ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 8:16
it's sipping back a few Watts less at both settings ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 8:05
it is still impressive to see 6.2 GHz in some cases ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 12:10
but on the other hand it is still impressive to see 6.2 GHz with ambient cooling these days ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 6:26
the 14900 K's higher turbo frequency es can really start flexing their muscles ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 6:56
the 14900 K will have the biggest Advantage without setting your CPU Cooler on fire, it retains extremely high clock speeds in those lightly threaded scenarios ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 7:26
Intel manages to get on top of the chart ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 7:02

Core Count & Speed (10)

faster clocks ▶ Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind @ 0:10
eore Boost frequency [is also up 100 MHz] ▶ Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core i9- @ 2:22
regular turbo boost 3.0 clock is also up 100 MHz ▶ Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core i9- @ 2:20
slightly higher core frequencies ▶ Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core i9- @ 0:59
maximum clock speed of 6.2 GHz up from 6 GHz ▶ Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core i9- @ 2:07
boosts up to 6.2 GHz on the performance cars which really do make a difference in your games ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 10:15
5.9 GHz all core clock speed with occasional flicks to 6.2 GHz on strongest cores. ▶ The CPU you HAVE to de lid | Intel 14900KS Full Review @ 0:43
higher Blu clock out of the box uh on the ks version which is 6.2 gz versus 6 GHz straight so you've got a 200 MHz uplift for the ks CPU ▶ Fixed with Overclocking?! | Intel Core i9 14900KS Review wit @ 1:17
also in single threading the difference is very small with 2,297 versus 2313 points ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 2:30
exactly the same number of performance scores which is eight those all have hyper threading and it has the exactly the same number of efficiency CES which is 16 ▶ Fixed with Overclocking?! | Intel Core i9 14900KS Review wit @ 0:48

Compatibility (5)

no problem running these uh memory sticks which are 7200 by default easily at 7600 and we've managed to run other sticks even higher still ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 6:02
four sticks you can get running XMP even at high capacity which is definitely a bonus on this platform ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 6:22
two sticks you can go even higher frequency than you used to ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 6:13
better memory support ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 13:47
motherboard and CPU combination here is definitely giving a boost to to for sticks memory support and performance ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 5:50

Power Consumption (4)

power draw uh drop was around 30% of what the stock power draw was and the max temperature was 84c which is a 16% decrease in temperatures while obviously getting a gain in multi core performance ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 7:21
24% decrease ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 10:57
20% less power draw than stock ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 10:49
running much cooler and with 28% less power draw than stock ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 8:21

Value for Money (3)

officially with Intel's warranty that is pretty cool ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 4:49
cheaper ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 13:40
some of them will be allowed to to delete 4900 K CPUs and they will still be covered by Intel's warranty ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 4:28

Overclocking Potential (3)

I think is a pretty cool step and that's why I like Intel being so open about modifications and the yeah overclocking Topic in general ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 5:04
could get around 100 MHz more on the peos and around 100 MHz more on the EOS than I could on the standard K version so Intel essentially have uh given us better silicon for the ks than they did uh with the K ▶ Fixed with Overclocking?! | Intel Core i9 14900KS Review wit @ 11:31
proven out by the higher boost clocks of course when you're trying to take it higher for gaming and also for the higher uh maintain clocks ac across all the Cs when you're trying to take it a little bit higher for multi-threaded workloads ▶ Fixed with Overclocking?! | Intel Core i9 14900KS Review wit @ 11:47

Cons (126)

