Question Ultra 5 vs gen14 i7 14700

[Zer0day2025]

Hi guys

I'm building a new gaming setup to replace my currect one which has i7-9700K and old AMD Vega GPU.

I'm thinking about purchasing the lastest Intel Ultra 5 245 with RTX 5070, but the I7 14700 is at the same price as the Ultra 5.

The i7 gen14 has 20 cores compared to Ultra 5, but it is buying an older gen CPU.

AMD's Gen 9 is not relveant because it's not on the same price range,

What is recommended at this point?

 

[logainofhades]

Unless you are planning to stream, you do not need more than 8 cores for a gaming rig. Even then, NVENC in the GPU can handle that. I would recommend against a 245k. It isn't any better than an old 5800x3d, at gaming. The 14700 is faster, but comes with it's own issues, unless Intel's supposed fixes actually worked.

 

[geofelt]

Both i7-14700 and Ultra 245 can be expected to perform comparably.
Each will be a good gamer with very good single thread scores.

To verify, you are looking at the non K version of each?
I see no passmark ratings for the Ultra245(vs. 245K)

What is the make/model of all of your current parts?
If your DDR4 ram is sufficient, the I7-14700 would allow it's reuse.

The over voltage issues last year about the 14th gen intel processors have been resolved.
Probably not relevant to the non K processors anyway.

Me, I would go the 245 route.

 

[logainofhades]

14700k vs 245k the 14700k is faster. I don't see this changing with non K sku's. A 12700k is within like 3% of a 245k, in gaming, and considerably cheaper. Even a 14600k is a way better buy than a 245k, if willing to take the risk on 14th gen. I have seen 0 reason to buy Arrow lake for a gaming centric rig.

PCPartPicker CPU Comparison

CPU	Intel Core i7-12700K 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor	Intel Core i5-14600K 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor	Intel Core Ultra 5 245K 4.2 GHz 14-Core Processor
Price	$229.99	$210.00	$294.49
Rating	149 Ratings, 4.9 Average	13 Ratings, 4.8 Average	0 Ratings
Manufacturer	Intel	Intel	Intel
Part #	BX8071512700K	BX8071514600K	BX80768245K
Series	Intel Core i7	Intel Core i5	Intel Core Ultra 5
Microarchitecture	Alder Lake	Raptor Lake Refresh	Arrow Lake
Core Family	Alder Lake	Raptor Lake Refresh	Arrow Lake
Socket	LGA1700	LGA1700	LGA1851
Core Count	12	14	14
Thread Count	20	20	14
Performance Core Clock	3.6 GHz	3.5 GHz	4.2 GHz
Performance Core Boost Clock	5 GHz	5.3 GHz	5.2 GHz
Efficiency Core Clock	2.7 GHz	2.6 GHz	3.6 GHz
Efficiency Core Boost Clock	3.8 GHz	4 GHz	4.6 GHz
L2 Cache	12 MB	20 MB	26 MB
L3 Cache	25 MB	24 MB	24 MB
TDP	125 W	125 W	125 W
Integrated Graphics	Intel UHD Graphics 770	Intel UHD Graphics 770	Intel Xe
Maximum Supported Memory	128 GB	192 GB	256 GB
ECC Support	No	Yes	Yes
Includes Cooler	No	No	No
Packaging	Boxed	Boxed	Boxed
Includes CPU Cooler	No	No	No
Lithography	10 nm	7 nm	3 nm
Simultaneous Multithreading	Yes: Hyper-Threading	Yes: Hyper-Threading	No

Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-04-04 09:13 EDT-0400

 

[geofelt]

When new processors are released, they inevitably require updates of some sort.
True for both AMD and Intel.
Usually to the motherboard bios, but sometimes to the chip microcode, and often from windows.
The ultra processors have a new performance/efficient core configuration so windows needs to handle that.
The ultra reviews I can find mostly date back to the initial launch days.
I can't find any that are relatively current.

I looked at the Newegg user reviews of 1851 motherboards.
Most were positive, but did not name the processor used.
I think most used the stronger 265K and 285K processors.
A common positive is the greatly reduced heat from Ultra.

The OP will have an easier install using the i5-14700 processor since the motherboards have been well developed.
That said, I suspect the ultra processors will end up a winner in time.

 

[QyInvoLing]

In China currently 14700kf is 20% more expensive than 265k. 265k is currently 280usd, and although it's extremely worth now, it's still not popular yet.
Pick 14600kf for PURE gaming instead of 245k.

 

[logainofhades]

I mentioned the 14600k, as it's quite a bit cheaper, slightly faster, and has the same core count on P and E cores. It's also should be less power hungry than a 14700, and doesn't use much more than the 245k.

 

[drjohnnyfever]

The 14600K is super and easy to OC.