Intel Core i9-9900K 8-Core 16-Thread Processor Review

i9-9900K The latest CPU from Intel is here at last, and it's built to be a full-on fire-breathing beast when it comes to performance figures. Firstly, this is the counter-attack from Intel we've been waiting for, as the battle of the cores rages on. We saw Intel leap to 6 cores with their previous release on Z370 motherboards, and now they're pushing the core count up to 8, putting it on par with that of the high-end Ryzen solutions. However, Intel has already won the GHz battle, as this chip runs up to 5 GHz Turbo. Of course, we've already seen stories of extreme overclockers pushing past that figure. How is that Possible? When you up the clock speeds by so much, you naturally increase the heat the CPU produce. Couple that with cramming 8 cores into the standard 1151 chip form factor, and you've got more heat. With that in mind, this chip is rated by Intel with a thermal specification of 100c. I don't normally discuss heat before the benchmarks, but we had seen this CPU run pretty toasty before we got our own sample. As far as we can tell, that's normal for it, and doesn't seem to impact the performance negatively. However, we'll have to get it underwater in the coming weeks and see if we can really push some bigger performance figures. Specifications CPU Cores: 8 Threads: 16 PCI Lanes: 24 Base Clock: 3.6 GHz Max Turbo: 5.0 GHz TDP: 95W (Stock clocks) Thermal Specification: 100c Lithography: 14nm For in-depth specifications, please visit the official product page here. Features Unlocked CPU for overclocking Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 Built for 4K UHD gaming and streaming performance Supports both Z370 and Z390 motherboard chipsets* Socket LGA 1151 Intel Optane Memory support AES-NI encryption vPro technology TXT Device Protection with Boot Guard VT-d virtualization technology for directed I/O Hyper-Threading technology for 16-way multitasking "*Although the Intel 9th CPUs are compatible with a range of Intel 300-series motherboards utilizing the LGA 1151 socket, for optimum power delivery, maximum performance, & the best possible overclocking experience, we recommend using a Intel Z390 motherboard with these processors." - Intel What Intel Had to Say Experience exceptional performance, immersive entertainment and simple convenience with 9th Gen Intel Core processors. The i9-9900K processor extends all the capabilities that users love from previous generation CPUs with even more advanced innovations that deliver new levels of performance immersing you into your computer on a variety of form factors. The i9-9900K features all the latest Intel technologies to allow you to have the best computing experience, and this particular CPU is unlocked allowing you to overclock it to your gaming or production needs for additional performance headroom. 8 physical cores combined with Intel’s Hyper Threading Technology provides you with a colossal total of 16 processing threads so you can multitask like a pro." - Intel What's in the Box? The box we got isn't the retail box, but we love that Intel has made a stylish little package for it. It's pretty cool, but consumers get that funky 3D package pictured above. The CPU looks like any other in the 1151 range, with the usual dimensions to fit that socket. Even the underside remains pretty much the same despite the core change count. What's the main difference then? Well, they soldered the CPU lid this time, rather than using TIM. This was no doubt in direct response to the chip being hot, and it's about time Intel got back to this way of building CPUs. Enough of this though, let's get to the main attraction and see what this £600 8-core monster can really do! How We Test Testing Procedure Here at eTeknix, we endeavour to disclose vital information regarding the benchmarking process so that readers can quantify the results and attempt to replicate them using their hardware. When it comes to our benchmarks in our reviews, the benchmarks are pretty self-explanatory although there are a few exceptions. Remember that your choice of motherboard, the silicon lottery, and other factors can yield different numbers, and there's always a margin for error when using any software. Therefore, your experience may vary. Testing Your Own System Links are provided below, as well as the settings we use. We encourage you to not just look at how one product compares to any other, but how it compares to your own. If you're looking to build a new system, you should benchmark your current PC using our benchmarks and settings where possible. You should then look at the percentage improvement from your current hardware to the hardware we tested to give you a ballpark figure of how much an upgrade this will provide you with. Intel