Custom PC - UK (2020-05)

LABS TEST / PROCESSORS

W

hile Intel might fairly be accused of

being caught napping a couple of

years ago, releasing the first round

of Coffee Lake CPUs several months after

Ryzen Landed, the fact is that the Core

i7-8700K, and later the Core i5-8400, both

went on to be popular CPUs. However, the

Core i5-8600K felt a little lacking from the

start, with AMD already offering more grunt

in multi-threaded applications for the same

cash, meaning the venerable Core i5 was no

longer the best affordable all-rounder.

The Core i5-9600K, sadly, offers little on top

of this already struggling CPU, but excellent

INTEL CORE

i5-9600K /£180 inc VAT

SUPPLIER amazon.co.uk

gaming performance and the

reintroduction of a soldered heatspreader

meant it was still a popular option for the

frame rate obsessed. When you read this,

Intel’s 10th-generation mainstream desktop

CPUs will still be a few months away at least,

but rumour has it that the company will be

introducing higher core counts and, more

importantly, Hyper-Threading across the board.

If this is true, the latter will boost the next

equivalent Core i5 CPU’s credentials in multi-

threaded applications, but this is just rumour

for now. In the meantime, the Core i5-9600K

has received a substantial price cut since its

launch just over a year ago, falling from just

under £260 to under £190. This means it now

sits between the Ryzen 5 3600X and Ryzen 7

3700X, which cost £190 and £260 respectively,

and both have more threads thanks to support

for AMD’s equivalent of Hyper-Threading,

Simultaneous Multithreading.

The Core i5-9600K is no slouch, though,

and can reach 4.6GHz on one core and

up to 4.3GHz in all-core boost. However,

while frequencies have improved over its

predecessor, that’s about it. This is the third

generation of Intel’s 14nm manufacturing

process, and the 9MB L3 cache and 1.5MB

L2 cache are the same as you’d see on

its predecessor too. On the plus side, we

managed to hit 5.1GHz using 1.3V, adding an

impressive 500MHz to the maximum boost

frequency and 800MHz to the all-core boost.

In terms of performance, at stock speed,

even the cheaper Ryzen 5 3600 was quicker

in every test outside of games, but the Core

i5-9600K wasn’t far behind once overclocked.

However, applying an overclock to the AMD

CPU made it significantly quicker in Adobe

Premiere Pro, Handbrake and Cinebench.

Thankfully, the Core i5-9600K is still a speed

demon in games, even bettering the Ryzen

9 3950X by a sizeable margin in Far Cry New

Dawn, and by around 10 per cent in Metro

Exodus too, adding even more to its lead once

overclocked, but with our system drawing less

than 250W from the wall under full load.

Conclusion

The Core i5-9600K’s gaming prowess won’t

be seen in every game, and will diminish

at higher settings and resolutions where

the situation becomes more GPU-bound.

However, at 1080p with a reasonably powerful

graphics card, it’s clear that some titles do still

get a significant advantage from using Intel

silicon. As soon as you step out of games,

though, the Intel CPU loses its appeal entirely,

and cheaper AMD offerings walk all over it.

With the addition of Hyper-Threading and

higher frequencies, its successors could turn

around this situation, but unless you only use

your PC for gaming, there are better options

in this price league that could save you a huge

amount of time when creating content.

SPEC

Base frequency 3.7GHz

Turbo frequency 4.6GHz

Core Coffee Lake refresh

Manufacturing process 14nm++

Number of cores 6 x physical (6 threads)

IGP Intel UHD Graphics 630

Hyper-Threading No

Cache 9MB L3 cache, 6 x 256KB L2 cache

Memory controller Dual-channel

DDR4, up to 2666MHz

Packaging LGA1151-v2

Thermal design power (TDP) 95W

Features Turbo Boost 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA,

BMI / BMI1 + BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX,

AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, MMX

VERDICT

An excellent CPU for gaming, but it offers

terrible value for money elsewhere.

