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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Jorgp2 - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
9900KS most likely does it at a lower voltage and power, plus it has hardware mitigations.Korguz - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
this right there... shows you didnt read this article.edzieba - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
The 9900KS has a different hardware mitigation report to the 9900K. See Phor0nics article p.1: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&...Khenglish - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
I think it would be interesting to see how the 3700x and 3800x do if you bump their power limit up to 9900KS levels. The 3700x is probably being held back quite a bit at 65W but still is competitive.imaheadcase - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
"AMD also has the 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X coming around the corner, promising slightly more performance than the 3900X, and aside from the $749 MSRP, it’s going to be an unknown on availability until it gets released in November."Wasn't that delayed till December? I swear i saw that in the news..
imaheadcase - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
oh nm i got months messed up. I read that last month..forgot its already Oct. LOLjgarcows - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
Your IGP tests aren't very useful. I'm not going to run a game at 720p with the lowest settings on my IGP if I'm getting 250+ FPS. I'm going to increase the resolution or graphics settings until I'm getting the best visuals I can while still hitting 60 FPS.Please compare with settings that give around 60 FPS on the IGPs so we can get an idea of how the integrated graphics performs when you actually stress it some. At 720p, you are just testing the CPU cores and not the IGP at all.
Slash3 - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
This has been a bugaboo of mine for quite a while.There are *no* IGP benchmarks. What you're seeing is a benchmark detail setting that AT refers to as "IGP." In effect, "Very Low" detail. The test is still run on the GeForce GTX 1080 and not the CPU's built-in graphics.
My other complaint is that the use of a GTX 1080 makes the High preset results entirely meaningless, as they're almost always limited by the GPU. It's a waste of graphs and a waste of test time.
katsetus - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
The gaming benchmarks as they are shown here are absolutely pointless - all they show is that the GPU is the more important factor.Them saying that they keep the GTX 1080 for the comparability with older results is pointless, when the variability between three generations of CPUs is 3% at best, because the whole thing is nowhere near being limited by the CPU.
Cellar Door - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
Blender chart is missing Ryzen 3700 and 3900.