Testbenches Z390 Motherboard - Gigabyte AORUS Master RAM - Crucial DDR4 3000MHz Quad-Channel 32GB + Optane CPU Cooler - Noctua D15S with dual fans Graphics Card - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply - BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive - Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis - Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System - Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit Z370 Motherboard - Gigabyte AORUS Ultra Gaming RAM - Crucial DDR4 3000MHz Quad-Channel 32GB + Optane CPU Cooler - Noctua D15S with dual fans Graphics Card - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply - BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive - Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis - Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System - Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit X299 Motherboard - Gigabyte AORUS Gaming 9 RAM - Crucial DDR4 3000MHz Quad-Channel 32GB CPU Cooler - Noctua D15S with dual fans Graphics Card - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply - BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive - Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis - Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System - Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit AMD Testbenches X399 (2nd Generation Threadripper) Motherboard – MSI X399 Creation MEG RAM – Crucial 64GB (8x8GB ) 3000 MHz CPU Cooler – Deep Cool Fryzen Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit X399 (Threadripper) Motherboard – MSI X399 Gaming Pro Carbon AC RAM – Crucial Ballistix 32GB (4x8GB) 2400MHz CPU Cooler – CM Master Liquid 120mm (will be retested with Noctua D15S with dual fans in coming weeks) Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit AM4 X470 (Pinnacle Ridge) Motherboard - Gigabyte X470 Gaming 7 RAM - GeIL DDR4 3200MHz Dual Channel 16GB CPU Cooler - Noctua D15S with dual fans Graphics Card - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply - BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive - Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis - Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System - Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit AM4 X370 (Raven Ridge) Motherboard - MSI XPower Titanium X370 RAM - GeIL DDR4 3200MHz Dual Channel 16GB CPU Cooler - Noctua D15S with dual fans Graphics Card - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Supply - BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 Watt Main Storage Drive - Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis - Lian Li T80 Test Bench Operating System - Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit Games and Settings Used All games are tested on a 60 Hz display with V-Sync off for all tests. Rise of the Tomb Raider (Steam) DX12 Medium Preset Pure Hair Off Deus Ex (Steam) DX12 Medium Preset Ghost Recon: Wildlands (Uplay) Medium Preset Turf Effects Off Far Cry Primal (Uplay) Normal Preset Software Used 3DMark Fire Strike (download) FireStrike (1080p) Benchmark Unigine Superposition (download) 1080p Extreme Benchmark PCMark 10 Professional (download) Express Benchmark WPrime (download) 32M and 1024M Power usage recorded at 1024M 50% complete, thermals recorded at 75% complete CineBench R15 (download) CPU Multi CPU Single Handbrake (download) Custom MP4 to MKV 4K conversion (details below) AIDA64 Engineer (download) CPU-Z (download) HWMonitor (download) Handbrake To stress processors to their absolute limit and accurately judge their performance in video editing workloads, we transcode a 7.7GB compilation of gaming footage; this particular file is freely available from here. The captured footage is 22 minutes and 12 seconds long, it has a bit rate of 50.1 Mbps, and it uses the Advanced Video Codec. Additionally, the video runs at a constant 30 frames-per-second and opts for a 3820 x 2140 (4K) resolution. Once loaded into Handbrake, we then transcode the 4K MP4 to an MKV file using the "normal" profile. Other Notes A rest period of 2-5 minutes is observed between each piece of software allowing the system to return to its idle power usage and temperatures. Background services like Windows Update are checked to not be running during the testing period by setting WiFi to Metered Connection. Updates All games, graphics card drivers, BIOS, Windows and everything else is always kept up to date with the latest available. Older benchmarks may not be retested until stated otherwise. However, all hardware will be tested with the best and latest firmware and software available to that hardware at the time of review. As of 1st of May 2018, all hardware was retested on their latest drivers. Anything after this date will again be using their most recent versions available to them. Thanks Thank you to Noctua, Crucial, ASUS, Gigabyte, Lian-Li, be quiet!, OCZ, for providing the hardware that helps makes these tests possible! Synthetic Benchmarks 3DMark: 24021 (New Record!) Unigine: 5556 PCMark 10 (Express): 5665 WPrime: 3.081 83.564 CineBench R15: 214 (New Record!)