Intel has quietly released a whole range of new 14th-gen Raptor Lake CPUs that do away completely with the company's low-power E-Cores, and instead house only high-power P-Cores. This focus on raw power means the new range, which is topped by the Intel Core i9 14901KE, would be ideal for use in high-end gaming PCs, but Intel doesn't seem keen on that idea.
Instead, these new best gaming CPU contenders are being sold only as for embedded systems - hence the E on the end of the product name - so they won't be purchasable separately. It's possible these new Intel CPUs will find their way to retailers as well, but it's not a route Intel is encouraging.
The full range of the chips is listed below, and covers pretty much the entire range occupied by existing 14th-gen Intel Core CPUs, just with all the E-Cores removed. There are also T variants of each CPU, which are 45W TDP versions, plus there are F variants that don't include integrated graphics.
That means the high-end parts (the 14901KE down to the 14701E) include eight P-Cores, while the mid-range options (the 14501E to the 14401EF) have six P-Cores. There are no versions of these chips with just four P-Cores though, which is the number housed in the company's standard Core i3 chips. The full specs of some of these processors are listed on Intel's Ark website, though not all are shown.
- Intel Core i9 14901KE
- Intel Core i9 14901E
- Intel Core i7 14701E
- Intel Core i5 14501E
- Intel Core i5 14401E
As a reminder, E-Cores are the slightly cut-down, more basic cores that Intel has been packing into its CPUs in recent years to ensure they offer as many as 24 cores in one CPU package. This results in impressive multi-core performance, but these cores don't run at as high a clock speed as the conventional cores (known as P-Cores).
Since debuting E-Cores, Intel has had to work with the likes of Microsoft to ensure operating systems and games know what they should prioritize to run on P-Cores, rather than E-Cores. However, this doesn't always work, with games such as Cyberpunk 2077 needing to add specific prioritization settings for these hybrid CPUs.
As such, a CPU that simply does away with E-Cores altogether would seemingly be ideal for gamers just seeking raw gaming speed. That's especially true given how hot the likes of the 14900K run with its high clock speed and 16 extra E-Cores. For some reason, though, Intel has decided not to make that an option with these chips.
It's not like these CPUs are underpowered compared to the standard chips either. Sometimes with embedded processors, their inherent focus on reliability means clock speeds are pulled back considerably. However, while the 14901KE, for instance, does have a very slightly slower peak clock speed of 5.8GHz compared to 6GHz for the standard 14900K, its base clock is actually 600MHz higher.
Interestingly, all these CPUs, other than the 14901KE (which is rated to 125W), are rated at just a TDP of 65W. In comparison, the 14700K and even 14600K are 125W TDP chips, despite the latter having fewer P-Cores. As such, a product like the 14701E with its eight P-Cores, 5.4GHz peak boost clock speed, and 65W TDP seems like a really interesting option for a gaming CPU.
Until some rogue retailers decide to pop a few of these chips on their shop shelves, though, you'll just have to make do with our standard best gaming CPU recommendations, and if you're eyeing up one of Intel's top choices from that list, you'll want to check out our best CPU cooler guide too.
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