Instead, they provide a series of guidelines, but even then, those are just guidelines.
In reality, board makers have been free to do whatever they want, and indeed, they have.
Unlike AMD, Intel doesn’t certify motherboards, despite having their logo on the box.
We recently spoke with several of Intel’s partners, whichgave us great insightinto the issue.
A number of engineers were all too happy to share details.
We’ve also started to see a number of BIOS updates rolled out for LGA 1700 motherboards.
Initially, MSI went with 125 watts for their default profile.
This updated version should be it.
TheRyzen 7 7800X3Dhas been paired with 32GB of DDR5-6000 CL30 memory.
Finally, in total, we’ve tested 24 games using theRTX 4090at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K.
Next up, we have Homeworld 3.
This means there’s a reasonable 7% uplift from ‘performance’ to ‘extreme’ for the 14900K.
Counter-Strike 2 isn’t a core-heavy title, so the power profiles don’t make much difference here.
That meant the 7800X3D was around 12-15% faster.
One of the newest games added to our list is Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II.
So overall, very similar performance between these two CPUs, regardless of the power configuration.
Overall, though, the 14900K and 7800X3D are comparable in this title.
Finally, we haveStarfield.
This title plays slightly better on the 14900K, at least when looking at the average frame rate.
24 Game Average
Here’s a look at the average performance across the 24 games tested.
This margin is fairly typical when testing a wide range of games.
Here’s a look at the margins across those games.
The biggest win for the Ryzen processor came in ACC, where it was 33% faster.
When running the 14900K using the performance mode, the 7800X3D is at worst 2% slower.
In other words, when the Ryzen processor loses, the performance is about the same.
Finally, here’s a look at the14900Krunning the Extreme profile compared to the Performance profile.
For the most part, we’re only looking at a difference of a few percent.
Power Usage
One big advantage of the 125W ‘performance’ profile is power consumption.
Although still significantly higher than the 7800X3D, it’s a noteworthy improvement.
However, these improvements will vary from game to game.
What We Learned
So, there you have it.
This raises questions about Intel’s intentions here.
Regardless of our speculations, the Performance profile need not exist for unlocked Z-series motherboards using unlocked K-SKU processors.
The minimum configuration here should be the one Intel advertises, so PL1 = PL2 at 253 watts.
Anything short of that is unacceptable.
As for how all this new information changes our past reviews and recommendations, it doesn’t.
Gaming performance isn’t significantly different from what we’ve shown in the past, nor is power efficiency.
The 14900K, on the other hand, costs considerably more at$550.
