Intel Launches 9th Gen Core CPUs, 8-Core 16-Thread $488 Core i9-9900K Shipping October 19th

Intel today officially announced the first round of 9^th generation Core processors, and given all the leaks that have occurred over the past few months, there weren’t too many surprises. Like all of Intel’s processors released over the past few years, the 9^th generation Core parts are based on a refined 14nm manufacturing process (14nm++), and are dubbed Coffee Lake Refresh.

There are three processors that were announced today:

• Core i9-9900K: 8 cores / 16 threads, 3.6GHz to 5GHz, 16MB L3 cache, 95W TDP
• Core i7-9700K: 8 cores / 8 threads, 3.6GHz to 4.9GHz, 12MB L3 cache, 95W TDP
• Core i5-9600K: 6 cores / 6 threads, 3.7GHz to 4.6GHz, 9MB L3 cache, 95W TDP

All of the processors support dual-channel DDR4-2666 memory and features an Intel GT2 integrated GPU. Looking deeper into the specs, the Core i5-9600K has 6 physical cores with HyperThreading disabled, allowing it to execute just 6 threads. This isn’t too surprising given what we’ve seen with previous Core i5 parts, but the fact that the Core i7-9700K doesn’t have HyperThreading enabled is a rather dramatic departure. Core i7 parts have almost always had HyperThreading enabled in the past, but perhaps Intel wanted to give more breathing room for the Core i9-9900K with respect to product differentiation.

The top-ranging Core i9-9900K brings a full 8 cores and HyperThreading, allowing it to execute 16 threads. This puts the chip on even footing with AMD’s Ryzen 7 2700X, which was released earlier this year to much fanfare.

Given that we already knew so much about Intel’s new 9^th generation family due to leaks, the only thing really left to discuss is pricing. Thankfully, Intel provided those details today, announcing that the Core i5-9600K, Core i7-9700K, and Core i9-9900K are priced at $262, $373, and $488 respectively. Preorders for the chips go live today, and they will begin shipping on October 19^th.