Intel 14th Gen Core Raptor Lake Refresh Benchmarks: MOAR Power


Intel 14th Gen Core Processors: 3D Rendering, Audio and Video Encoding

intel 14th gen processors top 2
In our custom LAME XP MP3 encoding test, we convert 16, large uncompressed WAV files to the MP3 format, which is a common use case for many end users, to provide portability and storage of their digital audio content. The LAME engine is an open-source MP3 audio encoder that is used widely in a multitude of third party applications.

LAME XP Audio Encoding Performance

For this test, we created 16-copies of our own 223MB WAV file (an 11 minute Grateful Dead jam) and converted it to the MP3 format using the multi-thread capable LAME XP tool. Processing times are recorded below, listed in minutes:seconds. Shorter times equate to better performance.
lam intel 14th gen core performance

Intel's architectures have traditionally performed well with the LAME audio encoder, and it shows. Once again we see the Core i9-14900K come out on top, with the Core i7-14700K close behind, and the Core i5-14600K outgunning the previous-gen 13600K.

Blackmagic RAW Video Encoding Speed

The Blackmagic RAW Speed Test is a CPU and GPU benchmarking tool that tests full-resolution Blackmagic RAW video decode performance. The tool can be used to evaluate the performance at various resolutions and bitrates on the CPU or using OpenCL on a GPU. We're reporting two results here, both using 8K resolution, but at differing bitrates and compression levels.

blackmagic intel 14th gen core performance

In the Blackmagic RAW speed test the new 14th Gen Core processors performed relatively well. The Core i9-14900K and Core i7-14700K sandwich the previous-gen Core i9s, while the Core i5-14600K lands in between the Ryzen 9 7900X and 7950X3D.

Cinebench R23 3D Rendering Benchmark

Cinebench rendering performance test based on Cinema 4D from Maxon. Cinema 4D is a 3D rendering and animation tool suite used by animation houses and producers like Sony Animation and many others. It's very demanding of system processor resources and can utilize any number of threads, which make is an excellent gauge of computational throughput. This is a multi-threaded, multi-processor aware benchmark that renders and animates 3D scenes and tracks the length of the entire process. The rate at which each test system was able to render the entire scene is represented in the graphs below.

cinebench intel 14th gen core performance

The new Core i9-14900K wasn't able to catch the Core i9-13900KS in either the single or multi-threaded tests, but it did beat every other processor in the stack. The Core i7-14700K couldn't quite catch the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, but the Core i5-14600K clearly outpaced the 13600K and nearly caught the previous-gen Ryzen 9 5950X.

POV-Ray CPU Ray Tracing Benchmark

POV-Ray, or the Persistence of Vision Ray-Tracer, is an open source tool for creating realistically lit images. We tested with POV-Ray's standard 'one-CPU' and 'all-CPU' benchmarking tools on all of our test machines and recorded the scores reported for each. Results are measured in pixels-per-second throughput; higher scores equate to better performance.

 
povray intel 14th gen core performance

POV-Ray tells essentially the same story as Cinebench, with the Core i9-14900K slotting in just behind the Core i9-13900KS, and the Core i7 and Core i5 finishing in familiar positions relative to the competition.

Blender Rendering Benchmarks

Blender is a free and open source 3D creation suite that can handle everything from modeling, rigging, and animation to simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking. It has a purpose-built benchmarking tool that will track the time it takes to complete rendering a particular model (or models). We used the CPU-focused benchmark with all three models currently available...


blander intel 14th gen core performance

Surprisingly, the new 14th Gen Core processors finished just behind their 13th Gen counterparts in the Blender benchmark. The deltas separating the processors are very small, but were repeatable nonetheless.

Y-Cruncher Multi-Threaded Pi Calculator

Y-Cruncher is a multi-core-capable tool that calculates the value of pi to a specified number of digits. In this case, we ran the tool on all threads and had the application calculate the value of pi to 1 billion digits. The values below are the time required to perform the calculation expressed in seconds. As a result, lower values indicate better performance.

ycruncher intel 14th gen core performance

Once again we see a familiar trend, with the Core i9-14900K just missing the mark set by the special edition Core i9-13900KS, with the 14th Gen Core i7 and Core i5 competing favorably with previous-gen parts.

STARS Euler3d Multi-Threaded CFD Benchmark

STARS Euler3d is a computational fluid dynamics benchmark which uses a CFD grid that contains 1.23 million tetrahedral elements and 223 thousand nodes. The benchmark executable advances a mach 0.50 Advisory Group for Aerospace Research, or AGARD, flow solution for an aeroelastic test wing. The benchmark score is reported as a CFD cycle frequency in Hertz.


This benchmark is multi-threaded, but is also dependent on platform bandwidth, and cache and memory latency, so the final results are not determined by compute performance alone. Cache sizes / speed and memory bandwidth affect the score as well...

euler intel 14th gen core performance

This benchmark had all of the Core i9 processors tightly packed at the top of the charts, with the Core i7-14700K falling next in line. And once again, we see the Core i5-14600K finishing just a touch behind the Core i5-13600K. This doesn't make much sense considering the 14600K has higher clocks, but it is what it is. The delta is quite small, anyway.

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