Intel's Most Powerful Ever Desktop Processor Revealed: Core i9-9900K A Ryzen Killer At Last?

Antony Leather Contributor

The second half of 2018 looks set to offer some serious battles between AMD and Intel INTC +0.28% in both the high-end and mainstream markets and the latter will likely see Intel release it's most powerful ever mainstream CPU. Today, according to the latest rumors, the new range of CPUs will include the Core i9-9900K, which will have eight cores and 16 threads, matching AMD's mainstream flagship Ryzen 7 series.

Interestingly, two other CPUs will join it, including the Core i7-9700K, with six cores and 12 threads, and is likely a 14nm refresh of Intel's current Core i7-8700K, likely offering higher clock speeds too. Finally, the Core i5-9600K will have six cores and threads and is a replacement for the Core i5-8600K.

The Intel Core i7-8700K lags behind AMD's Ryzen eight-core CPUs in many benchmarksAntony Leather

The information, which comes via apparently inside information gleaned by Wccftech, comes after months of rumors about an eight-core Intel mainstream CPU, which is desperately needed to counter AMD's eight-core Ryzen CPUs, which beat Intel's current fastest mainstream CPU, the Core i7-8700K in a range of tests, especially where multi-threading and content creation are concerned.

The Core i9-9900K also sees the Core i9 brand filter down to the mainstream for the first time, being currently limited to its high-end desktop CPUs starting at the Core i9-7900X and finishing at it's most powerful desktop CPU, the Core i9-7980XE. The information also made more headway in confirming Intel's Z390 chipset, but worryingly suggests that the new eight-core CPU may be exclusive to the new Z390 chipset and will not be compatible with current Z370 motherboards, although this is speculation at this point.