Intel Core i9-9900K 9th Gen Review

[none12345]

This article reads like an add for intel....wtf am i still doing on this site after the just buy it article, and now this one...

There is no doubt that if price is no object the 9900k is yoru go to processor. But, for everyone else, if you do have a budget.....the 9 series is just crap. Go get an equivilant ryzen processor for $100-300 less, and buy a graphics card 1 or 2 tiers higher. And you will have a faster gaming pc for every budget except the money is no object one.

 

[volkgren]

This article reads like an add for intel....wtf am i still doing on this site after the just buy it article, and now this one...

There is no doubt that if price is no object the 9900k is yoru go to processor. But, for everyone else, if you do have a budget.....the 9 series is just crap. Go get an equivilant ryzen processor for $100-300 less, and buy a graphics card 1 or 2 tiers higher. And you will have a faster gaming pc for every budget except the money is no object one.

This article was a review of performance; the "Just Buy It" article was an editorial. There's a difference.

 

[AgentLozen]

This article was a review of performance; the "Just Buy It" article was an editorial. There's a difference.

I try not to get too worked up when people post "Just Buy It" nonsense. Its fun to ride on the outrage bandwagon. I probably wouldn't have been able to tell the difference between a review and an editorial when I was 16 either.

 

[vapour]

I am looking forward to 2800X's beating 9900k in productivity work soon.

While AMD has said they've got something in the wings that they've not seen the need in releasing, they've made no other indications beyond that on if that'll be a binned 2700X (and called 2800X) or something completely different. Will we see it now that the 99xx series are out or will we just have to wait until Zen 2 drops next year?

I personally doubt they drop anything else this year but that's just me. I suppose time will tell.

If it is only oced higher version of 2700X, sure. Rumors has it for 10 cores and 20 threads The rumor could be wrong.

 

[SkyBill40]

I am looking forward to 2800X's beating 9900k in productivity work soon.

While AMD has said they've got something in the wings that they've not seen the need in releasing, they've made no other indications beyond that on if that'll be a binned 2700X (and called 2800X) or something completely different. Will we see it now that the 99xx series are out or will we just have to wait until Zen 2 drops next year?

I personally doubt they drop anything else this year but that's just me. I suppose time will tell.

If it is only oced higher version of 2700X, sure. Rumors has it for 10 cores and 20 threads The rumor could be wrong.

Based on what I thought was a limitation due to CCX and the way the chips are designed, a 10 core wasn't feasible. It would have to be 12 to make it work and that's then cutting into TR.

 

[volkgren]

Intel didn't have to market it. Many gamers have been using the Core i7 because it was the best gaming CPU with enough cores/threads and the highest speeds Intel offered, which everyone knows is faster than AMD. A lot of those users tend to want the fastest available at the time. If they are like me they ordered the i9-9900K as soon as it launched because they knew it was going to be the best gaming chip. They didn't need to hear 50% faster, they didn't need Intel or anyone to tell them it was the fastest. They already knew. I preordered to reserve mine and be one of the first customers to get my hands on it.

Now, I'm not really up to sitting around waiting and having money come out of my account on an unkown date, that's just not how I do business. So I cancelled my preorder and probably won't be ordering another one and definitely won't be preordering anything from Intel again.

*In the end though, we can't even be mad at Intel because they allow AMD to make some money. I bought my Ryzen 7 2700X & X470 mobo AFTER cancelling my i9 preorder.

 

[mac_angel]

I'm confused. Why is this article dated today when it came out last week?

 

[volkgren]

I am looking forward to 2800X's beating 9900k in productivity work soon.

While AMD has said they've got something in the wings that they've not seen the need in releasing, they've made no other indications beyond that on if that'll be a binned 2700X (and called 2800X) or something completely different. Will we see it now that the 99xx series are out or will we just have to wait until Zen 2 drops next year?

I personally doubt they drop anything else this year but that's just me. I suppose time will tell.

