Intel Core i9-9900K and i9-9980XE are official, come with soldered heatspreader

Intel Core i9 9900K Launch Event
(Picture: via wccftech)

Intel today released all information about the upcoming processors. With the i9-9900K and the i9-9980XE there are two new flagships.

Intel launchs new Core i and Skylake X processors

Today was the day. Intel has officially released new processors in a livestream. There are two refreshs at the same time. Now, the Coffee Lake Refresh is official, which has been in leaks, rumors and speculations for weeks and months. With this generation, the first eight-core models are added to Intel’s mainstream portfolio. On the other hand, the processor manufacturer has also announced a Skylake-X refresh, which nobody had on screen. However, there is only little innovation, only the clock rate could be increased again by soldering the heatspreaders.

i9-9900K and i7-9700K: the first Intel eightcore processors for mainstream

After a very long wait, the new Coffee Lake Refresh series is finally official. It is technically the same architecture as already Skylake, Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake, which Intel relaunches once again. This will continue to be manufactured with the 14nm process, which is currently causing Intel massive problems due to production bottlenecks. The main change also compared to the previous generation is the number of cores. As the successor of the i7-8700K there is now an i7-9700K with eight cores, but without hyperthreading and only eight threads in total. The full 16 threads are reserved for the i9-9900K, which is on top and starts with eight cores and 16 threads. The successor of the i5-8600K comes as i5-9600K with six cores and six threads.

Another new feature is the soldered heatspreader. Instead of a thermal interface material (TIM), also often called “toothpaste”, Intel is using a STIM this time. STIM means Soldered Interface Material, which means that the manufacturer finally soldered the heatspreaders back onto the processors. As a result, significantly higher clock rates are possible. Therefore the i9-9900K manages up to 5 GHz on two cores and 4.7 GHz on all eight cores without overclocking by hand. The i7-9700K goes up to 4.6 GHz on all cores and 4.9 GHz on one core. Also the i5-9600K comes officially confirmed with a soldered heatspreader, but achieves only a maximum of 4.2 GHz on all cores and 4.6 GHz on one core. Launches are scheduled for all processors on October 19. For the i9-9900K Intel charges 488 US dollars, for the i7-9700K 374 US dollars and for the i5-9600K 262 US dollars, each before taxes. Which prices can be expected in Europe is still unknown.

By the way, the large eight-core boards still fit on the mainboards of the Coffee Lake generation. They are compatible with all chipsets from the small H310 to the largest Z370, as long as a new UEFI update exists. In addition, the first Z390 mainboards with integrated WiFi-AC, Bluetooth 5.0 and USB 3.1 Gen2 as well as more PCIe lanes have been launched today.

Skylake-X Refresh with soldered heatspreader and more clock speed

A new HEDT line-up of processors is also coming out today. The Skylake X-Refresh processors, which were leaked before the launch event today, are now official. Compared to the Coffee Lake Refresh there is little new here. Intel has also started to solder the heatspreaders directly onto the CPUs to enable higher clock rates. All processors clock up to 4.5 GHz in turbo mode, whereas the previous generation only clocked 4.2 to 4.3 GHz. The base clock rate has also increased. The largest processor with 18 cores, the Core i9-9980XE now comes with 3.0 GHz base clock, while the smallest processor with eight cores, the Core i9-9800X, even comes with up to 3.8 GHz base clock. The memory interface remains a quad-channel interface with official support for DDR4-2666. The TDP for all processors is 165 watts. With the new generation, Intel also removes the PCIe lane limitations. All features on every motherboard are possible with all processors. Each processor can support up to 68 PCIe 3.0 lanes.

ProcessorCores/ThreadsL3 CacheBase ClockTurbo ClockTDPPrice (US)
i9-9980XE18/3624.75 MB3.0 GHz4.5 GHz165 Watts1,979 US Dollars
i9-7980XE18/3624.75 MB2.6 GHz4.2 GHz165 Watts1,979 US Dollars
i9-9960X16/3222 MB3.1 GHz4.5 GHz165 Watts1,684 US Dollars
i9-7960X16/3222 MB2.8 GHz4.2 GHz165 Watts1,684 US Dollars
i9-9940X14/2819.25 MB3.3 GHz4.5 GHz165 Watts1,387 US Dollars
i9-7940X14/2819.25 MB3.1 GHz4.3 GHz165 Watts1,387 US Dollars
i9-9920X12/2419.25 MB3.5 GHz4.5 GHz165 Watts1,189 US Dollars
i9-7920X12/2416.5 MB2.9 GHz4.3 GHz165 Watts1,189 US Dollars
i9-9900X10/2019.25 MB3.5 GHz4.5 GHz165 Watts989 US Dollars
i9-7900X10/2013.75 MB3.3 GHz4.3 GHz165 Watts989 US Dollars
i9-9820X10/2016.5 MB3.3 GHz4.5 GHz165 Watts889 US Dollars
i7-7820X8/1611 MB3.6 GHz4.3 GHz165 Watts589 US Dollars
i7-9800X8/1616.5 MB3.8 GHz4.5 GHz165 Watts589 US Dollars
i7-7800X6/128.25 MB3.5 GHz4.0 GHz165 Watts383 US Dollars

However, Intel has also tidied up a bit in this line-up. Now there are no more Kaby Lake-X processors. The Skylake-X refresh generation starts with the i9-9800X with eight cores, followed by the i9-9820X and i9-9900X with ten cores each. Only the L3 cache and the clock rate are different here. The i9-9920X with 12, the i9-9940X with 14 and the i9-9960X with 16 cores follow as direct successors of Skylake-X. The processors will be released in November and are compatible to X299. There are no first signs of a new chipset. The prices have risen slightly and now vary between 589 US dollars for the i7-9800X and 1,979 US dollars for the i9-9980XE.

About Florian Maislinger 1222 Articles
Florian Maislinger is author and founder of PC Builder's Club. As a skilled IT engineer, he is very familiar with computers and hardware and has been a technology lover since childhood. He is mainly responsible for the news and our social media channels.

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