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Intel Launches 9th Generation Core Processors; Core i9-9900K Benchmarked (hothardware.com)
MojoKid writes: Intel lifted the embargo veil today on performance results for its new Core i9-9900K 9th Gen 8-core processor. Intel claims the chip is "the best CPU for gaming" due to its high clock speeds and monolithic 8-core/16-thread design that has beefier cache memory (now 16MB). The chip also has 16-lanes of on-chip PCIe connectivity, official support for dual-channel memory up to DDR4-2666, and a 95 watt TDP. Intel also introduced two other 9th Gen chips today. Intel's Core i7-9700K is also an 8-core processor, but lacks HyperThreading, is clocked slightly lower, and has 4MB of smart cache disabled (12MB total). The Core i5-9600K takes things down to 6 cores / 6 threads, with a higher base clock, but lower boost clock and only 9MB of smart cache. In benchmark testing, the high-end Core i9-9900K's combination of Intel's latest microarchitecture and boost frequencies of up to 5GHz resulted in the best single-threaded performance seen from a desktop processor to date. The chip's 8-cores and 16-threads, larger cache, and higher clocks also resulted in some excellent multi-threaded scores that came close to catching some of Intel's many-core Core X HEDT processors in a few tests. The Core i9-9900K is a very fast processor, but it is also priced as such at $488 in 1KU quantities. That makes it about $185 to $225 pricier than AMD's Ryzen 7 2700X, which is currently selling for about $304 and performs within 3% to 12% of Intel's 8-core chip, depending on workload type.
Is it really going to be any faster after inevitable microcode and OS patching to address gross security flaws?
They haven't had time to fix Spectre and Meltdown, I think I'll pass.
"The chip also has 16-lanes of on-chip PCIe connectivity" - this actually sounds EXTREMELY low. And here I am, on a CPU with 40 lanes, and a chipset that provides another 5... in a system that is several years old. This sounds like a massive downgrade. Though, most people I guess only populate 1 slot for the GPU nowadays, and nothing else. Consumer 10gbe isn't quite there yet. Add-on sound cards have gone to the wayside (onboard audio is still shit quality in comparison, but since people only listen to low bit rate streaming MP3s anyways, I guess it doesnt matter!?) The only thing I question is the NVMe craze right now, and how this chip will be able to keep up with that, since most recent ones are usually PCIe (though some are DIMM socket now as well)
i7 is the new 85. I9 is the new i7. Pretty cynical of Intel. BTW, hyperthreading only speeds up Meltdown, but Meltdown still will get your passwords even without hyperthreading, it just takes a bit longer. This is because of the way cache is shared between processor cores.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Currently I have:
1 x 16 lane graphics card
1 x 4 lane USB3 controller (four independent USB controllers)
1 x 1 lane USB3 controller
As a result GPU currently only able to use 8 of 16 lanes on my circa 2013 i7. Here it is 5+ years later and NOTHING has changed.
No way will I be spending money on a new CPU with only 16 lanes.
No way will I be spending money on a new CPU without ECC memory.
No way will I be spending money on a new CPU without security bugs fixed.
No way will I be spending money on a new CPU that does not officially support my operating system.
Beastly 28 core Xeon W-3175X, obviously targeted at AMD's 32 core Threadripper 2990WX, which you can buy right now on Amazon for $1,720. I'd like to know Intel's price, I guess it's not remotely close.
Note that with these top heavy core counts you always get lower clock frequency because of bus contention. Not a stopper by any means, if you have the use case. But personally I'm a lot more interested in the higher clocked 16 core AMD parts, specifically the 2950X, $900. Slightly higher cost per core but clocked about 10% higher. Boost frequency 4.4 GHz, the technical term for that is awesome.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
That's $304 per SINGLE AMD processor, $488 per if you buy a thousand units of the Intel. Unless you're building a thousand computers this makes no sense to compare, and even then, the cost of the AMD processor goes down at those volumes too. This reveals a stupid level of bias in this article.
and don't get any further. To make good use of the micro code bugs you usually need root/admin. And if somebody's got that you're already boned.
Spectre/Meltdown are a problem because they enable a bunch of exploits that let you get out of a hypervisor and into the host OS. If you're in a data center that's a huge deal. If you're a gamer it's, well, not.
You'll notice that there's been no gaming apocalypse. No massive class action lawsuits because of lost performance. And no big exploits. No big wins from AMD tied to better security. Spectre/Meltdown turned out to be a nothing burger for desktop users. Enterprise is a different kettle of fish, but the i9 is desktop chip.
That said, if money is at all an object during a build the Ryzen 2700 is the chip to go with. You can get one, with a board and cooler for $350 bucks on newegg right now as I type this. Worst case It's about 17-24% slower than the i9 but it's literally half the price. I'll keep my $350 bucks and spend it on a better GPU.
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Actually, i9-9900K is 90% more expensive than Ryzen 2700X. And Intel had to fiddle the gaming benchmarks to make it look faster than it really is. These are on Intel's 14nm process, they were hoping to be on 10nm by now but that isn't happening until some time next year. Meanwhile Ryzen 2 on 7nm will be out while Coffee Lake is still shipping, oops. Ryzen 2 will probably probably put AMD even in IPC and ahead in GHz. Intel's last remaining bragging points gone. And Intel isn't going to catch up any time soon, by the time they finally have 10nm online TSMC will already be sampling its next gen EUV process.
This is easy: go Ryzen and put that 90% Intel markup in your pocket, ready to spend on 7nm Ryzen 2 next year.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.