Power Consumption (20)

it consumes a third of the power ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 7:20
where as the ks it consumes 173 watt basically for the same performance ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 10:06
this total can balloon to over 500 if you remove the power limits ▶ Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind @ 5:55
but you can see that there's a huge difference in power consumption the ks draws 40% more ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 8:29
especially if you look at how little the power consumption of the AMD CPUs is ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 12:36
a tiny leap in performance but a huge jump in power consumption ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 11:50
that's not a ton of additional speed for 80 wat more power ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 3:57
generating a more reasonable 160 Watts that's still more than the 144 Watts needed by the vanilla 14900 K and quite a bit more than the 56 Watts needed for the 7950 x3d ▶ Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind @ 6:37
and the reason for that who would have thought is the power consumption and thus also the heat dissipation of the 14900 K ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 3:28
but consumes a lot more power ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 9:42
but I also saw a power consumption increase of 30 to 40% which is getting completely out of hand ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 12:28
Tiny 2% difference but 40 wat more power consumption ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 11:38
Peak it was almost 400 watt which is just too much for the aiio to dissipate which is also why it clocks down why it cannot maintain the high clock ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 3:43
the 14900 K gets blasted by between 332 and 340 wats of power ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 2:46
uses 374 Watts fully loaded at stock which is almost 100 Watts more than the vanilla 14900 K ▶ Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind @ 5:44
base power rating has increased from 125 to 150 W ▶ Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core i9- @ 2:27
power draw was very very high up to 352 Watts ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 2:57
Consumes a lot of power. ▶ The CPU you HAVE to de lid | Intel 14900KS Full Review @ 1:00
when I was testing uh using the Boost algorithms at complete stock I found that the 14900 K uh gave 355 wats maximum power drawer whereas the ks has a 405 wats uh maximum power drawer ▶ Fixed with Overclocking?! | Intel Core i9 14900KS Review wit @ 1:38
you're actually adding 10% of power and you're needing more cooling to get that 5.6% ▶ Fixed with Overclocking?! | Intel Core i9 14900KS Review wit @ 5:15

Value for Money (15)

$690 ▶ Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind @ 7:17
they are completely out of any relation when it comes to price performance and especially power consumption ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 13:39
higher price tag ▶ Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind @ 0:13
never going to win a value award ▶ Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind @ 7:07
but the price they pay for this is insane because you can see a plus of 4% in performance while we also have plus 33% more power consumption versus a 4900 K ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 7:05
makes little to no sense ▶ Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core i9- @ 9:17
cost a whopping $700 us ▶ Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core i9- @ 4:01
cost a lot more ▶ Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core i9- @ 1:04
most people probably shouldn't buy one ▶ Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core i9- @ 9:06
ks variant 20% more expensive ▶ Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core i9- @ 4:14
buyers will be effectively paying 34% more for the same thing just clocked slightly higher and with a slightly better bin ▶ Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core i9- @ 4:28
unfortunately it doesn't count for us normal consumers ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 4:52
ks does come with a premium price over the care product so you'll have to weigh up for you whether you want to pay the extra for the cooling pay the extra for the for the CPU itself uh and pay the extra for the power draw to get this uh 5.6% worth of performance ▶ Fixed with Overclocking?! | Intel Core i9 14900KS Review wit @ 5:51
doesn't come cheap ▶ Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind @ 7:13
you are paying uh quite a percentage extra uh for only a very small percentage in Improvement o over indeed the 14900 K even the 13900 K uh and that's really the the main if you like uh negative point about the CPU ▶ Fixed with Overclocking?! | Intel Core i9 14900KS Review wit @ 15:36

Performance (12)

as usual the amdx 30d CPUs are not that quick in cine bench ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 2:41
it's actually a lot worse ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 0:28
Intel has an x3d problem on their hands and the 14th gen CPUs aren't going to fix it these aren't even a Band-Aid solution ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 10:13
Intel's hitting the law of diminishing returns between power versus frequencies here Raptor Lake it seems to be pretty much played out when it comes to Performance ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 4:00
does that actually make a difference ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 9:26
you barely get any uplift whatsoever by moving from 13th to 14th gen CPUs especially since they have identical igps ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 7:05
Intel are claiming a 7% performance increase from the new 14900 K [using application optimization, implying unfair comparison] ▶ Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core i9- @ 6:02
not a very exciting processor ▶ Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core i9- @ 9:03
this small performance uh increase is not really good enough for a increase or a full generation of improvement ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 1:40
sacrificing multiple core performance ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 10:24
causing it to drop the clock speed ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 3:35
the first run of the ks was very strong with over 41,000 points but if we add a trend line into the chart you will see that the 4900 K slowly loses performance on consecutive runs ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 3:08

