Intel
Intel Core i9-9900K
Eight cores, sixteen threads and a 5.0 GHz single-core turbo — the LGA1151-v2 flagship, topped on the socket only by the later 9900KS, and the quickest gaming CPU money could buy in 2018. Today it is a used-market upgrade for anyone already sitting on a Z370 or Z390 board.
Pros
- 8C/16T at up to 5.0 GHz, still comfortable for 1440p and 4K gaming with a modern GPU
- 16 MB L3, the largest cache on the LGA1151-v2 platform
- Soldered IHS; 5.0 GHz all-core is a widely reproduced overclock on a 240 mm AIO
- UHD 630 iGPU gives Quick Sync transcoding and a display-out fallback
Cons
- The 95 W figure is a base-power rating only; all-core loads draw 150-200 W and demand serious cooling
- No stock cooler despite launching at flagship pricing
- PCIe 3.0, 16 CPU lanes and official DDR4-2666 — no CPU-attached PCIe 4.0 SSDs
- End of the road for LGA1151-v2: no upgrade path beyond the 9900KS
Below average
Computed from specs & benchmarks via our public methodology.
Full specifications
Everything we track for the Intel Core i9-9900K
General
- Announced
- 2018
- Socket
- LGA1151-v2
- Process
- 14 nm
- Base TDP
- 95 W
- Max turbo power
- 119 W
- Unlocked multiplier
- Yes
- Cooler included
- No
Cores & Clocks
- Cores
- 8
- Performance cores
- 8
- Efficiency cores
- 0
- Threads
- 16
- Base clock
- 3.6 GHz
- Boost clock
- 5 GHz
- L2 cache
- 2 MB
- L3 cache
- 16 MB
Integrated GPU
- iGPU
- Intel UHD Graphics 630
- iGPU clock
- 1,200 MHz
Memory
- Memory support
- DDR4-2666
- Max memory
- 128 GB
- Memory channels
- 2
Platform
- PCIe version
- 3
- CPU PCIe lanes
- 16
Benchmarks
- Geekbench 6 (single)
- 1,720
- Geekbench 6 (multi)
- 8,800
- Cinebench R23 (single)
- 1,280
- Cinebench R23 (multi)
- 12,400
- PassMark
- 18,600
Quick answers
Is the Intel Core i9-9900K good in 2026?
The Intel Core i9-9900K earns an Inno Score of 42.5/100 (“Below average”) based on its specs and benchmark results. Eight cores, sixteen threads and a 5.0 GHz single-core turbo — the LGA1151-v2 flagship, topped on the socket only by the later 9900KS, and the quickest gaming CPU money could buy in 2018. Today it is a used-market upgrade for anyone already sitting on a Z370 or Z390 board.
What are the key specs of the Intel Core i9-9900K?
Cores: 8 · Threads: 16 · Boost clock: 5 GHz · Socket: LGA1151-v2
What are the closest alternatives to the Intel Core i9-9900K?
Its closest rivals on InnoReviews are AMD Ryzen 5 3600X, AMD Ryzen 5 5600G, Intel Core i7-10700K — open the comparison pages for a spec-by-spec breakdown.