I got a 14th gen and used one. It’s a question of if you mind the bend or not. I did.

If you plan to overclock its likely worth it, otherwise wouldnt bother.

It’s a very cheap and easy thing to do for potentially a large long term benefit. If you have the time to order one I’d grab it.

theres no reason to not get it. took me 4 minutes to install and i ensure there is no cpu bending/bad contact. aslo they are cheap.

Most people seem to get benefit from it. However it depends on the cooler shape, my Dark Rock TF cooler (the original TF, it’s not LGA1700 compatible but I modded to fit) doesn’t sit flat on the CPU IHS so the latch mechanism giving a slight flex in the middle actually gives better contact than using a contact frame.

From watching Hardware Canucks, Intel yes, AMD no. They observed 2.2-4.5 degrees difference with top air coolers on 14900 iirc. AMD is no difference.

I am thinking about the same build, but i really wonder if 14th gen Intel CPU can be undervolted on B-series motherboards, given that it was locked for 12th gen, and could only be done via a microcode switch on 13th gen. Grabbing 14600k if the price is right is a no brainer, but if it’s impossible to UV, that may be a dealbreaker for SFF case.

Thank you all :)

not necessary but could be very beneficial