/2071 Handbrake: 74.3 There's no doubt that this is a very fast CPU, with the i9-9900K smashing through our 3DMark record and beating the previous record holder, the i9-7980XE. Quite a way ahead of the 20889 scored by the Ryzen 2700X, although the two Threadripper CPUs did perform between the two. It didn't take the top score in Unigine, but that benchmark is more testing GPU than CPU, and the i9 performed right on target here. Intel continues to dominate the PCMark 10 benchmark, with the i9 taking 4th place. This benchmark favours faster single core performance overall, and it shows. However, the WPrime score was even more impressive, beating the Ryzen 7 2700X's 96.554 with a time of just 83.563. That's the fastest consumer level CPU we've tested, with only TR4 and X299 solutions scoring any higher. It ripped through Cinebench in fashion too, scoring a staggering 214 points on the single core performance; the second CPU to break 200 since the 870K. It's also the first CPU to break 2000 points at all-cores that isn't an X299 or Threadripper CPU, making it the fastest mainstream CPU in this benchmark. This goes some way to explain why it's able to transcode 4K video at 74.3 FPS; very impressive indeed. 3DMark Firestrike Unigine Superposition PCMark 10 Express WPrime Cinebench R15 Handbrake MP4 to MKV Conversion 4K AIDA 64 Gaming Performance Rise of the Tomb Raider: 200.35 Deus Ex Mankind Divided: 102.4/139.6 Ghost Recon Wildlands: 118.17/137.3 Far Cry Primal: 115/152 The gaming performance is certainly impressive, and it comes with little surprise that Intel still dominates the frame rate battle here. AMD certainly has strong competition when it comes to the price vs performance though, such as the Ryzen 5 2600X. Of course, most of this doesn't come from the big core count, but rather the higher per-core speeds that Intel offer. While the i9-9900K didn't set the fastest benchmarks, I honestly think with a more powerful cooler installed, it's within easy reach to do so. It's barely a handful of FPS from the top performers in these benchmarks. Rise of the Tomb Raider Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Ghost Recon: Wildlands Far Cry Primal Overclocking Settings For those who are familiar with overclocking features of the last few Intel generation, you'll feel right at home. For the amateur overclockers, it's still just as simple as dialling up the all core frequency in the bios and applying more voltages. I'm sure the pros will be eager to dive into the features of Z390, but there's little new short of some improved physical power delivery hardware on most boards. That being said, we were able to hit a perfectly steady 5.0 GHz all-cores with 1.375v. That's a little higher on the voltage than I know many have reached, but that's what our CPU was happy with. We've seen reports of 5.2+ being possible with up to 1.4V, but that was with custom loop cooling. The CPU is hot, prepare to deal with it, but don't freak out at load temperatures of around 80c. The CPU seems quite comfortable to run warm. We didn't experience any throttling at we could tell, even though we were cooling with air on the Noctua NH-D15S. Performance 3DMark: 24021 - 24417 WPrime: 3.081/83.564 - 2.887/79.45 CineBench R15: - 214/2071 - 220/2153 Rise of the Tomb Raider: 200.35 - 215.1 While this CPU can and does boost to 5.0 GHz with stock settings, locking it in at 100% really gave us a nice performance bump. It's already a fast CPU, but with a bit more voltage, and increasing our fan RPM to keep things cool, it still had some performance boost to offer. The 3DMark score increased by almost 400, clocking our second highest score with only the £1500 Skylake X 16-Core performing slightly better. The Wprime performance dropped below 80 seconds for 1024M, putting it once again at the top of the consumer-friendly CPUs; the next fastest is the 10-core 7900X. Finally, Rise of the Tomb Raider boosted an impressive 15 FPS, which is a nice bump for what's basically a free performance upgrade from stock. 