Intel 9th Generation Core i9-9900K Processor

The new Intel Core i9-9900K is the step forward in mainstream processors (CPUs) we’ve been waiting for. It’s the CPU we hoped Intel would make ever since AMD Ryzen processors one-upped the company with high-core counts and massive multi-threading performance. As Intel’s first-ever mainstream Core i9 chip, the Intel Core i9-9900K comes equipped with eight-cores, 16-threads and the ability to boost up to a maximum 5.0GHz clock speed. All told, this new octa-core processor not only closes the gap with AMD’s best processor, but runs past it. Unfortunately, in our testing, it doesn’t prove to be quite the world’s best gaming processor that Intel touted it to be, at least not with the drivers currently out there. We’ll be continuing our testing with the Intel Core i9-9900K, but until then this CPU may better serve content creators than gamers looking to squeeze more frames per second into the PCs.

Intel’s recent processors have been a step behind the high-core count, massive multi-threading performance that AMD puts out, but the Intel Core i9-9900K changes all of that. Team Blue’s first mainstream Core i9 chip sets a new benchmark for processing power, with the highest single-core and multi-core test results we’ve seen. The screaming lead the 9900K gains over any other mainstream CPU is amazing to behold, as are the noticeably higher Cinebench scores. Beyond synthetic benchmarks, this massive surge in processing power translates to some of the fastest video encode times we’ve seen in Handbrake.