Intel Core i9-9900K preview: Intel hits back at AMD

This is Intel's answer to Ryzen

It took nearly two years, but Intel finally has a good answer to AMD's octa-core mainstream processor. Ryzen has shaken up the processor market, in a good way, and given Intel a much-needed kick from behind. 

The 9th-generation Intel Core i9-9900K (3.6GHz, 16MB L3 cache) is an 8-core/16-thread processor that goes up directly against the Ryzen 7 2700X (3.7GHz, 16MB L3 cache). But while having more cores isn't necessarily better for gaming – quite the opposite in fact, because of the generally lower clock speeds – Intel says this is also its best gaming CPU to date. 

In other words, Intel is claiming to offer the best of both worlds, serving up a chip that can satisfy both gamers and content creators. The best part is that this isn't even a prohibitively expensive enthusiast part. It's not cheap, to be sure, but it's still part of Intel's mainstream line-up, which puts it within range of a reasonably wide audience. 

The problem with Intel is that it hasn't had much to show on the CPU front lately. 10nm has run into repeatedly delays – it isn't slated for mass production until late 2019 – which means that Intel has been stuck on the 14nm process for five generations of chips now. 

The Core i9-9900K is based on the 14nm++ process, where the plus signs signify a more refined process that lets Intel cram more cores with similar frequencies into the same power envelope. The good news is that this approach seems to be bearing fruit and fine tuning a process can produce some nice, tangible results. 

With a Turbo Boost 2.0 frequency of up to 5.0GHz for a single core, and 4.7GHz for six to eight cores, the Core i9-9900K promises delicious performance in games, which still tend to be more sensitive to clock speeds. Furthermore, it's done all this in the same 95W thermal envelope as the Coffee Lake CPUs before it. 

Intel has also gone with a solder TIM this time round. Previous Coffee Lake CPUs used a less efficient layer of thermal compound to transfer heat between the CPU die and the heat spreader. In comparison, solder TIM provides increased thermal conductivity between the CPU die and the integrated heat spreader, which improves heat dissipation and allows for more thermal headroom.

No need for a new motherboard

Fortunately, you won't need to buy a new motherboard to install the Core i9-9900K. It will work with existing Intel Z370 motherboards, which is a nice move from a company that hasn't always been the best in ensuring backward compatibility with its older products. 

The new Z390 chipset also doesn't really add much that is new, unless you really want native USB 3.1 (Gen 2), integrated Gigabit Wi-Fi, and SDXC (SDA 3.0) support.

I've included the chipset block diagram below for an overview of its features.

Test setup

The configurations of the test setups we used for the different processors are listed below. I've compared it against the Ryzen 2700X, its direct competitor from AMD. On Intel's end, I've included the Core i7-8086K, which is basically a Core i7-8700K with higher base and boost clocks. 

Intel Core i9-9900K

• Thermaltake Water 3.0 360 Riing RGB Edition
• ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula
• 2 x 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3000 (Auto timings: CAS 15-15-15-35)
• ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Gaming
• Samsung 850 Pro 2.5-inch SATA SSD
• Windows 10 Home (64-bit)

Intel Core i7-8086K

• Thermaltake Water 3.0 360 Riing RGB Edition
• ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula
• 2 x 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3000 (Auto timings: CAS 15-15-15-35)
• ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Gaming
• Samsung 850 Pro 2.5-inch SATA SSD
• Windows 10 Home (64-bit)

AMD Ryzen 7 2700X

• Thermaltake Water 3.0 360 Riing RGB Edition
• ASUS ROG Crosshair VII Hero
• 2 x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X DDR4-3400 (Auto timings: CAS 14-14-14-34)
• ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Gaming
• Samsung 860 EVO M.2 SATA SSD
• Windows 10 Home (64-bit)

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[caption=Test CPUs compared]

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Cinebench R15

Cinebench R15 utilizes up to 256 threads to evaluate a processor’s performance in a photorealistic 3D rendering.

The Core i9-9900K was roughly 13 per cent quicker than the Ryzen 7 2700X in the multi-threaded benchmark, a modest lead. In some ways, it combines both the strengths of the Ryzen 7 2700X and Core i7-8086K, bringing both high boost frequencies and core counts to the table to produce really impressive multi-threaded performance. 

In the single-threaded benchmark, the Core i9-9900K and Core i7-8086K were on par, which isn't surprising considering they both boost to 5.0GHz. However, the Ryzen 7 2700X trailed the Core i9-9900K by around 20 per cent. 

SPECviewperf 13

SPECviewperf is used to assess the 3D graphics performance of systems in professional applications. Each individual workload, called a viewset, represents graphics and content from an actual real-world application. SPECviewperf actually runs a total of eight different viewsets, but we’ve picked the four which have the greatest performance variation across CPUs display here.

The new SPECviewperf 13 incorporates new models and raycasting for volume visualization. Select viewsets have also been updated with new models and fresh application traces. 

There doesn't seem to be much of a benefit from high core counts here. In fact, the Core i7-8086K came ahead of the Core i9-9900K, probably owing to its higher 4.0GHz base clock. 

Handbrake

Handbrake is a video transcoder that converts videos into a format for use on PCs and portable electronic devices, and is a good indicator of a processor’s video encoding capabilities. YouTube content creators, Twitch streamers, and other video creators will be most interested in this performance metric.

The Core i9-9900K reclaimed its lead here, and it sure looks like it's going to be a very competitive chip for those who want to game and stream at the same time.

Initial thoughts

The benchmarks above offer a peek at just a slice of the Core i9-9900K's performance, but it so far looks very impressive. It's often that you see single-core performance dropping when you add more cores, but the Core i9-9900K is so far keeping pace with the Core i7-8086K, which is one of the highest clocked chips Intel has offered to date. 

That's good news for gamers, because most games are still more sensitive to clock speeds than core counts. However, streamers and content creators will find a lot to like as well, as the chip serves up multi-threaded performance that surpasses that of the Ryzen 7 2700X. I can see it giving something like the Core i7-9800X a run for its money, and it's a great example of how the multi-threading prowess of enthusiast chips is slowly but surely making its way to mainstream chips. 

AMD kickstarted this with its Ryzen processors, and Intel looks like it's delivering a great follow-up. Either way, this means more competition, which is great news for consumers.

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