Intel recently made its Raptor Lake Refresh chips official, and indications point to a mid-October release for the first unlocked "K" processors. However, we shouldn't get too excited about leaks indicating that out of the box boost clocks of 6.2 GHz might be available. Today, Benchlife sources poured cold water on >6.0 GHz rumors, saying that the flagship Intel Core i9-14900K "may reach 6.0 GHz," at best. Notably, a 6.0 GHz boost clock for this CPU would only match the previous (current) gen Core i9-13900KS.
The initial batch of Intel 14th Gen Core 'Raptor Lake Refresh' chips for desktops will be a trio of unlocked CPUs: the Intel Core i5-14600K, Core i7-14700K, and Core i9-14900K (KF processors too). We expect Intel to differentiate the refreshed parts in a number of ways. Some chips might get an uplift in efficiency core (E-core) count, the amount of Smart Cache available, and / or clock speeds, but intergenerational changes will vary by SKU.
Let's draw up a table charting the previous (current gen) Core i9-13900K against its purported successor's specs:
Assuming the Benchlife sources are correct, buyers of the Refresh will get very slim pickings compared to the previous gen. The upgrade might be enough for Intel's gaming CPU marketing department to make a meal of, though. All we see changing in the above table are incremental clock speed uplifts for the P+E cores, and nothing in terms to extra E-cores or caches. We guess upgraders are hoping for the rumored improved integrated memory controller (IMC) and other behind the scenes improvements. Yesterday we hinted at the paucity of Raptor Lake Refresh, which was easily overshadowed by the great things seen coming with Arrow Lake.
Hopefully, the Raptor Lake Refresh CPU lineup won't be entirely underwhelming. Among the initial trio of 'K' suffixed SKUs the Core i7 14700K appears to stand out, for example, by reportedly boasting a brand new configuration of 8P+12E (compared to current gen 8P+8E).
Meanwhile, for those dreaming of out of the box >6.0 GHz boost clock Raptor Lake Refresh CPUs, they might have to wait for the inevitable performance binned Intel Core i9-14900KS launch.
