Used to own a Core i7 4960X and never had any issues with it on the old LGA 2011 socket motherboards. I since moved over to AMD's Ryzen processors and have been a little burned by the 9950X experience I've had over the past week or two with what feels like endless troubleshooting, and some fundamental issues (like no USB ports working).

As a result, I'm contemplating returning it and maybe going for something different, and perhaps step back a generation instead to try and have some more reliability.

One of the options I'm looking at is the Core i9 149000K CPU. However, it seems to be in the ball park of the top end 7000 and 9000 series Ryzen CPUs, which is a good thing, but then several computer tech channels like Gamers Nexus, JayzTwoCents, and Hardware Unboxed repeatedly state in videos that they can't recommend 13xxx and 14xxx generation Intel processors.

I'm aware of the CPU motherboard flex and the need for a plate to pin the CPU in place without warping that resolves it for £10, but is there any other reason to avoid the Core i9 14900K?

EDIT: Narrowed myself down to these options (green is cheapest and red is most expensive):

Option 1 - £1,038.97
AMD Ryzen 9 9950X and MSI X870E MPG Carbon WiFi motherboard
(what I initially bought and having issues with and needing to return as dubious about whether faulty or not at the very least)

Option 2 - £752.88
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and ASUS ROG X670E Crossfire Hero motherboard
(have these at my home now as planned replacement as bought due to finding good deals on both, but could easily be returned if necessary)

Option 3 - £909.12
Intel Core i9 14900K and ASUS ROG Z790 Maximus Hero motherboard

Option 4 - £899.88
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and ASRock Z890 Nova WiFi motherboard

Option 5 - £1,044.96
Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and MSI Z890 MPG Carbon WiFi motherboard

 

Last edited: Oct 24, 2024

The Intel Core i9-14900K impresses and disappoints in equal measure. In the test, the CPU proves to be a strong competitor to AMD's top processors and makes no mistakes - apart from the increased power consumption. In addition to the CPU benchmarks, the integrated graphics unit also achieves reasonable results.

However, the great marks are solely the laurels of its predecessors. Because: Compared to the slightly upgraded i9-13900KS, this CPU makes no progress, and in some cases even comes up short. At least it is a good deal cheaper than the processor from the beginning of the year.

www.chip.de/test/Intel-Core-i9-14900K-im-Test_184996422.html

 

Didn't realise I'd accidentally posted what I thought I was putting in an AudioSex post in ChatGPT instead....

 

The Ryzen 9 9950X is something of a Janus face, because it has two sides. If it works as it should, then there is hardly any stopping it, except at the power outlet. But such aha moments are widely scattered and mostly limited to the workstation area. If you just take gaming into account, then I am sure that in the sum of all reviews this time we will see differences in the conclusions that have not been seen before. Because if I had swapped just two games in which the new CPU either performed disproportionately better than the direct predecessor model (up to 10%) or, conversely, one of the many games where nothing seems to work (yet) properly (up to -10%), then this CPU could have been either deliberately jazzed up or completely trashed. And even without a guilty conscience.

Things like a fresh Windows 11 image and calling start /wait Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks along with the latest chipset drivers are a given, so that wasn't the problem, even if I don't consider this procedure to be customer-friendly. For the end customer and potential AM5 upgrader from a single-die processor, such hurdles are definitely unreasonable.

AMD certainly still has a lot of work to do here in terms of firmware, because as good as the server CPUs may be, the derived consumer variants are not (yet). The entire launch therefore simply seems rushed and you really have to ask yourself why AMD didn’t wait so long for everything to really work. It is precisely for this reason that today’s assessment should be seen as provisional, because even if the substructure may be right, there is still a huge need for renovation on the software side. You simply can’t and shouldn’t launch a good product like this if you don’t want to destroy it on day one with a noble gesture towards Intel itself.

The price of 709 euros (RRP) is certainly too high compared to the current performance. Let’s hope that there will be significant improvements to the firmware in the foreseeable future, otherwise the Ryzen 7000 and 7000X3D will probably remain the best choice for end users. Intel will certainly be relieved to see this, as AMD would actually have had the opportunity to close the bag for the foreseeable future. But that’s exactly what they didn’t manage to do this time, despite all the expectations that were raised.

https://www.igorslab.de/en/amd-ryze...iance-at-work-and-efficient-parity-in-gaming/

 

Power consumption, heat, lack of AVX-512. The drama with all higher end 13th and 14th gens inescapably eventually destroying themselves. Microcode fix only came out a month and a half ago (performance delta: nothing-burger to -2%). On the upside, Intel has issued extended warranties for those chips. So if you get a 14900K, you'll be playing early adaptor roulette (with the microcode fix) again.

