Intel unveils the Core i9-9900KS CPU with all cores always running at 5 GHz

At its Computex Kickoff Event, Intel previewed its latest products including a new special edition 9th Gen Intel Core i9-9900KS processor and a sneak peek of the performance of its upcoming 10 nm ‘Ice Lake-U’ CPU that comes integrated with its new Gen11 graphics. [caption id=“attachment_6710591” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”]  Intel Core i9 CPU.[/caption]

Intel Core i9-9900KS features

The Intel Core i9-9900KS is a special edition desktop CPU with eight cores and 16 threads. This will be the first every processor where all the eight-cores will be running at a turbo boost frequency of 5 GHz. This means whether the system runs on a single-core intensive workload or a multi-core workload, all the eight cores will be running at 5 GHz on turbo boost. Essentially, gaming performance will be better on the new CPU when it’s utilising all the cores. It follows the existing 14 nm++ process and Coffee Lake architecture present on the Core i9-9900K. Although there isn’t much of a difference between the two CPUs, the i9-9900KS comes with a higher base clock frequency of 4 GHz compared to 3.6 GHz on the i9-9900K. Intel hasn’t revealed the TDP of the unit and considering the higher base clock, it’s safe to assume that the TDP will be higher on the i9-9900KS than the 95 W TDP on the i9-9900K. Price and availability are yet to be revealed.

Intel 10 nm ‘Ice Lake-U’ CPU

The company also previewed the performance of its delayed 10 nm Ice Lake-U CPUs that are integrated with its new Gen11 graphics and Sunny Cove cores. This CPU will be powering Intel’s upcoming mobile CPU platform. Intel compared the 1080p gaming performance of Gen11 integrated graphics first with its previous own Gen9 graphics. Although we don’t exactly know the settings of the games, it showcased the performance jump from one generation to the new one. In CS:GO, at Low settings, there was a performance boost by 1.72x while in Fortnite, the gain was by 1.43x. Between the two generations, there was a performance boost of up to 2.08x. [caption id=“attachment_6710661” align=“alignnone” width=“2000”]  Gen9 vs. Gen11 graphics performance on Intel Ice Lake-U.[/caption] The company also compared the gaming performance with an AMD equivalent CPU, the Ryzen 7 3700U. As Anandtech reported, Intel claimed that none of AMD’s latest 15 W APUs were actually running at 15 W. So, in order to make the comparison fair, the company boosted one of the Ice Lake-U processors to a TDP of 25 W. While the performance wasn’t better in all the games and benchmarks, the report mentions the average performance gain was somewhere around four to five percent. [caption id=“attachment_6710651” align=“alignnone” width=“2000”]  Intel Ice Lake-U vs. Ryzen 7 3700U graphics performance.[/caption] More details about the new CPU are expected in the coming days of **Computex 2019**  with the possibility of some vendors releasing their own Ice Lake-U devices. Disclaimer: One of our correspondents was invited by Intel India for Computex 2019 at Taipei, Taiwan. All travel and accommodation expenses were taken care of by Intel.