Intel’s Core i9-14900KS has appeared in another leak – one of a few pieces of spillage seen recently – and this time we have a purported spec sheet showing the rumored boost speed.
Tom’s Hardware picked up on a post by @momomo_us on X (formerly Twitter) which shared the details, and the mentioned boost of 6.2GHz, a new height for Intel’s desktop processors.
Remember, that’s the speed of the supercharged flagship CPU out of the box, before any overclocking shenanigans.
The other specs revealed show that the Core i9-14900KS is exactly the same as the existing 14900K in other departments, which is to be expected. This was the case with previous ‘KS’ models (like the 13900KS) which only upped the boost speed, and didn’t change anything else.
This is because they are the same chip: the 14900KS is simply 14900K silicon which are so called ‘golden’ samples, meaning higher-binned products that can tolerate being overclocked more than your average 14900K. Hence Intel can push them harder for boost speeds out of the box.
Analysis: Controversy within Intel?
There is a toll to pay for a 6.2GHz boost, of course, and it’s not just the more expensive price tag that’ll be attached to the limited edition 14900KS compared to the existing Raptor Lake Refresh flagship. You’ll pay a price in power usage, too, with a previous leak suggesting that the 14900KS will exceed 400W when the processor is pushed hard in demanding tasks.
In short, if you’re purchasing a Core i9-14900KS, you’ll need to match the CPU with an epic cooling solution, and have a PC case which does well on the thermals front – but then enthusiast buyers of these kind of processors will be well aware of that.
Such is the purported power usage of the 14900KS that YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead talked recently about rumors that there was even a debate within Intel about whether or not to release the limited edition variant. Mainly because some Intel staff felt it just looked bad that it used so much power for only a few percentage point gains over the vanilla 14900K performance-wise.
Of course, we still don’t know for sure that the 14900KS will be released by Intel, but the rumors are numerous of late that this should be the case. Moore’s Law is Dead believes this variant is coming, too, despite the internal debate, but that it may not arrive as early as some other folks are predicting (March has been mentioned recently as a launch timeframe).