Intel’s Core i9-14900KS, a supercharged version of the current Raptor Lake Refresh flagship, the 14900K, could be on shelves as soon as next month.
Tom’s Hardware picked up on a report from Benchlife (a Chinese tech site) which cites sources claiming that the purported Core i9-14900KS is set to launch in about a month’s time, so the middle of March.
As ever, we need to be careful around such rumors and sprinkle a good amount of skepticism over claims like this.
The report also notes that the power usage of the 14900KS processor will be higher, but to achieve the rumored 6.2GHz boost (which will be a maximum – and not a sustained one, either), the wattage will obviously need to be ramped up above the 14900K (which has a boost ceiling of 6GHz).
Benchlife adds that it doesn’t have any info on where this CPU will be sold in terms of retail channels, but as is usually the case with KS models, they will be a limited edition. (Based on how many so-called ‘golden’ chips Intel has put aside, meaning 14900K silicon which is good enough to be clocked up to the necessary 200MHz faster boost).
Analysis: We’ll buy this one (the rumor, not the CPU)
Okay, so this Chinese website is not the most reliable source of rumors, but that’s not to say Benchlife hasn’t called things in the past – it definitely has. And in this case, we’re more inclined to believe the presented rumor because there’s supporting evidence with other recent leaks.
That includes a sighting of a photo of the Core i9-14900KS and a leaked benchmark. As well as that, there’s the further consideration that the CPU appears to be a production version, not an early sample, which again suggests a release coming soon. So, next month is hardly out of the question.
If you’re excited about an even faster Raptor Lake Refresh processor than the already beefy 14900K, bear in mind that as mentioned, it’ll come with a heavy level of power consumption (over 400W when pushed, according to leakage) and a weighty price tag to boot.
If the 14900KS is realized, it’ll be the fourth KS version of a flagship processor that Intel has released, following on from the 13900KS, 12900KS, and the original 9900KS.