 

Thanks for this useful insight! That's just driving me more to 7950X instead

 

My advice to you would be to slow down, rethink & do some more research as more AMD/Intel product is released & tested (just my advice). Otherwise stick with the choice of returning the 9950X & MSI motherboard, getting the 7950X & a creator level board & calling it a day. A good mid-level general compute motherboard is the ASRock Steel Legend (E or non E).

For Intel, you want the 12th Gen or current Core Ultra. Not the 13th or 14th Gen for obvious reasons.

 

All the way in the late 90s, one of the first things I've learned about PCs is that you never buy anything super new, because compatibility of various things hasn't been completely dealt with yet and various bugs hasn't been ironed out yet. In the noughties it's gotten even worse and I started always recommending and buying a previous generation, and still a problem of some kind could occur. Just look at the various BIOS updates for the motherboard, as an example. USB ports not working is a horrible problem that will be ironed out pretty soon. It doesn't mean the platform or any part of the computer you have is trash. It is completely normal and users who buy newest hardware and software, for that matter, are always beta testers, or even alpha testers!

R7 7700, 7900, 7950 are a sure shot now.

 

Last edited: Oct 21, 2024

Wouldn't the Core Ultra have the same new adopter issues though as the 9950X and X870??

 

That is one hideous looking board though

What about the ASUS ROG X670E Crosshair Hero? Seen one listed locally for sub-£300 and seems to have a ton of almost X870-level features like dual USB 4 ports, dual USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C ports, USB A 3.2 Gen 2 ports and so on, as well as a ton of NVMe Gen5 slots, 6400MT/s RAM capability, 110A power phases, and so on. The only obvious thing visually missing when comparing to my MSI X870E MPG Carbon WiFi is the WiFi 7, with it having WiFi 6E.

 

I am absolutely sure they will be great... in a year or two!

 

this is a serious problem, I would stay away from high-end i9 and i7 from 13th/14th gen to be honest

hard to tell this early...

if you're desperately trying to buy something fancy, then do take a look into new Xeons and Threadrippers - they aren't exactly cheap, but you get so many PCIe lanes you won't need to worry about your SSDs competing for bandwidth with your other SSDs, network, SATA, USB....

seriously, something like AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7960X (cheapest from the lineup) costs "only" about twice as 9950X, but will give you proper 24 cores (48 threads) and matching TR5 motherboard like ASUS Pro WS TRX50-SAGE WIFI isn't that terribly more expensive compared to high-end AM5 mobos

 

Thank You SineWave!!!

Bunford has been driving in the left lane at full speed on the information superhighway for years, and the money has to get out there.

All the CPU upgrades bring a maximum of 8-10% if you tweak the engine a bit, good mechanics in the Bunford team maybe 15%. USB 4 brings twice the data throughput, from 20 to 40 Gbs.

If you want to be number 1 in high-speed motorsports you have to constantly train and learn new things.
Think of Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, he ultimately had an accident while skiing.

A not entirely serious comment from Team Brain!

 

Maybe maybe not. Release of testing DATA incoming soon. Thus the slow down, research, rethink. Clues from Wendell is that Intel may be okay. We'll know soon. BTW...his initial thoughts & unboxing rant has been taken down (did he reveal to much?).

Almost X870 features. If you want an upgrade path, get an X870/X870E for AMD. For Core Ultra you only have the Z890 for mid to high end.

Once all embargoes are lifted, the real testing & stability DATA should be available.

 

It really depends on the Software and what you're doing.
I got a new system 3 months ago.
AMD
What I read was: Try to get the highest GHZ count pro Core.
Some Music apps or plugins are not programmed to use all cores. So it's useful to have high GHZ count pro core.
So I got the 7700x with 4.5 GHZ.
AMD has stable GHZ on all cores.

 

I am looking for fancy, but not looking for complete overkill

I'm sure they're amazing, but trying to balance upgrading to something that can last a few years, willing to pay for it but not the extortionate amounts as the wallet isn't bottomless, and don't wanna deal with headaches and endless troubleshooting.

I think I've settled now on going for a 7950X and an X670e motherboard.

 

What you on? Got some spare to share?

 

I actually have an X870E Carbon WiFi now, but having issues with it, mainly that none of the USB work etc. This is why I am contemplating a 7950X and X670E motherboard, and for a future path may go up a mono and CPU in a staggered way over next 3 years as I think AMD have committed to AM5 until the 2027 CPUs now.

 

If that's the case, the 7950x would be the obvious one for me I guess at 4.5GHz with boost to 5.7GHz

 

are you sure

ITE UCM DRIVER V1.3.8.17 for Windows 11.(WHQL)

Version 1.3.8.17
6.87 MB 2024/09/09
installed correctly?