Intel Core Ultra 7 265K vs Core i7 14700K: Which Is Better?

Both Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and Core i7 14700K are premium high-end CPUs, but they cater to different use cases. Which one should you buy?

Picture of Intel Core Ultra 7 265KF vs Core i7 14700K — Intel Core Ultra 7 265K vs Core i7 14700K (Image via Intel)

The Intel Core i7 14700K is a popular processor among PC enthusiasts. It ranks 18th according to Amazon’s Best-Selling CPU rankings. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is a direct successor to the Core i7 14700K and promises to deliver higher performance and efficiency, but that remains to be seen. In this article, we are comparing Intel processors to find out which is better and which one you should buy.

Note: Parts of this article are subjective and reflect the writer’s opinions.

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Intel Core Ultra 7 265K vs Core i7 14700K: Detailed Comparison

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is based on the latest Arrow Lake architecture, designed for higher performance and efficiency. On the other hand, the Core i7 14700K is built on a refresh of the older Raptor Lake architecture, but it has hyperthreading. There are plenty of other differences between the two CPUs. Let’s examine their specifications to gain a better understanding of what they are capable of.

Specs Comparison

Picture of Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU — Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU (Image via Intel)

Here are the specs of the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and Core i7 14700K:

Specifications	Intel Core Ultra 7 265K	Intel Core i7 14700K
Architecture	Arrow Lake	Raptor Lake Refresh
P-Core/Thread count	8/8	8/16
E-Core/Thread count	12/12	12/12
Total Core/Thread count	20/20	20/28
Max clock speed	5.5 GHz	5.6 GHz
L3 cache	30 MB	33 MB
RAM support	DDR5-6400	DDR4-3200 DDR5-5600
PCIe Gen support	Gen 5	Gen 5
Platform Socket	LGA 1851	LGA 1700
Thermal design power (TDP)	125W Typical \| 250W Max	125W Typical \| 253W Max
Manufacturing nodes	3nm	10nm

According to the specs table, the newer Intel Core Ultra 7 265K has slightly lower clock speeds, cache, and threads, among other things. On the other hand, the Intel Core i7 14700K supports both DDR4 and DDR5, which allows you to choose between budget and high-performance builds.

Synthetic Performance Comparison

Here’s how Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and Core i7 14700K perform in popular synthetic benchmarks:

Benchmarks	Intel Core Ultra 7 265K	Intel Core i7 14700K
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)	2304	2072
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)	36309	34895
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)	3157	3012
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)	21377	20262
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)	4900	4475
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)	58850	52522

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is 8.3% faster than the Core i7 14700K in single-core benchmarks. However, in multi-core benchmarks, the former scored only 8.2% more than the latter. The performance improvements from the new CPU are not that impressive. We were hoping for a bit more productivity performance, but that is not the case. Let’s find out how they perform in game benchmarks.

Game Performance Comparison

Here’s how the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and Core i7 14700K handle some of the popular games on the market:

Games	Intel Core Ultra 7 265K	Intel Core i7 14700K
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6	236 FPS	237 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077	110 FPS	123 FPS
Forza Horizon 5	234 FPS	247 FPS
Starfield	134 FPS	137 FPS
Counter-Strike 2	553 FPS	597 FPS
Star Wars Outlaws	143 FPS	152 FPS
Hogwarts Legacy	77 FPS	79 FPS
Ghost of Tsushima	164 FPS	171 FPS
Red Dead Redemption 2	180 FPS	184 FPS

Note: The two CPUs were tested at 1080p resolution with the RTX 4090 GPU to eliminate any GPU bottleneck. All FPS numbers were sourced from the Testing Games channel on YouTube.

On average, the older Intel Core i7 14700K scores 5.3% higher than its successor, Intel Core Ultra 7 265K. The former delivered more FPS than the latter in every single game tested above. You would expect more gaming performance from the newer CPU, but instead, it provides lower performance.

Price Comparison

Picture of Intel Core i7 14700K — Intel Core i7 14700K (Image via Intel)

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is currently selling for $279 o n Amazon, while the Intel Core i7 14700K sells for $319.59. Therefore, the new processor is actually 14.5% cheaper.

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Final Verdict on Intel Core Ultra 7 265K vs Core i7 14700K

The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K and Core i7 14700K win in their respective categories. The former delivers higher performance in productivity, while the latter wins in gaming. However, since the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K is quite a bit cheaper, we recommend this over the older CPU, despite offering slightly lower performance. Which processor you should buy depends heavily on what you plan to use your PC for.

If you plan to run productivity applications such as Blender, Handbrake, Adobe Creative Cloud, and others, you should buy the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K. If your interest is in productivity and gaming, our recommendation still remains the same. However, if you want the best gaming performance or are upgrading from an older LGA 1700 socket-based CPU, then you should go with the Intel Core i7 14700K instead.

Also, keep in mind that the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K drops as low as $210 or lower every once in a while, which will make it a no-brainer.

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Intel Core Ultra 7 265K vs Core i7 14700K: Which Is Better?