Intel's alleged Core i9-14900KS processor has found its way into the OCCT benchmark database (as discovered by @BenchLeaks), which can be considered as a confirmation of its existence. The listed specifications correspond to what we learned about the purported CPU back in early January, but what we did not expect was the whopping maximum thermal power of the processor. This is still unofficial information and thus subject to change, but if accurate it appears Intel is going to extreme lengths for a minor boost in performance.
Intel's rumored Core i9-14900KS CPU is a cherry-picked Raptor Lake Refresh silicon with eight high-performance Raptor Cove cores, 16 energy-efficient Gracemont cores, and 68MB of cache. The only differences between this processor and Intel's current top-of-the-range Core i9-14900K are the frequencies and presumably power.
Clocks can reach as high as 6.20 GHz for single-core and dual-core turbo (which corroborates with rumored specifications of the product) as well as 5.90 GHz for three to eight core turbo. That's 200–300 MHz higher for the P-cores, with the E-cores topping out at 4.5 GHz — 100 MHz higher than the 14900K.
Those extreme clocks appear to come at a cost. The alleged Core i9-14900KS processor draws around 410W (as observed by @TechLevelUp), which is an enormous amount of heat to dissipate for a pseudo mainstream processor. In the past, only HEDT chips have flirted with such power use.
Of course, we're likely dealing with pre-production silicon here and production versions of the CPU may not have such an extreme maximum thermal power. Still, it's possible Intel's next cherry-picked silicon will consume and dissipate significantly more power than the regular Core i9-14900K because Intel 7 (aka 10nm Enhanced SuperFin) process technology can achieve only certain clocks without dramatically increasing power consumption.
The existence of Intel's Core i9-14900KS has not been officially confirmed. Intel's flagship Core i9 processors for desktops offer formidable out-of-box performance and the company should feel comfortable with its Core i9-14900K. However, there are always people who want to have something even faster, something that is special and rare.
To meet the demand from such customers Intel, began offering special edition KS processors in the recent years, beginning with the Core i9-9900KS and continuing with the Core i9-12900KS and Core i9-13900KS. To that end, chances that Intel is prepping Core i9-14900KS are fairly high.
Picking up enough Raptor Lake Refresh processors that can work at very high clocks should not be a problem as Intel produces a ton of those CPU die. However, if the power draw really is as high as suggested by these leaks, they'll require a formidable cooling system, and we can't help but wonder whether there be a lot of enthusiast willing to use them.
