Intel Core i9-9900K and Core i7-9700K Review > Wrap Up: Price vs. Performance

Wrap Upwardly: Cost vs. Functioning

Permit'due south have a quick look at a few awarding toll vs. operation charts. For this I'g using the electric current market price with the exception of the Core i7-7820X, hither I'm using the MSRP equally the current market price is inflated past $300. It's not worth buying at the MSRP as it is, so allow's just become with that as a all-time case scenario.

If you desire to get some rendering work washed on a serious budget at that place'south no chirapsia the Ryzen 5 2600 right at present, information technology'southward really not that much slower than the Core i7-8700X and information technology'southward a heck of a lot cheaper.

But let'south focus on the new CPUs, the 9900K and 9700K. The 9700K is meliorate than the 8700K in terms of value, just still much worse than the cheaper Ryzen vii 2700X.

Meanwhile the 9900K smokes the 2700X in terms of performance, merely at almost twice the cost information technology's poor value in comparison. If time really is money, and then the much more expensive 2950X seems similar the obvious choice. Likewise please note these price vs. performance charts don't gene in motherboard and cooling costs, I'll hash out that before long.

The Intel CPUs stack upwardly much better in Handbrake and do offer more bang for your buck when compared to the competing AMD CPUs. This is a worse case scenario for Ryzen, at least in our battery of application benchmarks.

As we saw previously the Ryzen 7 2700X really is the ultimate value option for content creators and the new Intel CPUs can't concur a candle to it in terms of value. The 9900K doesn't offer any new here when compared to the 7820X, while the 9700K was no amend than the 8700K, so a disappointing set up of results for Intel in Adobe Premiere.

Closing Remarks

These new 8-core Coffee Lake processors certainly are interesting animals, only I'thou not entirely sure who they're for. Before I attempt and work that out let'southward quickly bear upon on pricing. The Cadre i9-9900K comes in at an MSRP of $500, just currently costs more than that at $580, while the 9700K is meant to price $374, just is currently at $420.

The Core i7-8700K is also a little over the MSRP right now, priced at effectually $390 rather than $360 and this slight toll increase is due to a supply issue. So nosotros've established that the new viii-core parts aren't cheap, but who are they designed for?

A lot of you are gamers and Intel has been touting the 9900K as the world's all-time gaming CPU, which information technology technically is. Merely at 1080p with an RTX 2080 Ti it barely is any better than the 8700K, the previous gaming king, and arguably still the best in terms of value for high-end gaming. At $150 the Ryzen 5 2600 is without question the best value gaming CPU overall. That's a ridiculously low toll for the 6-core/12-thread CPU.

In my opinion the modest operation gains the 9700K and 9900K offering in some games using low-res settings doesn't make them better gaming CPUs than the 8700K, at to the lowest degree not right at present. The added power consumption and heat make them less attractive options. For an well-nigh 50% increase in toll you're looking at maybe a 5% increase in performance, bold you don't game at 4K.

So while certainly very fast gaming CPUs, I feel like neither the 9700K or 9900K make that much sense for those looking to game exclusively. And so if we await at application operation it's still hard to justify buying either of these new 8-core processors. For the virtually part, the 9700K is slower than the 2700X, while the 9900K is up to thirty% faster when overclocked, so that's pretty impressive, less and so for the price of admission.

The boosted cost of cooling is another topic for discussion. There'southward but no style you're going to avoid thermal throttling without spending effectually $100 on the cooler, at least without your PC sounding like a jet about to take off. Throw in the Corsair H100i Pro and the 9900K now costs $700 and you yet can't overclock, at least not without running at dangerously high temperatures.

Later this month the Threadripper 2920X volition be landing for $650 packing 12 cores and you tin can probably approximate which ane volition exist faster for productivity workloads. Granted X399 motherboards price about $100 more, but you get twice as many DIMM slots, way more PCIe lanes and well, a serious workstation platform.

The 9900K is equally every bit good as the 8700K for gaming, but not nearly equally good every bit the 2950X for most core-heavy productivity workloads. So you can't exactly say it'south the best of both worlds only if you lot lean more than heavily on the gaming side then I judge it's a amend choice.

Patently no affair your preference, only those with money to fire volition be considering the 9900K at its current market price, or fifty-fifty the $500 MSRP for that affair. For me information technology's just as well expensive and too impractical, keeping it cool seems like a daily challenge and unless you're going all out on custom liquid cooling, it'due south a challenge you'll likely neglect.

Basically yous tin can build a Ryzen 7 2700X gaming rig with a GTX 1080 Ti and yet save over $100 compared to a i9-9900K build using a GTX 1070. Again, unless you lot have coin to fire, the 9900K is non a great value at the current asking price.

The Cadre i7-9700K is an even worse proposition in my opinion, although we haven't had time to examination thermal performance properly, it does seem to run hotter than the 8700K, despite beingness soldered. It as well consumes quite a chip more power and offers a pocket-sized functioning crash-land. I would liken this comparison to the RTX 2070 and GTX 1080, in the sense that the newer product is faster by a small margin while costing a piffling more than. Unfortunately whereas the RTX 2070 uses a picayune less ability than the GTX 1080, the 9700K isn't more fuel efficient than the 8700K.