Reported by the Heart of the Machine
Editors: Chen Ping, Jia Qi
Intel's new Core 14th Gen HX series mobile processors are designed to provide the best experience for creators and mobile enthusiasts.
During CES 2024, Intel unveiled the latest 14th Gen Core HX series mobile processors, bringing a superior performance experience to mobile enthusiasts. The series will power most of the flagship gaming laptops and some creation-focused laptops.
The 14th Gen Core HX series consists of 5 new SKUs and is an updated version of the previous 13th Gen Core HX series, similar to desktop processors like the Core i9-14900K to the Core i9-13900K.
In the new Intel Core HX series of processors, the i9-14900HX will be housed in more demanding gaming laptops with 24 cores (8 performance cores and 16 efficiency cores) and turbo frequencies up to 5.8GHz. The latest chip also supports DDR5-5600 up to 192GB, as well as standalone Wi-Fi 7 support, Bluetooth 5.4, and Thunderbolt 5 support.
In addition, Intel is increasing the number of cores for the Core i7-14700HX processor. The Core i7-14700HX processor now has a total of 20 cores (8 performance cores and 12 efficiency cores). That's four more efficiency cores than the 13th Gen Core i7, which is a 50% increase in efficiency cores, so it looks like the new Core i7-14700HX should improve multithreaded application and gaming performance.
The following figure shows a comparison of some parameters of different series of processors:
The full range of Intel Core 14th Gen CPUs is also on sale. At CES, Intel Core has 18 new CPUs, of which the top configuration is the flagship Core i9-14900 processor priced at 3922 yuan ($549), which has 24 cores (8 performance cores and 16 efficiency cores) and 32 threads. With a base power of 65W, this new batch focuses on both high performance and low energy consumption, with the Core i9 model consuming 219W.
Last January, Intel's CES announcement announced the Raptor Lake mobile chip, transitioning from Alder Lake to Raptor Lake, with a small increment in architecture, demonstrating Intel's highly heterogeneous design in terms of performance and energy efficiency cores.
But when it was updated to 14th Gen this year, Intel didn't change the underlying architecture and still chose the same Raptor Lake architecture, but improved the voltage and frequency (V/F) curves, squeezing out faster clock speeds to improve the CPU's performance, keeping it within the same benchmark and turbo TDP power range.
In addition, Intel is pushing vendors to support Thunderbolt 5/USB4v2, the biggest addition to laptops powered by Intel's 14th Gen Core HX series. Because these computers don't have an integrated Thunderbolt 5 chip on their own, Intel relies on their separate Barlow Ridge Thunderbolt 5 controller, which connects it to the PCIe 4.0 lanes provided by the processor itself. This bandwidth is not enough to saturate the TB5 connection. At the end of the day, TB5's high bandwidth is meant to support a combination of data and graphics (DisplayPort 2.1), so the data portion alone doesn't need to completely saturate the entire link.
The 14th Gen Core HX series has a fast P-core turbo of up to 5.8 GHz compared to its predecessor, the 13th Gen Core i9-13900HX, which is an increase of 9 MHz over the Core i9-13900HX.
In terms of integrated graphics, the 14th Gen Core HX series remains the same as the previous generation, with no upgrades.
Compared to the 13th generation, the new Core series has several new additions that are worth noting. In addition to the increased efficiency of the Performance Cores and Efficiency Cores, the 14th Gen Core HX series still supports DDR5-5600 and DDR4-3200 memory types. The 14th Gen Core HX series supports Wi-Fi 6E. In addition, it supports up to 14 USB 2 ports, 10 USB 3 ports, and can accommodate up to 8 SATA ports.
Intel and AMD compete in performance
In terms of gaming, Intel compares the flagship Core i9-14900HX to AMD's non-x3D Ryzen 9 7945HX. In the 1080p resolution round, the i9-14900HX beat the 7945HX in most tests.
Specifically, the i9-14900HX delivers a 1.37x performance boost in Total War: Warhammer 3, a 1.11x performance boost in F1 2023, and the same results are seen in other games like League of Legends. However, the i9-14900HX also has lower performance, such as in Cyberpunk 2077, the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX outperforms Intel's new chip by about 2%.
Intel says the Core i9-14900HX delivers a 0.3% performance boost in Rainbow Six Siege and a 17% performance improvement over the Ryzen 9 7945x3D in Pharaoh, one of the latest Total War games in the series. It's worth noting that, as a rule of thumb, Total War games are generally better suited to Intel than AMD, so it's not surprising to see better performance from Intel chips in this game series.
However, Intel did not compare it to 13th Gen gaming performance. However, some reviewers say that while the 14th generation chips have all made a leap forward in performance, they are still not enough to beat AMD's best desktop gaming CPUs. As for how well Intel's 14th generation chips perform on mobile, further evaluation is needed.
Reference Links:
https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/8/24029708/intel-14th-gen-mobile-processors-specs-release-date-pricing-ces-2024
https://www.anandtech.com/show/21213/intel-unveils-14th-gen-core-hx-series-processors-raptor-lake-mobile-refresh-with-thunderbolt-5
https://www.intc.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1667/ces-2024-intel-delivers-new-high-level-compute-solutions