This week saw Intel unveil the next-generation of desktop CPUs under the 9th generation banner. As several reports had already pinned the news, the latest lineup brings 8 cores to mainstream lineup, no doubt in response to the growing threat from AMD’s Ryzen.
Intel announced three products at its event: Core i9-9900K, Core i7-9700K, and Core i5-9600K. There will undoutedbly be more SKUs in the lineup, but for now these three represent Intel’s newest processor family. Starting with the highlight of the product showcase Core i9-9900K, it features 8 cores in total with Hyperthreading. The processor is clocked at 3.6GHz with a Turbo clockspeed of 5.0GHz. Intel’s touting this as the first consumer CPU to reach 5GHz out-of-the-box.
The second in the product stack is Core i7-9700K and where things take a drastic departure from previous generations. Clocked at 3.6GHz with a Turbo speed of 4.9GHz, the Core i7-9700K features 8 cores but with no Hyperthreading. That’s right, the long-standing feature of the Core i7 series is absent from the 9th generation.
Core i7 has always been the absolute chip in terms of offering since the inception of Core series, in the mainstream lineup, of course. It’s why we view this as a major shakeup in our Intel stacks its lineup; Core i9 is now part of the mainstream desktop lineup. Here’s how the new processors stack up in terms of price:
Core i9-9900K – $488
Core i7-9700K – $374
Core i5-9600K – $262
The good news is that Intel’s Z370 platform is compatible with the new 9000 series. It requires nothing but a BIOS update. However, the new Z390 chipset motherboards are ready for launch by partners.
Intel had earlier confirmed that the much-anticipated Cannonlake architecture will miss 2018 launch, 10nm is now scheduled to arrive in 2019 with Ice Lake. As a result, Intel’s 9th generation lineup features the same but improved 14nm process and Coffee Lake architecture . Intel will be competing against AMD’s Zen 2 family next year that will be built on 7nm process.
