Question Is i9-14900 not good for gaming?

[Franknj229]

I was reading other threads, in other forums on this site, so I wouldn't have to ask questions that were already answered, and I came across a critique of someone's prospective build for a "really good gaming computer".

He had an i9-14900 on his list. Someone responded that they wouldn't recommend the 14900 for gaming, and suggested the Intel Core i7-14700F 2.1 GHz 20-Core Processor instead.

My question is, does the CPU Thread Community here agree? More importantly, can you explain why? I just assumed, newer, faster, better...?

I don't want something that's just good enough now. I want something that will be plenty good enough for at least a few years.

My prospective build, and what I'm using it for below:

CPU: Intel - Core i9-14900K Raptor Lake 3.2GHz Twenty Four-Core LGA 1700
CPU cooler: Noctua - NH-D15S Chromax Black
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z790 AORUS Elite X WiFi 7 Intel LGA 1700 ATX
Ram: Corsair - Vengeance 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR5-6000 PC5-48000 CL30 Dual Channel
SSD/HDD: Crucial - T705 2TB Micron 232L TLC NAND PCIe Gen 5 x4 NVMe M.2 Internal SSD
GPU: Gigabyte - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super Windforce V2 Triple Fan 16GB GDDR6X PCIe 4.0
PSU: Lian Li - Edge 850 Watt 80 Plus Platinum ATX Fully Modular
Chassis: Lian Li - Lancool 216 Tempered Glass ATX Mid-Tower
OS: Microsoft - Windows 11 Home 64-Bit FPP USB
Monitor: MSI - MPG 321URX 32" 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) 240Hz Gaming Monitor

My goal with this build is to not have to worry about upgrading for awhile. 75% of the time I use my computer for very basic stuff (internet, editing travel videos and drone footage, microsoft office applications, etc...) The other 25% of the time would be for gaming. I'm not a professional or anything, but I would like to play at, or close to, the highest settings, and if something new comes out in the next year or two, I don't want to worry if my system can handle it. (I'm mostly into Fallout/Elder Scrolls/CIV type stuff, but co-workers want me to join them for some Fortnight/CoD)

 

[NightHawkRMX]

To start, the 14900k is not recommended as the i9 14900k and 13900k have fairly well documented reliability issues that immediately should make you take them off of your shopping list, even though the issue is allegedly resolved at this point. This is especially the case since you want it to last a few years.

Rarely does going from an i7 to an i9 yield you any significant performance increase in all but a very few niche circumstances. At 4k especially, your 4080 super is almost always going to be the limiting factor in performance, meaning the performance difference between the i7 and i9 will not impact your performance in games. For down the road as games get more demanding, you may see some benefit from the i9, but its unlikely unless you upgrade the GPU to whatever is available years from now. Even then it will likely be slight.