If it is only oced higher version of 2700X, sure. Rumors has it for 10 cores and 20 threads The rumor could be wrong.

Based on what I thought was a limitation due to CCX and the way the chips are designed, a 10 core wasn't feasible. It would have to be 12 to make it work and that's then cutting into TR.

I for one don't want more cores on Ryzen while the current cores are under-performing compared to Intel's i5. I want faster cores!

 

[SkyBill40]

I for one don't want more cores on Ryzen while the current cores are under-performing compared to Intel's i5. I want faster cores!

As do we all, Volkgren. We're just playing bench speculation at this point as to what AMD has up their sleeve. As for faster cores, that's likely coming with Z2 as there's a 10+% uplift on IPC or so has been rumored. If that comes to pass in addition to higher clocks, that'll really be something.

 

[mlee 2500]

Intel didn't have to market it. Many gamers have been using the Core i7 because it was the best gaming CPU with enough cores/threads and the highest speeds Intel offered, which everyone knows is faster than AMD. A lot of those users tend to want the fastest available at the time. If they are like me they ordered the i9-9900K as soon as it launched because they knew it was going to be the best gaming chip. They didn't need to hear 50% faster, they didn't need Intel or anyone to tell them it was the fastest. They already knew. I preordered to reserve mine and be one of the first customers to get my hands on it.

Now, I'm not really up to sitting around waiting and having money come out of my account on an unkown date, that's just not how I do business. So I cancelled my preorder and probably won't be ordering another one and definitely won't be preordering anything from Intel again.

*In the end though, we can't even be mad at Intel because they allow AMD to make some money. I bought my Ryzen 7 2700X & X470 mobo AFTER cancelling my i9 preorder.

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the whole "pre-order and we'll let you know when we can ship it" thing. For all that people say AMD competition is good even for folks who buy Intel, it hasn't really forced Intel to be price competitive, or even make it easy to get ahold of their product.

If they ship this week, the week after the Friday they officially released it, then I'll eat those words. But as of now only the 9700 is actually in inventory, with no word on when Amazon, NewEgg, or B&H will have the 9900 stock they've already sold and promised. I understand that when the 8th gen chips were released some waited over a month before they got their pre-order.

Then again, my current i7-3770 rig has lasted me 6 years with only an occasional GPU upgrade and absolutely no complaints, so I don't know what my big hurry is all of sudden.

(Oh wait. Yes I do. It's the Define R6 with the Taichi Z390 moboi and 360mm cooler and Optane 905p installed that's just sitting there doing nothing except taunt me for lack of CPU every time I walk by it).

 

[mdd1963]

...wait, an i7 without hyperthreading? Something is seriously wrong there. I could understand that on an i5 or i3, but an i7? You're talking Core Duo Quad L775 there.

Int he i7-9700K's defense, it did defeat the 8700K in pretty much all games....which is saying something....; so clearly having 'just 8 cores and 8 threads' is not quite a crippling condition....

That was surprising until you think about the clock speed difference. All-core turbo for the 8700K is 4.3GHz while the 9700K is 4.7GHz. But, the 9700K still might have the edge of the 8700K. I went ahead and ordered the 9700K since the 9900K isn't available. 8C/8T is perfect right now.

Anyone know if consoles will be moving to 8C/16T CPUs in the next-gen?

I think you'll be quite pleased....; congrats!

 

[Co BIY]

I think many of the above comments make the market case for the 9900K and 9700K.

Any new build with an Optane drive or a $400 motherboard or a loop water cooler or a Lian Li case without one has it's priorities wrong.

A strict price to performance calculator can make their dollars go further but for many there is no need to pinch the penny that tight.

A couple hundred dollar splurge is not a lot for many. The cost of the "premium" product over the value leader in a lot of other markets is much higher.

 

[mlee 2500]

Was looking to upgrade my 7700K, but now I'd rather wait for Ryzen 3rd gen.

If I had a 7700K I wouldn't bother upgrading the CPU for another 2 or 3 years, but then I mostly just use my PC for gaming.