Cooling Requirements (7)

gets pretty warm when Under full load coming in at 103.5 de C ▶ Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind @ 6:14
if you want to get a KS you need a much better cooling solution ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 13:55
cooling it's absolutely imperative ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 14:33
really struggled to cool on stock often over after several minutes or even less actually hitting 100 C on the CPUs ▶ Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review w @ 3:24
Runs very hot, especially under multi-threaded loads, requiring delidding and a direct-die cooler for optimal performance. ▶ The CPU you HAVE to de lid | Intel 14900KS Full Review @ 2:02
even with custom water cooling on the ks that does become uh restricted by thermals if you run some something like a blender test uh for an extended periods time ▶ Fixed with Overclocking?! | Intel Core i9 14900KS Review wit @ 5:24
this translates into you're needing uh a better PSU uh and better cooling to keep the ks version cool and benefit from the extra frequency ▶ Fixed with Overclocking?! | Intel Core i9 14900KS Review wit @ 1:59

Gaming Performance (4)

but then also there are some things that are not as impressive and that is when we get to gaming benchmarks ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 6:45
you will see that it didn't perform as well in Hell diverse 2 the reason for that is because the game was running on the non x3d course for whatever reason ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 8:36
most of that lead evaporates whenever there's a GPU heavy situation so it becomes a dead Dead Heat between the two ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 9:51
then again you might face issues for example as I have them with the 7 950x 3D that the game might run on the wrong course ▶ Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most @ 12:42

Core Count & Speed (2)

if the 14900 K runs within Intel's own specifications it's only a few megahertz faster than its predecessor, which makes the new chip look absolutely pointless ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 4:16
6.2 GHz is only thermal velocity boost meaning the frequency on the fastest few peores under ideal thermal conditions ▶ Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core i9- @ 2:10

Overclocking Potential (1)

this CPU the 14900 K absolutely positively needs to run Way Beyond Intel's limits to make one iota of a difference in its performance benchmarks ▶ Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You @ 5:47

Review sources

Almost 400W under Full Load - The 14900KS is one of the Most Extreme CPUs ever Made by der8auer EN — 13 pros, 19 cons
Let's Fix This... Intel Core i9 14900K Overclocking Review with 8Pack by Overclockers UK — 20 pros, 6 cons
Don't let the i9-14900K Trick You by Hardware Canucks — 9 pros, 10 cons
Intel Core i9-14900KS Review - The Last of its Kind by TechPowerUp — 8 pros, 8 cons
Intel's 4th Attempt At Beating Ryzen - "New" 6.2GHz Core i9-14900KS Launched by Hardware Unboxed — 5 pros, 10 cons
Fixed with Overclocking?! | Intel Core i9 14900KS Review with 8Pack by Overclockers UK — 5 pros, 6 cons
The CPU you HAVE to de lid | Intel 14900KS Full Review by OC3D TV — 2 pros, 2 cons

Frequently asked questions

Is the Intel Core i9-14900KS worth buying?

Based on 7 independent YouTube reviews, the Intel Core i9-14900KS scores 3.1/5 with 137 positive and 126 negative points mentioned by reviewers, placing it #47 in the CPUs category.

What do reviewers like most about the Intel Core i9-14900KS?

The most praised aspects are performance, other, core count & speed — Performance (20 mentions), Other (17 mentions), Core Count & Speed (10 mentions).

What are the most common complaints about the Intel Core i9-14900KS?

Reviewers most frequently criticize power consumption, value for money — Power Consumption (20 mentions), Value for Money (15 mentions).

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