Custom PC - UK (2020-05)

LABS TEST / PROCESSORS

I

t’s always great to see manufacturers

releasing halo products that tip their

hats to PC enthusiasts, with the goal of

creating a special product rather than a disruptive

influence. While we love the thinking behind the

Core i9-9900KS, though, it has suffered stock

problems, and a delayed launch have meant that

it never became a worthwhile consideration.

INTEL CORE

i9-9900KS /£690 inc VAT

SUPPLIER overclockers.co.uk

The cheapest example we could find

cost nearly £700 and, given that most Core

i9-9900K CPUs can reach a 5GHz all-core

overclock and cost £200 less, it’s already hard

to recommend the Core i9-9900KS, in spite of

its extremely rapid out-of-the-box credentials.

It has a base frequency of 4GHz and,

when boosting, all of its cores can reach

5GHz. Comparatively, only two cores

were able to stretch that far with the Core

i9-9900K at stock speed, and the Core

i7-9700K could only reach 4.9GHz on a

single core. Engage all the cores, though,

and the Core i9-9900K sits 300MHz lower

than the Core i9-9900KS and the Core

i7-9700K dips to just 4.6GHz. The Core

i9-9900KS’ all-core boost speed is also

300MHz higher than the Ryzen 9 3950X’s

single-core boost frequency.

Under the hood is a CPU that’s identical to

the Core i9-9900K, except for some specially

binned silicon. It uses Intel’s aging Coffee

Lake refresh architecture and a 14nm++

manufacturing process. Plus, unlike Intel’s Core

i3, Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs, you also get support

for Hyper-Threading, meaning it can execute 16

concurrent threads from its eight cores.

AMD’s Zen 2 architecture is blistering

in our image editing test, and

the only CPU to come close to

topping 63,000 points is the

Core i9-9900KS, which still

falls short of matching the

Ryzen 5 3600X, let alone the

faster AMD chips. However,

the Intel chip’s eight 5GHz

boosted cores meant it

could outstrip both the

Ryzen 7 3700X and

Ryzen 7 3800X in our

video encoding and

multi-tasking tests –

the only CPUs that

could beat these

results had more

than eight cores.

The Core i9-9900K also beat those AMD

CPUs in Cinebench.

In terms of pricing, however, the Ryzen 9

3950X costs a similar amount of money to

the Core i9-9900KS, and offers far more

performance everywhere except gaming,

including a faster export time in Premiere Pro too.

In games, however, the Core i9-9900KS is

lightning fast, managing the highest results

in Far Cry New Dawn, while Metro Exodus

seemed to prefer CPUs that lacked Hyper-

Threading, which isn’t unusual. It was still

quicker than the Ryzen 9 3950X here, and

extended its lead once we’d overclocked

it to 5.1GHz too. The overclock was a little

disappointing, given that the CPU can

already reach 5GHz at stock speed, but it was

achieved without any additional voltage. It

drew noticeably more power than AMD’s

8-core CPUs at both stock and overclocked

speeds though.

Conclusion

Knocking the price and availability might seem

a bit harsh, given that the Core i9-9900KS was

only ever meant to be a limited-edition halo

product, but even halo products need to stand

up against the competition. While the Core

i9-9900KS is a stunning gaming CPU, and the

fastest 8-core CPU on test elsewhere too, it’s

just far too expensive to be worth considering.

It lacks the multi-threaded grunt of the similarly

priced Ryzen 9 3950X, and an overclocked

Core i9-9900K will provide similar gaming

performance for much less money.

SPEC

Base frequency 4GHz

Turbo frequency 5GHz

Core Coffee Lake refresh

Manufacturing process 14nm++

Number of cores 8 x physical (16 threads)

Hyper-Threading Ye s

Cache 16MB L3 cache, 8 x 256KB L2 cache

Memory controller Dual-channel

DDR4, up to 2666MHz

Packaging LGA1151-v2 (Coffee Lake)

Thermal design power (TDP) 127W

Features Turbo Boost 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA,

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

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

VERDICT

A brutally fast gaming CPU but it’s far too

expensive compared with the competition.

ESPRESSO

+^ 5GHz on all cores^

at stock speed

+^ The best gaming^

performance

+^ Decent multi-^

threaded performance

INSTANT

-^ Not much faster than
the Core i9-9900K
-^ Disappointing
overclocking
-^ Ryzen 9 3950X
is better for
content creation

PERFORMANCE

41 / 50

FEATURES

13 / 15

OVERALL SCORE

75 %%

VALUE

21 / 35

LABS TEST / PROCESSORS

I

t’salwaysgreattoseemanufacturers
releasinghaloproductsthattiptheir
hatstoPCenthusiasts,withthegoalof
creatinga specialproductratherthana disruptive
influence.Whilewelovethethinkingbehindthe
Corei9-9900KS,though,it hassufferedstock
problems,anda delayedlaunchhavemeantthat
it neverbecamea worthwhileconsideration.

