The Intel 9th Gen Review: Core i9-9900K, Core i7-9700K and Core i5-9600K Tested
by Ian Cutress on October 19, 2018 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- Coffee Lake
- 14++
- Core 9th Gen
- Core-S
- i9-9900K
- i7-9700K
- i5-9600K
Test Bed and Setup
As per our processor testing policy, we take a premium category motherboard suitable for the socket, and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the manufacturer's maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible.
It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.
| Test Setup | |||||
| Intel 9th Gen | i9-9900K i7-9700K i5-9600K |
ASRock Z370 Gaming i7** |
P1.70 | TRUE Copper |
Crucial Ballistix 4x8GB DDR4-2666 |
| Intel 8th Gen | i7-8086K i7-8700K i5-8600K |
ASRock Z370 Gaming i7 |
P1.70 | TRUE Copper |
Crucial Ballistix 4x8GB DDR4-2666 |
| Intel 7th Gen | i7-7700K i5-7600K |
GIGABYTE X170 ECC Extreme |
F21e | Silverstone* AR10-115XS |
G.Skill RipjawsV 2x16GB DDR4-2400 |
| Intel 6th Gen | i7-6700K i5-6600K |
GIGABYTE X170 ECC Extreme |
F21e | Silverstone* AR10-115XS |
G.Skill RipjawsV 2x16GB DDR4-22133 |
| Intel HEDT | i9-7900X i7-7820X i7-7800X |
ASRock X299 OC Formula |
P1.40 | TRUE Copper |
Crucial Ballistix 4x8GB DDR4-2666 |
| AMD 2000 | R7 2700X R5 2600X R5 2500X |
ASRock X370 Gaming K4 |
P4.80 | Wraith Max* | G.Skill SniperX 2x8 GB DDR4-2933 |
| AMD 1000 | R7 1800X | ASRock X370 Gaming K4 |
P4.80 | Wraith Max* | G.Skill SniperX 2x8 GB DDR4-2666 |
| AMD TR4 | TR 1920X | ASUS ROG X399 Zenith |
0078 | Enermax Liqtech TR4 |
G.Skill FlareX 4x8GB DDR4-2666 |
| GPU | Sapphire RX 460 2GB (CPU Tests) MSI GTX 1080 Gaming 8G (Gaming Tests) |
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| PSU | Corsair AX860i Corsair AX1200i |
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| SSD | Crucial MX200 1TB | ||||
| OS | Windows 10 x64 RS3 1709 Spectre and Meltdown Patched |
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| *VRM Supplimented with SST-FHP141-VF 173 CFM fans ** After Initial testing with the ASRock Z370 motherboard, we noted it had a voltage issue with the Core 9th Gen processors. As a result, we moved to the MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Edge AC for our power measurements. Benchmarking seems unaffected. |
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We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our multiple test beds. Some of this hardware is not in this test bed specifically, but is used in other testing.
| Hardware Providers | |||
| Sapphire RX 460 Nitro | MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X OC | Crucial MX200 + MX500 SSDs |
Corsair AX860i + AX1200i PSUs |
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| G.Skill RipjawsV, SniperX, FlareX |
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 |
Silverstone Coolers |
Silverstone Fans |
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274 Comments
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0ldman79 - Friday, October 19, 2018 - link
AMD needs to improve their AVX processing as well, but they've got Intel in a bit of a predicament.Hifihedgehog - Friday, October 19, 2018 - link
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you...Intel’s FX 9000 series.
Now even hotter and more power hungry than ever!
mapesdhs - Sunday, October 21, 2018 - link
It reminds me a lot of the P4 days when Intel just had to shove clocks through the roof to remain relevant. And I don't know why tech sites are salivating so much on oc levels that are barely any better than a chip's max turbo, it's a far cry from the days of SB, especially since one can run a 2700K at 5GHz with sensible voltage and good temps using a simple air cooler (ordinary TRUE works fine) and one fan, without high noise (I know, I've built seven of them so far). To me, the oc'ing potential of the 9K series is just boring, especially since the cost is so high that for gaming one is far better off buying a 2700X, 8700K (or many other options) and using the save to get a better GPU.sgeocla - Friday, October 19, 2018 - link
Why compare to the TR 1920x ($799) and not to the TR 2950X ($899)?The TR 2950X kills it in almost every productivity benchmark even against i-9 9900k.
Not even mentioning the 9th gen power consumption.
Yorgos - Friday, October 19, 2018 - link
don't bother with the review.They show you the results that makes intel seem good.
Intel/Purch media have failed to show to the people that they exceed even Threadripper's TDP in order to fight Zen.
Desperate moves for desperate times.
Better look somewhere else for an unbiased review.
mkaibear - Friday, October 19, 2018 - link
What, you mean apart from page 21 where it shows that it almost doubles Threadripper's TDP for the same core count CPU and is 50% greater than the one which has 50% more cores than it does?Some reading comprehension lessons needed I think.
yeeeeman - Friday, October 19, 2018 - link
The 9900K looks like a nice CPU, but damn that power consumption is stupidly high. It is almost twice what the 2700X consumes.Hifihedgehog - Friday, October 19, 2018 - link
*High-end AIO required.AGS3 - Friday, October 19, 2018 - link
Twice the CPU - 8 cores over 5Ghz :)AutomaticTaco - Saturday, October 20, 2018 - link
Revised down. The first motherboard they used was extremely higher voltage settings.https://www.anandtech.com/show/13400/intel-9th-gen...