i9-9900k vs i9-9900ks

[johnsonwild]

I bought the i9-9900k a week ago and it is still in the box. I just saw that Intel was realeasing the i9-9900ks today and I was wondering if I should refund my i9-9900k and buy the i9-9900ks

[Rune]

Depends on the price difference and if you were overclocking to begin with. I'd say stick with the 9900k without knowing either of these things, though.

[TheBean]

are they the same price? or is there a price difference?

if they are the same price. go ahead. its free performance (at the cost of higher elecricity cost because its boosting higher)

personally, if there is a price difference, do not do it. just overclock to 5ghz. 90% or above can reach that

[Mathieu9836]

AFAIK the 9900KS is a 5GHZ CPU, never seen a 9900K not able to overclock to 5GHZ....

[Mister Woof]

10 minutes ago, johnsonwild said:

I bought the i9-9900k a week ago and it is still in the box. I just saw that Intel was realeasing the i9-9900ks today and I was wondering if I should refund my i9-9900k and buy the i9-9900ks

 

Unless you want a collector's item no, they're the same thing with just different stock settings.

[Mister Woof]

Actually bitwit's 9900K outperformed his 9900KS sample

 

It's a roll of the dice and doesn't seem it matters

[Matty2048]

theyre the same but the 9900ks is binned slightly higher 

[GoldenLag]

enable MCE and its the exact same CPU. 

 

no reason to change it. 

[Kilrah]

I plonked my 9900K in my mobo and booted up and it worked out of the box at 5Ghz all core, MCE on was already the default on the mobo and no issues with it 

 

 

[Blademaster91]

Keep the 9900K, the extra cost of the 9900KS isn't worth it IMO.

[jones177]

All the gains are at lower resolutions than I play at so really no difference to me. 

 

Also the i9 9900k I did overclock to 5ghz on all cores only took 1.27v to do it and it idles at the same temp as stock with a Noctua nh d15 with one fan.

 

I think the warranty is more of an issue at one year.

[Fakmykak]

tHeY aRe ThE sAmE cPu.

 

Only difference is that the KS has "Better Silicon". It will only ever make a difference when you decide to overclock.

[Zberg]

59 minutes ago, Plutosaurus said:

Actually bitwit's 9900K outperformed his 9900KS sample

 

It's a roll of the dice and doesn't seem it matters

Kind of.  Bitwit's 9900k is god tier, and an extreme outlier.  It was either 5.1 or 5.0 at 1.26 vcore, one of the lowest I have seen.  That is lottery winning silicon.  

 

The KS is guaranteed to get 5.0, which we have seen many on this forum who cannot achieve this with their 9900k.  I guess the big difference is with the KS you are guaranteed to get 5.0 ghz (so it could be good or amazing, at a price), whereas the 9900k can be anywhere from amazing to disappointing.

 

All that said, the 9900k at stock (which is the most consistent setting) is pretty damn good, and very quiet with a decent cooler.  It would have to be a good value for the KS to be worth a purchase over a K, otherwise it makes no sense to get the KS.  

[Mister Woof]

2 minutes ago, Zberg said:

Kind of.  Bitwit's 9900k is god tier, and an extreme outlier.  It was either 5.1 or 5.0 at 1.26 vcore, one of the lowest I have seen.  That is lottery winning silicon.  

 

The KS is guaranteed to get 5.0, which we have seen many on this forum who cannot achieve this with their 9900k.  I guess the big difference is with the KS you are guaranteed to get 5.0 ghz (so it could be good or amazing, at a price), whereas the 9900k can be anywhere from amazing to disappointing.

 

All that said, the 9900k at stock (which is the most consistent setting) is pretty damn good, and very quiet with a decent cooler.  It would have to be a good value for the KS to be worth a purchase over a K, otherwise it makes no sense to get the KS.  

 

Agreed there's variables

 

But 4.8-5.2ghz is minimal difference; mostly e-cred.

 

I noticed 4.8 from 4.3, but 4.8 to 5.0 was placebo imo

[Zberg]

Just now, Plutosaurus said:

 

Agreed there's variables

 

But 4.9-5.1ghz is minimal difference

That is a really good point people need to consider.

 

At minimum you should be able to get 4.8 if not 4.9 on every 9900k.    In terms of performance this is not going to be noticable.  In fact, unless I am rendering something absolutely ginormous, it is hard to tell the stock from the 5.0 or 5.1 OC settings.  Everything feels the same, unless I am exporting a massive 4k video edit.  And even then, that would only matter if it is your profession that you make money off of where minutes matter.  Most enthusiasts dont really need that extra 5 minutes they would save on an export that they do maybe once every day or so.

 

 

 

 

[johnsonwild]

Where can I find retailers Selling the i9-9900ks?

[richintheveins]

12 hours ago, johnsonwild said:

Where can I find retailers Selling the i9-9900ks?

Micro Center and Amazon at the moment, but be warned the price is inflated. Many people are saying don't buy it but the masses have ignored and have sold out at the semi reasonable price point of $513-$524. The pre-orders had them sold out on release date. Since then, the price has skyrocketed to a minimal price of $569.99 on Newegg ( which has been sold out since yesterday afternoon) and Amazon which is @ $614 USD. You can score this for $599.99 through Micro Center, but imo get this only if you have an RTX 2080 ti, a high end monitor, and can score this at the suggested MSRP (that's the only way you will get value for gaming). It's limited for the holiday season, but its not worth it @ $600 USD.

 

To sum this up....

 

When you should consider to buy?

If you already have a Z390 Motherboard, a high end GPU, a high refresh Monitor, a high end cooling solution, and don't want to touch overclocking settings then consider the 9900ks at no more than $529. Of course there is a bit of "fun" value for overclockers as reports have shown that you gain a little performance if you overclock it further and many have been able to hit 5.2 ghz stable.

 

I wouldn't Buy it if....

You are building from scratch. At this point AMD has the crown and you will have way more value/performance if you purchase a 3900x or wait for the 3950x and build around that platform. 

 

In short....

The 9900ks is a bragging rights cpu to say you have the best one you can buy for the Z390 platform. As minimal as it may be some of us tech heads only need this validation and I can respect that (i'm that person). 

 

Of course this is all my opinion....Do whatever makes you happy. As I always tell people its just money and if you have it enjoy it. YOLO

[richintheveins]

Hey I just wanted to throw this out there if anyone is dead set on getting an i9 9900ks (as I wanted to test one out myself as well). Best Buy has the best deal for the chip. They are selling it at $524.99, the only issue is they sell out in minutes. I would check the site frequently to see if you can grab one as its only $12 over the suggested retail price.