 

[mlee 2500]

I think many of the above comments make the market case for the 9900K and 9700K.

Any new build with an Optane drive or a $400 motherboard or a loop water cooler or a Lian Li case without one has it's priorities wrong.

A strict price to performance calculator can make their dollars go further but for many there is no need to pinch the penny that tight.

A couple hundred dollar splurge is not a lot for many. The cost of the "premium" product over the value leader in a lot of other markets is much higher.

That's true...especially when you look at what a few hundred $$ is over the course of 4 or 5 years and literally thousands of hours of game play...it's practically nothing.

Then again, I vaguely remember a time decades ago...more years back then I'll ever admit....when $200 was allot of money to me and I had to scrounge old power supplies together or try and make do with slower previous generation memory, cheap cases that rattled, or drives that probably needed to be thrown away, just to come up with a working build.

Consequently I'll never question someone who needs to save a buck or wants to make themselves feel better about their discount "choice" by disparaging the products that wealthier people can buy.

Well, maybe if they're being a total jerk about it I might. If I'm honest.

 

[pincher.lala.2014]

im thinking about to buy next year...

 

[volkgren]

Was looking to upgrade my 7700K, but now I'd rather wait for Ryzen 3rd gen.

If I had a 7700K I wouldn't bother upgrading the CPU for another 2 or 3 years, but then I mostly just use my PC for gaming.

I also had a 7700K and bought a Ryzen 7 2700X because I had an itch; it performs worse (63fps low vs 53fps low) than my 7700K in AC Odyssey 1440p Very High settings.

 

[pincher.lala.2014]

or maybe Core i7-9700K .... they look the same for my use.. n maybe a more cheap cooler

 

[volkgren]

or maybe Core i7-9700K .... they look the same for my use.. n maybe a more cheap cooler

9700K will be an awesome gaming chip. Perfect for heavy gaming without streaming.

 

[pincher.lala.2014]

or maybe Core i7-9700K .... they look the same for my use.. n maybe a more cheap cooler

9700K will be an awesome gaming chip. Perfect for heavy gaming without streaming.

TY, im reading some reviews, because i will get a more cheaper MOBO n no need ultimate coolers for cpu... Using OBS for capture all fine i guess. ty...

 

[volkgren]

You're streaming? Why not Ryzen 7 2700X? or just recording?

 

[adirtypir8]

These benchmarks are all crap. Turn off HT, OC that fkr to 5.3 and run it again.

 

[pincher.lala.2014]

You're streaming? Why not Ryzen 7 2700X? or just recording?

im doing some searches etc... my last amd was athlon xp marton, n i got 2 atlhon 64 dual i dont remember and i have one all in one 64 single core amd atlon... I did not liked the memory bug in1st generation of amd new products,,,, those releases not good for me etc.. but im still in research... ty

 

[pincher.lala.2014]

I guess i will try some OBS capture etc, gaming etc.. NOT streaming, i just have 1Mbps Internet..

 

[t99]

Why are you using 3200mhz memory running at 2966 when it's a known fact gaming performance scales significantly better with ryzen cpu. Wouldn't it make sense to test it with ram on a realistic setting? If amd makes their cpu to run better fps with faster ram vs Intel scaling fps with ram speed increase then shouldn't you test with this included?

Why is it I have no issue getting my patriot memory to 3200mhz right out of the box on a 2600 msi motherboard and this test can't? If the difference were 0 then I wouldn't say anything, but the memory has been proven make a noticeable difference with ryzen.

Either way of avg the Intel is up to 15% better fps In completely unrealistic scenarios, I mean who is playing in 1080p at 100+ fps In these games?? Even if you are, is it worth paying 50% more for 15% gain? Anyone playing above 1080p has an easy decision to make because that 15% gain is going to be more like 5% or less.

The Intel is technically faster, but when it comes to gaming for 99% of people it doesn't make sense.

 

[volkgren]

Perhaps.. the i9-9900K isn't for the 99%.