Intel 9th Gen Core i9-9900K, and New Core X-Series Desktop CPUs Launched

Intel launches the new 9th generation desktop processors for gamers: Core i9 9900K. A new eight cores and 16-threaded CPU, with a maximum operating frequency of 5.0 GHz, often referred to as the world’s most powerful desktop processor. A small powerful monster that can also count on 16 MB Smart Cache (L3 cache).

There are also the Intel Core i7-9700K and the Core i5-9600K CPUs. The Core i7 model has eight cores, compared to six with the Core i7-8700K, but this model lacks Hyper-Threading which means that the total thread count has actually declined from 12 to eight. This processor has base and boost speeds of 3.6GHz and 4.9GHz, with a 12MB cache. While the Core i5-9600K has six cores, without Hyper-Threading. The base and boost speeds are 3.7GHz and 4.6GHz respectively, and the cache comes in at 9MB.

Obviously, these 9th Gen Core desktop processors are based on the existing Coffee Lake architecture and use an optimized 14nm manufacturing process that Intel calls 14nm++. All three platforms also feature hardware mitigations for the high-profile Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities that affect multiple generations of Intel CPUs. They have 95W TDPs and are multiplier unlocked for easy overclocking.

During the presentation, the manufacturer wanted to show the overclocking capabilities of the new 8-core 9900K CPUs and with the collaboration of the overclocker, Splave has achieved noteworthy results. Using a liquid nitrogen dissipation system and setting a 1.7V Vcore, the overclocker managed to push the Core i9-9900K at a frequency of 6.9 GHz with all the active cores, carrying out different benchmarks and reporting the increase in performance compared to the factory specifications.

As can be seen from the table compiled by Intel itself, the performance increase in the benchmarks is not linear compared to that of the frequency, however, the results are very good. Splave added that some samples could reach 7/7.1 GHz, while the peak frequency achievable on a single core touches 7.4 GHz; as for ordinary cooling systems, overclocker declares that this processor can operate close to 5.3 GHz with a good liquid cooling and about 1.4V voltage.

Price and Availability

Intel Core i9-9960X with 16 cores, Core i9-9940X with 14 cores, Core i9-9920X with 12 cores, Core i9-9900X with 10 cores (not to be confused with the Core i9-9900K), Core i9-9820X with 10 cores, and Core i7-9800X with 8 cores. Prices start at $589 and go up to $1,979.