Intel Core i9-14900KF leak is good and bad news for those hoping for a speedy flagship CPU

Intel Core i9-13900K in hand
(Image credit: Future)

Intel’s inbound Core i9-14900KF flagship has been spotted in a leaked benchmark which shows some impressive single-core performance, though the multi-threaded result isn’t quite such an eye-opener.

As VideoCardz noticed, we’ve had some PassMark results pop up for the 14900KF (so not technically the 14900K, but pretty much identical – the only difference here is that there’s no integrated graphics with the ‘KF’ model, but that won’t affect these results at all, it’s irrelevant here).

The Core i9-14900KF recorded a single-thread result of 4,939 in PassMark – add seasoning with any leaked benchmark, of course – which compares to the 13900K hitting 4,666.

That’s almost 6% faster for the 14900KF, reflecting the faster max boost speed which hits 6GHz out of the box (compared to 5.8GHz for the current Raptor Lake flagship).

For multi-threaded performance, PassMark shows the 14900KF pretty much in a dead heat with the 13900K – actually just a touch slower (by about half a percent, so nothing meaningful).


Analysis: Let’s not get carried away (though admittedly, there are concerns here)

That’s a slightly odd spin on these results, as while the single-core jump is pretty much as we’d expect – a decent step on – not making any multi-threaded improvement at all seems strange.

Now, this is just one benchmark, and a leak at that, so we’d do well not to put too much stock in the results anyway. Furthermore, other recent leaks around the Core i9-14900KF have indicated some decent(ish) multi-threaded gains (in Geekbench), so we really need to reserve judgment here. Certainly, we’d expect some increase, not nothing at all for multi-core.

That said, we’re not expecting huge things from Raptor Lake Refresh in general, given the rumblings from the rumor mill about how these 14th-gen desktop processors will be a modest move forward in general.

Another clue in that respect is Intel’s lack of any mention of Raptor Lake Refresh at its recent Innovation event, which again seems a bit off. Team Blue focused entirely on blowing the trumpet for Meteor Lake laptop chips (and their AI capabilities), not even mentioning the desktop side of the next-gen CPU equation. And that doesn’t exactly fill us with confidence…

That’s quite telling in our book, considering that Raptor Lake Refresh is supposed to be about to debut next month (around mid-October). Still, based on part of this leak, we can hold out hope for a decent flagship CPU refresh, and there’s always the 14700K which is expected to up the core count considerably (for efficiency cores, adding four of them), and it should shape up impressively as a result.

You might also like

TOPICS

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

Read more
GMKtec K10 Mini PC
Ridiculously powerful Mini PC comes with an Intel Core i9 HK CPU, can house 96GB of RAM and a staggering 24TB SSD storage
a silver card on a motherboard
Leaked Nvidia RTX 5090 laptop GPU benchmarks are weird - but there's no need to panic
An Alienware Area 51 gaming laptop on display
Nvidia RTX 5080 benchmark suggests this will be a mighty laptop GPU, getting PC gamers excited about the RTX 5090 mobile
An Nvidia RTX 5000 series graphics card against a green and black background
New Nvidia RTX 5080 benchmark rumor has got me worried that the GPU won't be a major upgrade to the RTX 4080
A mockup of the Intel Core Ultra 200HX die against a blue swoosh background
Intel announces new Core Ultra 200 series mobile CPUs at CES 2025, targeting enthusiasts and edge users
Render of AMD Ryzen chip
AMD’s powerful Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D CPUs rumored to arrive on March 12 – but gamers will still be better off with the 9800X3D
Latest in CPU
Ryzen 9000 promotional material
AMD's most powerful processor ever actually runs better on Windows 10 than Windows 11
An AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D on its retail packaging
I've reviewed three generations of 3D V-cache processors, and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is the best there is
AMD Ryzen 9000 3D chips
AMD officially announces price and release date for Ryzen 9 9900X3D and 9950X3D processors
A chip wafer manufactured at Intel Foundry
Can 18A save Intel from being devoured by its rivals – and Wall Street?
A stock photo of a man saying 'no thank you' to a gift box bearing the AMD Ryzen logo.
I'm tired of waiting for AMD's entry-level Ryzen 9000 series chips
Water cooling acrylic tube system with Barrow cpu block
What is a normal temperature for a CPU?
Latest in News
NordicTrack Ultra 1
The new NordicTrack Ultra 1 treadmill looks like it was designed by an architect and costs $15,000
An Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070
Nvidia RTX 5080 stock is so barren that retailers are holding competitions where you can "win" the right to buy one for MSRP
Assassin's Creed Shadows
Ubisoft shareholder accuses publisher of 'misleading investors', plans protest outside Paris HQ
Google Gemini AI logo on a smartphone with Google background
I made an AI version of Bilbo Baggins using Goggle Gemini for free, and shared a pipe with him outside Bag End – here’s what you can now do with Gems
Nicole Kidman wears a blue blouse with her arms crossed.
Netflix might be renewing The Perfect Couple and Beauty in Black for season 2, but I don’t get why when it’s canceled shows with poorer ratings
The Russo brothers posing for a photograph and Herman carrying a Volkswagen camper van in The Electric State
'We're optimists': AI enthusiasts Joe and Anthony Russo defend its use in movies and TV shows, but admit there are 'very real dangers' around its application