14900K vs 7950X3D: putting the best processors on the market to the test

An Intel 14900k vs 7950x3d from AMD against a two tone background.

Intel Core i9-14900K

Efficiency Cores: 16
Performance Cores: 8
Threads: 32
Base Clock (E-Cores): 2.4 GHz
Base Clock (P-Cores): 3.3 GHz
Boost Clock (E-Cores): 4.4 GHz
Boost Clock (P-Cores): 5.6 GHz
Total Cache: 68MB
TDP: 125W

Intel's latest flagship processor is the best-performing chip we've tested yet, but is its performance enough to make it worth the upgrade from the 13th-gen, or is last-gen's powerful flagship the better value?

For

• Best-in-class performance (barely)
• No price increase
• Very low idle power usage
• Can go as high as 6.0GHz

Against

• Barely any gen-on-gen improvement
• Gets extremely hot

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D

Efficiency Cores: N/A
Performance Cores: 16
Threads: 32
Base Clock: 4.2 GHz
Turbo Clock: 5.7 GHz
Cache: 145MB Total
TDP: 120W

The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D is everything that a gamer could have hoped for with Zen 4 and 3D V-Cache, delivering the same generational performance improvement that we saw with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D with better energy efficiency and some extras thrown in to really sweeten the deal.

For

• Outstanding gaming performance
• Excellent price
• DDR4 and DDR5 support

Against

• Absolutely drunk on (electrical) power
• Runs hot, so get a great cooler