The Intel Core i9-9900KS Review: The 5 GHz Consumer Special
by Dr. Ian Cutress on October 31, 2019 10:45 AM ESTTest 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 | Intel Core i9-9900KS |
| Motherboard | MSI Z390 Gaming Edge AC (A.60 BIOS) |
| CPU Cooler | TRUE Copper |
| DRAM | Corsair Vengeance 2x8 GB DDR4-2666 |
| GPU | Sapphire RX 460 2GB (CPU Tests) MSI GTX 1080 Gaming 8G (Gaming Tests) |
| PSU | Corsair AX860i |
| SSD | Crucial MX200 1TB |
Many thanks to...
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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Shekels - Saturday, November 2, 2019 - link
Y'all are not understanding vMax65 whatsoever. He's talking about IN GAMES and not in benchmarks. It is extremely rare for your CPU to come close to 100% utilisation while playing games unless you're running a competitive setup at super low settings in a game like Overwatch or CSGO. Just because a CPU is running at all core 5ghz doesn't mean it's consuming 172W. No its consuming 172W at 100% utilisation. So with that being said, when you're using it at 70-80% utilisation it will consumer far less power so the 90ish W to 125W makes complete sense. I hate Intel and their practices, and their CPUs are overpriced and uncompetitive, but don't spread false information without understanding how a CPU even draws power...RSAUser - Wednesday, November 6, 2019 - link
I'm very, very sure it will not run at all-core 100% 5 GHz for CS:GO and I still don't know why you'd want to do it. I'd limit it to just above monitor refresh rate.Korguz - Saturday, November 2, 2019 - link
ahhh.. so you are trying to compare apples to oranges......liquid_c - Sunday, November 3, 2019 - link
For a CPU directed towards power gamers, tell me, please, in what circumstances do you see a gamer or a normal, day to day user, execute Cinebench on their PC? Stop being such a dummy and stop acting like a rabid dog over a product that not only you will never get but clearly, it's not geared towards you.Korguz - Sunday, November 3, 2019 - link
and keep in mind the test bed were DIFFERENT, that is a factor there as well. how would you know if some one would never get this cpu ?? and now you resort insults and name calling?? that makes your opions, pointless.satai - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
Can we get compilation benchmarks, pretty please?lux44 - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
Would it be possible to find a compilation benchmark? Chrome or Firefox perhaps? I remember Linux kernel compilation finished in 30 seconds, perhaps it's getting too small...Given .Net Core is cross platform, maybe compiling the platform itself or Roslyn compiler? If I remember correctly, compiling the framework right now is not trivial, but the goal is to streamline it for .Net 5 release.
Slash3 - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
Michael over at Phoronix has some compilation test results, but they are Linux centric.https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&...
lux44 - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
Thank you!dguy6789 - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
As long as you have good cooling every single 9900K ever made does all cores at 5Ghz all the time without any sort of turbo time limit when the motherboard has MCE(multi core enhancement) enabled- most have this enabled by default. The 9900KS is nothing new.