Intel's Alleged Core i7-9700K Coffee Lake Refresh 8-Core CPU Hits SANDRA Sans HyperThreading

intel processors
Earlier this week, we reported that there will initially be three processors launched in the upcoming 9th generation Intel Core family, which is being called the Coffee Lake Refresh. Interestingly enough, the latest rumors have suggested that only the top-end SKU – the Core i9-9900K– will have HyperThreading enabled, giving it 8 physical cores capable of executing 16 threads.

We’re now getting confirmation of this news with the appearance of the middle child Core i7-9700K, which you can see in the SiSoft SANDRA graphic below. The screen grab confirms that the processor has HyperThreading disabled, which means that it has 8 physical cores along with 8 threads. It’s a rather curious marketing decision for Intel, as this chip will allegedly be replacing the current Core i7-8700K which has 6 cores and 12 threads. In addition, Core i7 processors almost always have HyperThreading enabled, so this could simply be a case where the chip is running on an older Z370 motherboard without full microcode support for the chip (hence disabling HT).

SANDA i7 9700K
SANDA i7 9700K 2

Based on the current information that we have, this is how the top of Intel’s mainstream processor family will stack up when they [reportedly] launch next month:

  • Core i9-9900K with 8 cores and 16 threads
  • Core i7-9700K with 8 cores and 8 threads
  • Core i5-9600K with 6 cores and 6 threads

The Core i7-9700K in particular will have a base clock of 3.6GHz with a single-core boost of 4.9GHz. Dual-core boost steps down to 4.8GHz, quad-core boost drops to 4.7GHz, and 6-/8-core boost is dialed in at 4.6GHz. The chip is rated at 95 watts and has 12MB of Intel Smart Cache.

Launching with the 9th generation Coffee Lake Refresh processors will be the Z390 chipset, which brings native support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, and USB 3.1 connectivity.