CHEESECAKE

+^ Great overclocking^

headroom

+^ Fast in games

+^ Easy to cool

CHEESY FEET

-^ Dire multi-threaded
performance
-^ Not all games
and settings will
show benefits
-^ Newer Intel CPUs due
out this summer

PERFORMANCE

31 / 50

FEATURES

13 / 15

OVERALL SCORE

75 %%

VALUE

31 / 35

LABS TEST / PROCESSORS

W

hileIntelmightfairlybeaccusedof
beingcaughtnappinga coupleof
yearsago,releasingthefirstround
ofCoffeeLakeCPUsseveralmonthsafter
RyzenLanded,thefactis thattheCore
i7-8700K,andlatertheCorei5-8400,both
wentontobepopularCPUs.However,the
Corei5-8600Kfelta littlelackingfromthe
start,withAMDalreadyofferingmoregrunt
inmulti-threadedapplicationsforthesame
cash,meaningthevenerableCorei5wasno
longerthebestaffordableall-rounder.
TheCorei5-9600K,sadly,offerslittleontop
ofthisalreadystrugglingCPU,butexcellent

INTEL CORE

i5-9600K/£180inc VAT

SUPPLIER amazon.co.uk

gaming performance and the

reintroduction of a soldered heatspreader

meant it was still a popular option for the

frame rate obsessed. When you read this,

Intel’s 10th-generation mainstream desktop

CPUs will still be a few months away at least,

but rumour has it that the company will be

introducing higher core counts and, more

importantly, Hyper-Threading across the board.

If this is true, the latter will boost the next

equivalent Core i5 CPU’s credentials in multi-

threaded applications, but this is just rumour

for now. In the meantime, the Core i5-9600K

has received a substantial price cut since its

launch just over a year ago, falling from just

under £260 to under £190. This means it now

sits between the Ryzen 5 3600X and Ryzen 7

3700X, which cost £190 and £260 respectively,

and both have more threads thanks to support

for AMD’s equivalent of Hyper-Threading,

Simultaneous Multithreading.

The Core i5-9600K is no slouch, though,

and can reach 4.6GHz on one core and

up to 4.3GHz in all-core boost. However,

while frequencies have improved over its

predecessor, that’s about it. This is the third

generation of Intel’s 14nm manufacturing

process, and the 9MB L3 cache and 1.5MB

L2 cache are the same as you’d see on

its predecessor too. On the plus side, we

managed to hit 5.1GHz using 1.3V, adding an

impressive 500MHz to the maximum boost

frequency and 800MHz to the all-core boost.

In terms of performance, at stock speed,

even the cheaper Ryzen 5 3600 was quicker

in every test outside of games, but the Core

i5-9600K wasn’t far behind once overclocked.

However, applying an overclock to the AMD

CPU made it significantly quicker in Adobe

Premiere Pro, Handbrake and Cinebench.

Thankfully, the Core i5-9600K is still a speed

demon in games, even bettering the Ryzen

9 3950X by a sizeable margin in Far Cry New

Dawn, and by around 10 per cent in Metro

Exodus too, adding even more to its lead once

overclocked, but with our system drawing less

than 250W from the wall under full load.

Conclusion

The Core i5-9600K’s gaming prowess won’t

be seen in every game, and will diminish

at higher settings and resolutions where

the situation becomes more GPU-bound.

However, at 1080p with a reasonably powerful

graphics card, it’s clear that some titles do still

get a significant advantage from using Intel

silicon. As soon as you step out of games,

though, the Intel CPU loses its appeal entirely,

and cheaper AMD offerings walk all over it.

With the addition of Hyper-Threading and

higher frequencies, its successors could turn

around this situation, but unless you only use

your PC for gaming, there are better options

in this price league that could save you a huge

amount of time when creating content.

SPEC

Base frequency 3.7GHz

Turbo frequency 4.6GHz

Core Coffee Lake refresh

Manufacturing process 14nm++

Number of cores 6 x physical (6 threads)

IGP Intel UHD Graphics 630

Hyper-Threading No

Cache 9MB L3 cache, 6 x 256KB L2 cache

Memory controller Dual-channel

DDR4, up to 2666MHz

Packaging LGA1151-v2

Thermal design power (TDP) 95W

Features Turbo Boost 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA,

BMI / BMI1 + BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX,

AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, MMX

VERDICT

An excellent CPU for gaming, but it offers

terriblevalueformoneyelsewhere.

CHEESECAKE

+Greatoverclocking
headroom

+Fastingames

+Easy to cool

CHEESYFEET

• Dire multi-threaded
  performance


• Not all games
  and settings will
  showbenefits


• Newer Intel CPUs due
  out this summer

PERFORMANCE

31 / 50

FEATURES

13 / 15

OVERALLSCORE

75 %%

VALUE

31 / 35