Part of Intel's 9th Generation "Coffee Lake" CPU family, the Core i7-9700K ($374) is a powerful processor that will appeal to PC builders looking for proficient gaming performance at a reasonable price. Thanks in part to a highly efficient architecture, this eight-core chip offers the excellent single-core performance that many AAA games require. But unless you're looking strictly at gaming performance with the CPU paired with a robust video card, the Core i7-9700K's overall computing performance suffers compared with that of its main competitor and our top pick for mainstream CPUs, the eight-core AMD Ryzen 7 3700X. Higher Boost, But No Hyper-Threading Announced in late 2018, the Core i7-9700K replaces the Core i7-8700K in Intel's desktop CPU lineup. The Core i7-9700K has a base clock frequency of 3.6GHz, 100MHz slower than that of its predecessor, though its maximum boost clock speed of 4.9GHz is 200MHz higher. Once the most significant predictor of a CPU's performance, clock s...
Intel's Core i7-9700K is a proficient mainstream CPU for gaming enthusiasts, but AMD's Ryzen 7 3700X offers better value and better performance on many computing tasks.
Very good single-core performance; Handles demanding 3D graphics well; Maintains high frame rates for high-refresh gamers
No Hyper-Threading support; Cooling fan and heatsink not included; No PCI Express 4.0 support