INTEL CORE

i9-9900KS/£690inc VAT

SUPPLIER overclockers.co.uk

The cheapest example we could find

cost nearly £700 and, given that most Core

i9-9900K CPUs can reach a 5GHz all-core

overclock and cost £200 less, it’s already hard

to recommend the Core i9-9900KS, in spite of

its extremely rapid out-of-the-box credentials.

It has a base frequency of 4GHz and,

when boosting, all of its cores can reach

5GHz. Comparatively, only two cores

were able to stretch that far with the Core

i9-9900K at stock speed, and the Core

i7-9700K could only reach 4.9GHz on a

single core. Engage all the cores, though,

and the Core i9-9900K sits 300MHz lower

than the Core i9-9900KS and the Core

i7-9700K dips to just 4.6GHz. The Core

i9-9900KS’ all-core boost speed is also

300MHz higher than the Ryzen 9 3950X’s

single-core boost frequency.

Under the hood is a CPU that’s identical to

the Core i9-9900K, except for some specially

binned silicon. It uses Intel’s aging Coffee

Lake refresh architecture and a 14nm++

manufacturing process. Plus, unlike Intel’s Core

i3, Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs, you also get support

for Hyper-Threading, meaning it can execute 16

concurrent threads from its eight cores.

AMD’s Zen 2 architecture is blistering

in our image editing test, and

the only CPU to come close to

topping 63,000 points is the

Core i9-9900KS, which still

falls short of matching the

Ryzen 5 3600X, let alone the

faster AMD chips. However,

the Intel chip’s eight 5GHz

boosted cores meant it

could outstrip both the

Ryzen 7 3700X and

Ryzen 7 3800X in our

video encoding and

multi-tasking tests –

the only CPUs that

could beat these

results had more

than eight cores.

The Core i9-9900K also beat those AMD

CPUs in Cinebench.

In terms of pricing, however, the Ryzen 9

3950X costs a similar amount of money to

the Core i9-9900KS, and offers far more

performance everywhere except gaming,

including a faster export time in Premiere Pro too.

In games, however, the Core i9-9900KS is

lightning fast, managing the highest results

in Far Cry New Dawn, while Metro Exodus

seemed to prefer CPUs that lacked Hyper-

Threading, which isn’t unusual. It was still

quicker than the Ryzen 9 3950X here, and

extended its lead once we’d overclocked

it to 5.1GHz too. The overclock was a little

disappointing, given that the CPU can

already reach 5GHz at stock speed, but it was

achieved without any additional voltage. It

drew noticeably more power than AMD’s

8-core CPUs at both stock and overclocked

speeds though.

Conclusion

Knocking the price and availability might seem

a bit harsh, given that the Core i9-9900KS was

only ever meant to be a limited-edition halo

product, but even halo products need to stand

up against the competition. While the Core

i9-9900KS is a stunning gaming CPU, and the

fastest 8-core CPU on test elsewhere too, it’s

just far too expensive to be worth considering.

It lacks the multi-threaded grunt of the similarly

priced Ryzen 9 3950X, and an overclocked

Core i9-9900K will provide similar gaming

performance for much less money.

SPEC

Base frequency 4GHz

Turbo frequency 5GHz

Core Coffee Lake refresh

Manufacturing process 14nm++

Number of cores 8 x physical (16 threads)

Hyper-Threading Ye s

Cache 16MB L3 cache, 8 x 256KB L2 cache

Memory controller Dual-channel

DDR4, up to 2666MHz

Packaging LGA1151-v2 (Coffee Lake)

Thermal design power (TDP) 127W

Features Turbo Boost 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA,

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

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

VERDICT

A brutally fast gaming CPU but it’s far too

expensivecomparedwiththe competition.

ESPRESSO

+5GHzonallcores

atstockspeed

+Thebestgaming

performance

+Decentmulti-

threaded performance

INSTANT

• Not much faster than
  theCorei9-9900K


• Disappointing
  overclocking


• Ryzen 9 3950X
  is better for
  content creation

PERFORMANCE

41 / 50

FEATURES

13 / 15

OVERALLSCORE

75 %%

VALUE

21 / 35