With the recent release of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D 12-core/24-thread CPU in this market, priced at $389, the sub-$400 desktop processor space is becoming more competitive. With its 3D V-cache technology, the 7900X3D is expected to deliver gaming performance that is on par with the Core i9-13900K. Did you know that there was another chip that cost far less and provided the same performance as the i9-13900K? The Intel Core i7-14700K. This chip’s price is trending lower, and Newegg is currently selling it for $389. With a voucher, the $399 price of the chip is reduced by $10. The i7-14700K, which costs $389, should provide gaming performance that is on par with the i9-13900K and, consequently, the 7900X3D.

With eight “Raptor Cove” performance cores and twelve “Gracemont” efficiency cores, the Core i7-14700K “Raptor Lake Refresh” processor has an intriguing 8P+12E core configuration. Eight P-cores and three E-core clusters share a 33 MB L3 cache, while each P-core has a dedicated 2 MB L2 cache and each of the three E-core clusters shares a 4 MB L2 cache among its four cores. All motherboards with an Intel 600- or 700-series chipset can use the i7-14700K, though some may need to have their UEFI software updated. It’s interesting to notice that the i7-14700K is selling for $389, but its sibling, the i7-14700KF, which doesn’t have an iGPU, is still available for $399.