Intel Core i5-14600K vs Intel Core Ultra 5 225U vs Intel Core i5-14500

Intel Core i5-14600K

The Intel Core i5-14600K is a modern desktop processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, which inherits the 13th generation of Intel Core processors with minor improvements. The processor offers a base clock of 3.5 GHz and reaches up to 5.3 GHz in Turbo. The basic CPU structure remains unchanged. This means that the Intel Core i5-14600K also has 6 P-cores and 8 E-cores, which means that up to 20 threads can be processed in parallel. The Intel Core i5-14600K still offers a freely selectable multiplier, which makes overclocking much easier. The LGA 1700 socket, which was already introduced with Alder-Lake, is also used as the basis.

Performance

Compared to the Intel Core i5-13600K , the IPC of the new Core i5-14600K has only been increased slightly. This means that the difference in performance is also only slight. The hybrid architecture relies on the Intel Thread Director, which is responsible for the correct allocation of tasks. As a further innovation, the manufacturer is increasingly relying on AI, which is also used for overclocking. With one click in the Intel Extreme Utility, the tool checks the entire system and makes the necessary settings.

Graphics unit

Like the Intel Core i5-13600K, the Intel Core i5-14600K also has an integrated graphics unit. The Intel Iris Xe architecture continues to serve as the basis. In terms of performance, however, nothing has changed with the Intel UHD Graphics 770.

Power consumption

The TDP of the Intel Core i5-14600K is 125 watts, with the option of consuming up to 181 watts in Turbo mode. If all limits are removed, the energy requirement rises to up to 240 watts. For cooling, we recommend a powerful air cooler or a 240 AiO.

Intel Core Ultra 5 225U

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225U is an upper mid-range CPU with 12 cores from the Meteor Lake U series, which was introduced at the beginning of 2025. The chip is similar to the Meteor Lake U series, but the compute part is manufactured in the modern Intel 3 process and therefore offers higher clock rates.

The SoC continues to rely on a tile/chiplet design. The smaller compute tile (compared to the H processors) offers 2 performance cores (P cores, Redwood Cove architecture, SMT) and 8 efficiency cores (E cores, Crestmont architecture). The P-cores support hyperthreading (therefore 14 threads together) and clock up to 4.8 GHz. The E-cores clock at a maximum of 3.8 GHz. In addition, there are now two more low-power efficiency cores with up to 2.4 GHz on the low-power island; the compute tile can therefore be completely deactivated when idle and during simple tasks in order to save power.

Performance

Due to the higher clock rates and the support of faster memory, the performance is slightly below the old top model Core Ultra 7 165U (12 cores, max 4.9 / 3.8 GHz) and well ahead of the old Core Ultra 5 135U (12 cores, max 4.4 / 3.6 GHz).

Graphics unit

The Core Ultra 5 225U offers a new Arc-based iGPU called Intel Graphics with 4 Xe cores and 64 EUs that reach a maximum of 2 GHz. However, the performance is far below the new Arc iGPU in the H series.

Features

Arrow Lake-U has integrated WiFi 6E (WiFi 7 optional). The integrated memory controller now supports LPDDR5/x-8400 or DDR5-6400 (max. 128 GB). A dedicated NPU (2x Gen3 Neural Compute Engines) is now used. The Xe Media Engine supports MPEG-2, AVC, VC-1 Decode, JPEG, VP8 Decode, VP9, HEVC and AV1 Decode up to 8K 10-bit HDR. The chip now supports PCIe-5.0 (x8 for GPU) and PCIe-4.0 (three x12 for SSDs).

Power consumption

The Intel Core Ultra 5 225U is specified with 15 watts TDP (base) and 57 watts (PL2) max. turbo power. Meteor Lake consists of five individual chips, whereby the processor part is manufactured using the new Intel 3 process (5 nm). The graphics unit is produced at TSMC in N5 and the SoC and I/O tile in the older N6 process. These 4 chips are then applied to the 22 nm base tile using the Foveros process.

Intel Core i5-14500

The Intel Core i5-14500 is a fast and relative efficient desktop processor based on the Raptor Lake architecture, which was introduced in 2022. The processor offers a base clock of 2.6 GHz and reaches up to 5.0 GHz in Turbo. The hybrid CPU architecture introduced with Alder Lake is also used in the Raptor Lake processors. Compared to the Intel Core i5-13500, however, the Intel Core i5-14500 only offers a slight advantage. The number of cores is identical and Intel has only minimally increased the clock rates of the P and E cores in the Core i5-14500.

Performance

Due to the same number of physical computing units, the Intel Core i5-14500 only offers a minimal difference in performance compared to the Intel Core i5-13500, which is only due to the increased clock rates. Compared to the even older Intel Core i5-12500, which has to make do completely without E-cores, the performance difference is significantly higher.

Graphics unit

Like the Intel Core i5-13500, the Intel Core i5-14500 offers an integrated graphics unit. The already widespread Intel Iris Xe architecture continues to serve as the basis. In terms of performance, nothing has changed with the new Intel UHD Graphics 770.

Power consumption

The TDP of the Intel Core i5-14500 is 65 watts, with the option to increase this to up to 154 watts in Turbo mode. Compared to the Intel Core i5-13500, Intel has not made any changes to the TDP limits.