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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AshlayW - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
Also: This CPU is advertised as a "5 GHz" processor, well, pretty much everywhere.Spunjji - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
This. When the whole selling point of the CPU is a higher turbo speed, advertising the TDP at the base clocks is just plain misleading.Jorgp2 - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
Do you know what TDP is?Korguz - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
do you ???diehardmacfan - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
whats the point of reading a review if you are still going to pay so much attention to a number on a box?Korguz - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
cause it is kind of an important stat ??diehardmacfan - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
It's important for OEM's and cooler manufacturers and means very little to the consumer as it doesn't represent power usage on AMD or Intel.Korguz - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
but it could be used to select a cooler for that cpu.. as intels cpu's, dont come with a coolervMax65 - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
take a look at de8aur's lates video on the 9900KS on TDP and power consumption, specifically around gaming at an all core 5GHz. The CPU draws under 127w all core in games and only goes up on serous workloads like compute. Start at 3 minutes 45 seconds...ish.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWSn0cHauJ4
vMax65 - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
der8aur jus tested the 9900KS and it runs games all core 5GHz all the time at between 98w and 126w....Video showing this starts at 3:50..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWSn0cHauJ4