Honestly, I have been building rigs for over a decade and the Intel Core i7-14700K 20-Core 5.6GHz is the absolute move here. At 4K resolution, the difference between the i7 and the Intel Core i9-14900K 24-Core 6.0GHz is literally a handful of frames because your GPU is doing 95 percent of the work anyway. I have been running the 14700K in my personal build for a while now and I am completely satisfied. No complaints on speed or multitasking whatsoever. About the stability issues... yeah, it was a mess for a minute there. But as long as you grab the latest BIOS update or do it first thing when you get home, the microcode fix handles the voltage spikes fine. My 14700K has been rock solid since I tweaked the power limits to Intel default settings. It works well without turning your room into a literal sauna like the i9 tends to do. For games like Starfield and Cyberpunk, that i7 is more than enough. You are much better off taking the money you save and putting it toward a better cooler or even just keeping it in your pocket. Spending more on the i9 for 4K gaming is kinda throwing money away tbh. If you want a long term build that just works, the i7 is the way to go. Its definitely enough for modded Skyrim too, which usually cares more about your VRAM and single-core speed anyway. You wont regret it.

Just caught this thread before you hit the store. Like someone mentioned, the i9 is often overkill for 4K setups. Tbh, the technical truth is that at 3840x2160, even with a top-tier card, the frame times are mostly determined by the GPU. The Intel Core i7-14700K 20-Core 5.6GHz is basically the sweet spot for a high-end build right now. If youre worried about the stability drama, just make sure to flash the latest microcode BIOS update immediately. The Intel Core i9-14900K 24-Core 6.0GHz is a total beast, but it runs way hotter and pulls way more power for maybe a 2 percent gain in Cyberpunk at 4K... definitely dont think its worth the heat. Modded Skyrim loves single-core speed and the i7 delivers that perfectly without the i9 price tag or the cooling headache. Its plenty of chip for Starfield too.