Home > CPU Comparison > Core i9 14900KS or M2 Ultra: what's better?

Intel Core i9 14900KS vs Apple M2 Ultra

92 out of 100
Intel Core i9 14900KS
VS
79 out of 100
Apple M2 Ultra
Intel Core i9 14900KS
Apple M2 Ultra

We compared two 24-core CPUs: the 3.2 GHz Intel Core i9 14900KS (desktop) against the 3.5 GHz Apple M2 Ultra (laptop). On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
The "iGPU" and "Power Efficiency" have a minor impact on the NanoReview Score for desktop CPU.
NanoReview Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
๐Ÿ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click โ€œCalculate".
Currency
VS

Key Differences

What are the key differences between Ultra and 14900KS
Advantages of Intel Core i9 14900KS
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • Newer - released 11 months later
  • Newer PCI Express version โ€“ 5.0
  • 28% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3442 vs 2685 points
Advantages of Apple M2 Ultra
  • Around 729.6 GB/s (814%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More modern manufacturing process โ€“ 5 versus 10 nanometers

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i9 14900KS
vs
M2 Ultra

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Core i9 14900KS +15%
144
M2 Ultra
125
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Core i9 14900KS +26%
2443
M2 Ultra
1941
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) - 7481
Cinebench Scores (7th and 31st place)
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Core i9 14900KS +28%
3442
M2 Ultra
2685
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i9 14900KS +12%
24012
M2 Ultra
21387
File compression 1870 MB/sec 2140 MB/sec
Clang compilation 228 Klines/sec 226.4 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 623.6 pages/sec 569.8 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 636.5 Mpixels/sec 603.6 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 333.5 pages/sec 272.4 pages/sec
Background blur 92.3 images/sec 56.5 images/sec
Photo processing 199.4 images/sec 170.7 images/sec
Ray tracing 51.6 Mpixels/sec 33.8 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] โ€“ 142 & 728 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i9 14900KS +14%
4814
M2 Ultra
4208
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i9 14900KS +18%
59980
M2 Ultra
50945
Integer math 212.4 GOps/sec 117.4 GOps/sec
Floating point math 153.9 GOps/sec 148.9 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 244M Primes/sec 712M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 89.7M Strings/sec 83.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 47.7 GBytes/sec 32 GBytes/sec
Data compression 802.8 MBytes/sec 682.7 MBytes/sec
Physics 3383 Frames/sec 7650 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 45.5B Matrices/sec 33.2B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] โ€“ 1581 & 201 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i9 14900KS +2%
510.06
M2 Ultra
501.6

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 16.3 PPW 24.3 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 160.1 PPW 267.3 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 399.9 PPW 636.8 PPW
Blender / Watt 3.4 PPW 6.27 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Intel Core i9 14900KS
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-06-09 (AJ)Cinebench 2024129 / 1610
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-05-25 (Martin)Cinebench 2024144 / 2443
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-05-24 (Martin)Cinebench 2024144 / 2443
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-05-24 (Martin)Geekbench 6 CPU3375 / 24012
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-05-21 (Kaksh)Cinebench 2024124 / 1977
Add View all (5)
Apple M2 Ultra
No benchmark results yet
Add

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i9 14900KS and Apple M2 Ultra

General

Vendor Intel Apple
Released March 15, 2024 May 5, 2023
Type Desktop Laptop
Instruction Set x86-64 ARMv8
Codename Raptor Lake Refresh Apple M2
Model number i9-14900KS -
Integrated GPU UHD Graphics 770 Apple M2 Ultra GPU (76-core)
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D -
Successor - - Apple M4 Ultra
Intel CPU rating (#2nd place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 16
P-Threads 16 16
Base Frequency (P) 3.2 GHz 3.5 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 6.2 GHz -
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 16 8
E-Threads 16 8
Base Frequency (E) 2.4 GHz 2.4 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 4.5 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 24 24
Total Threads 32 24
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 32x 35x
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 2MB (per core) 64MB (shared)
L3 Cache 36MB (shared) -
Unlocked Multiplier Yes No

Package

Transistors - 134 billions
Fabrication Process 10 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 150 W 80 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 253 W -
Socket LGA-1700 Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100ยฐC 100ยฐC
Desktop CPU ranking (#7th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 770 Apple M2 Ultra GPU (76-core)
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz -
GPU Boost Clock 1650 MHz 1398 MHz
Shading Units 256 -
TMUs 16 -
ROPs 8 -
Execution Units 32 -
TGP 15 W -
iGPU FLOPS
Core i9 14900KS
0.8 TFLOPS
M2 Ultra
n/a
See: Intel UHD Graphics 770 benchmarks

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-5600
- DDR4-3200		 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 192 GB 192 GB
Memory Channels 2 8
Max. Memory Bandwidth 89.6 GB/s 819.2 GB/s
ECC Support Yes No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i9 14900KS official page -
PCI Express Version 5.0 4.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
35 (87.5%)
5 (12.5%)
Total votes: 40

Competitors

1. Apple M2 Ultra vs Apple M3 Ultra
2. Apple M2 Ultra vs Apple M4 Pro (14-Core)
3. Apple M2 Ultra vs Apple M4 Ultra (2)
4. Apple M2 Ultra vs Apple M4 (10-Core)
5. Apple M2 Ultra vs Apple M4 Max (16-Core)
6. Intel Core i9 14900KS vs AMD Ryzen 9 9950X (11)
7. Intel Core i9 14900KS vs Intel Core i9 13900KS (1)
8. Intel Core i9 14900KS vs AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D (4)
9. Intel Core i9 14900KS vs Intel Core i9 14900K (3)
10. Intel Core i9 14900KS vs Apple M4 (10-Core)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M2 Ultra or Intel Core i9 14900KS?
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