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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Galid - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
A little mistake on my part, it was my AMD Athlon 64 3200+ and not the x2. The worst about this problem was that the chipset (nForce3-250 or something like that) was made by Nvidia and it had problems with their video cards only.I forgot to mention that we bought a new system for my brother because the CPU died, I think that's the only cpu that ever died on me and it was an i5-2500k. The most shocking about that is I overclocked mine to 4.7ghz for all these years and it's still going strong(hence the reason I'm still waiting to upgrade). He bought some closed loop water cooling and never overclocked the cpu still it died on him... shame.
alufan - Wednesday, November 6, 2019 - link
hmm so intel has better quality etc lets consider for a moment all the security issues with intel, then lets look at the way they refused to develop the cpu until AMD came alont with 12, then 12+ then 7 and shortly 7+ meanwhile intel cannot make a decent 10nm chip speaks volumes about your argument, then lets look at the TDP the AMD chip at 65w is almost neck and neck with the intel one at 255w !Only cpu i ever had fail was a core 2 duo never lost a GPU from either camp but guess what... the intel GPU is being design led by a former AMD/ATI staffer as is the new intel CPU as well, think we can leave it there
outsideloop - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
If you want stream your game while paying, get the 3900X.outsideloop - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
While playing...flyingpants265 - Monday, November 4, 2019 - link
No more of the weird streaming comments please. Nobody really streams.BikeDude - Wednesday, November 6, 2019 - link
<blockquote>more mature product</blockquote>But all reports so far indicates that Intel has been hit much harder by spectre-class bugs?
"All the issues that came out this year, were reported not to be an issue on AMD" (https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/10/29/intel_dis...
Midwayman - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
Curious you think that someone considering a 9900KS is a 'budget' gamer. You could easily make that argument with any high end component. I'd expect them to be pairing this with both a 2080ti and a high refresh monitor.evernessince - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
I think you are mistaking enthusiast for "fool". I've bought a 980 Ti and a 1080 Ti but I sure as hell ain't going to buy a 2080 Ti. I had a 5820K and bought a 3700X.Thankfully, there are some of us with some fiscal responsibility.
Spunjji - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
Cheers for doing your bit to reign in the madness.Death666Angel - Saturday, November 2, 2019 - link
And to add to that, I can easily fit a high end 200W+ TDP CPU cooler in my small mATX case, but I cannot fit a graphics card that is longer than 26 cm (23.5 cm after my front fan modifications) into my case. SFF systems are more limited by graphics card size than cooler size most of the time. And the best cards in a smaller form factor are 1080 TI and 2070 Super as far as I know.