Following Intel’s 28C CPU announcement from earlier today, the company also announced its i9-9900K CPU and “9th Gen” desktop CPUs. On stage, Intel dubbed its 9900K “the best gaming processor in the world – period,” before holding up the CPU in new packaging that clearly targets the Threadripper 2 packaging. Intel also declared that “we are breaking the laws of physics to bring you these parts,” which is clearly vehemently false, but we do get the point. The more correct phrasing is that “they’re fast.” We get the point, though.

CPU Specs

The i9-9900K is an 8C/16T CPU with a 5GHz Turbo frequency – likely single-core, again – and uses Coffee Lake architecture. The 9900K uses soldered TIM, or “STIM” (by Intel’s language), and moves away from the thermal paste that we’ve been berating them over for years. We’re excited to test these changes, and of course recommend waiting for our benchmarks to learn more.

The 9600K, 9700K, and 9900K will all use solder for their thermal interface. Our industry sources have confirmed STIM on the 9600K and 9700K, although Intel did not explicitly mention it for these CPUs. Intel will still be using silicone adhesive around the outer edge of the IHS, so this is not a good indicator as to whether a part is soldered.

The CPUs are as follows:

i9-9900K:

3.6GHz/5.0GHz Boost

8C/16T

TDP 95W

16MB Cache

Unlocked

"Up to" 40 PCIe lanes

$488 for 1K units

i7-9700K:

3.6GHz/4.9GHz Boost

8C/8T

TDP 95W

12MB Cache

Unlocked

"Up to" 40 PCIe lanes

$374for 1K units

i5-9600K:

3.7GHz/4.6GHz Boost

6C/6T

95W TDP

9MB Cache

Unlocked

"Up to" 40 PCIe lanes

$262 for 1K units

Chipset Changes

The chipset and CPU introduce just a few changes to the platform as a whole. Z390 introduces CNVi WiFi from Intel, which operates at 1.73Gb/s. This is a new wireless technology that exceeds most existing wireless specifications. CNVi increases channel width to 160MHz from 80MHz previously.

Separately, Z390 moves to include 6x USB3.1 Gen2 ports over 0 on the Z370.

That’s all we know for now. We’ll continue reporting as we learn more. We have videos coming up separately to discuss other Intel product launches for this generation.

Editorial: Steve Burke