3DMark Firestrike WPrime Cinebench R15 Rise of the Tomb Raider Power Consumption It's a power-hungry CPU, make no mistake, but with the performance figures we've seen, it's hardly wasteful with the watts. Its performance is just behind that of the X299 and TR4 CPUs, but the power usage is also, so it's right on track here. Stock Overclocked Temperatures It's pretty toasty, as I've said before. At stock clocks, it was idling at 30c and hit 76c at full load. This jumped to 84c while overclocked. However, that's still 9c cooler than the 7980XE which topped 105c at full load overclocked. Personally, I'd rather leave this at stock even on our NH-D15S. Furthermore, overclockers will want to invest in a big AIO or custom loop to ensure the lifespan of the CPU at higher clocks. However, still expect temperatures north of 70c at 5 GHz even on water, and don't be too freaked out by that. Stock Overclocked Final Thoughts How Much Does it Cost? This is an interesting one for Intel and AMD, and furthermore, for consumers. Sure, AMD has 8-core CPUs on the market now for around £300 and sometimes less. However at £599.99 the Intel Core i9-9900K is a lot more expensive, but it's also the most affordable 8-Core CPU we've seen from Intel. Right now, you can get zero change from over £1000 for something like a 10-core X299 CPU, and you won't see much performance improvement as a gamer for your investment either. It's more expensive, sure, but it's faster. I think a metric of diminishing returns holds true, and to go a bit faster costs more, a little faster again, even more, and so on. The same is true in the car world, if you want to cut those 0-60 times and increase that top speed, the difference between a sports car and a tuned up custom is night and day. Overview Intel really has come out guns blazing here, and the Core i9-9900K is a mighty impressive processor. It's not as impressive as some early benchmarks may have suggested, but today's number speak for themselves pretty fairly I think. When it comes to blasting through the latest games at extreme frame rates, it's certainly no slouch. Its many-core design brings benefits to the consumer range that were once the reserve of Intel's workstation and X299 platform. For rendering 4K video, encoding digital scenes, and all other kinds of CPU intensive number crunching, it really is one of the fastest consumer CPUs on the market today. The single core performance alone makes it feel exceptionally rapid, especially when it comes to day-to-day simple PC tasks, big core counts don't come into play. With Great Power Comes Great... The kicker with this CPU is that it takes in a fair amount of power and kicks out a lot of heat. Of course, the middle of that is the amazing performance, but some forward planning with your system build will ensure optimal performance. You'll want to invest in a big cooler such as the Noctua NH-D15s, most likely with dual fans. That's the best air cooler on the market in my opinion, and I wouldn't use much less on this CPU. For water cooling, 240mm high-performance coolers as a bare minimum, and even then I would favour the Noctua. For overclocking 280mm/360mm and above is the way to go, either custom loop or AIO. This will ensure you can get more voltage in, more heat away, and much more performance out too. Performance The statement here is clear, this is the fastest 8-core CPU on the market right now. The AMD offerings are certainly just as appealing to many though, and at half the price you still get many of the thrills. However, Intel has the strongest hand when it comes to easy overclocking, more stable memory management, and higher clock speeds and single core performance. The temperatures on this CPU are hot, but I can't imagine AMD chips doing any better if they're pushed to 5 GHz+. Gaming The single core speeds are a big boost to most gaming tasks, as are the addition of 8 cores total. While many games don't use that many cores, many gamers do. If you're playing your favourite game, running streaming applications, recording software, rendering, overlays, chat applications, and more, it'll be a big help. Ryzen was a big attraction for this reason, as some Intel platforms suffered stutter and frame drop in the multi-tasking gamer workloads. That's no longer going to be the case, and it'll be interesting to see how many streamers make the switch. Should I Buy One? At £599.99 the Intel Core i9-9900K isn't cheap. However, compared to the X299 chips on the market, it's a bit of a bargain. This level of performance has long been the reserve of £1000+ chips from Intel, on more extreme and expensive X299 motherboards. Now you can run this chip on your existing Z370 motherboard. Intel recommends the use of Z390 though, most likely as they're built to deal with the more demanding power draw and thermals. If you haven't upgrade for a few years though, a new Core i9-9900K, a new Z390 motherboard and maybe a new RTX (such as the RTX 2080) graphics card still comes in £1500-2000, which isn't completely out of the world compared to previous generations flagship builds. What do you think? Is the new i9 the CPU for you? Or are you more tempted by the more affordable AMD solutions? Let us know in the comments!