Common sentiment is that anyone in the market for a gaming CPU should find the best AMD X3D solution they can afford. There’s merit to that line of thinking, but it would be foolish to rule out Intel entirely. There are myriad Core CPUs that can do a job, and with underdog status, prices are increasingly affordable.
Take, for example, the Core i7-14700K. Launched as recently as October 2023, this 20-core (8P+12E) powerhouse was deemed ‘the best premium CPU right now‘ by our resident chip guru. Heady praise indeed, and today, you’ll find that very same CPU has dropped in price by 30%, ensuring it remains a viable option in a crowded market.

Intel Core i7-14700K
“Providing best-in-class gaming for an all-round chip, there’s plenty to like, and we recommend it to anyone contemplating a well-balanced £1,500 PC.” Read our review.
Amazon US is currently retailing the processor for $297, dropping it below three hundred bucks for the first time, and it’s similarly good news on UK shores, where the chip is listed at £289. Heck, if you don’t need the onboard IGP, Core i7-14700KF is even cheaper at £278.
A 5.6GHz top speed and eight performance cores makes it a fine fit for high-end gaming, and though a 253W TDP makes it hot and thirsty, low overall platform costs make it an attractive proposition. Very decent B760 motherboards are readily available for under £120, DDR4 memory is cheap and cheerful, and if you absolutely feel the need to overclock, Z790 boards can be found for less than £200.
Point is, it’s possible to put together an extremely solid CPU and mobo combo for ~£400, marking an excellent foundation for a performance build. You can revisit our in-depth Ryzen 7 9800X3D review to see how 14700K compares to an entire slew of modern competitors, but if you just want the answer, well, it compares very well.
Multi-core Cinebench results are ahead of AMD’s dearer Ryzen 9 9900X, memory performance remains exemplary, while gaming frame rates are excellent across all popular resolutions. Crank the dial to QHD or UHD and 14700K becomes practically indistinguishable from pricier parts.
Competitors include Intel’s own Core Ultra 7 265K and AMD’s Ryzen 7 9700X, and while the latter offers a semblance of socket future proofing, newer platforms inevitably carry associated costs.
There’s always something shiny and new on the horizon, and we’re eager to see what AMD Zen 6 and Intel Nova Lake bring to the table, but for the savvy builder, the likes of 14700K represent an opportune upgrade.
Club386 founder and editor-in-chief, his journey with hardware pre-dates Google. To this day, nothing beats the nostalgic nineties, piecing together a Pentium CPU and 3DFX graphics card from a Wolverhampton computer market. Away from his computer, Parm is all about Manchester United, woodworking, and family – not necessarily in that order.