Confirmed - i9 9900k will have soldered IHS, no more toothpaste TIM

[KompuKare]

This has no effect with whether you can or not. All it means is that its MOST LIKELY not going to need as much cooling. but since it has 2 more cores, I would guess that the cooling required would be close to what the 8700k requires.

I would phrase that differently: a soldered core should mean it will be easier to keep cool because the heat is easier to transfer from the die to the cooler since solder is a better conductor than thermal paste/toothpaste.

However, it will still require as much cooling since those watts have to be removed. 100W is 100W either way, just like how a two GPU which consume, for example, 250W but where one exhausts at 60°C and one exhausts at 90°C will both require the same amount of cooling.

 

[coercitiv]

However, it will still require as much cooling since those watts have to be removed. 100W is 100W either way

Yes and... no. Without solder you have higher thermal resistance between die and heatspreader, which you can partially compensate by increasing the temperature delta between CPU and cooler. (it's either that or run the CPU at higher operating temps) So, if your cooler is bigger and/or fans run faster, the few degrees offset you generate this way will help keep the CPU at lower temps. If you want to obtain this effect without drastically increasing fan speed then you need to increase radiator size... which means more cooling.

So even if 100W is 100W either way, with TIM you are either forced to run the CPU at high temps or increase cooling to (partially) compensate. Sure, temps are stable and will not increase further since the cooler does dissipate the average power output of the chip, but with high performance parts like the 8700K you simply risk thermal throttling in burst loads if you spec cooler based on TDP only.

If we look at it from the other way around, a soldered 8700K would have lower operating temps with iso cooling, or would require significantly lower fan speeds at iso temps. That means soldered 8700K would require "less" cooling.

 

[Borealis7]

soldered CPUs will run cooler and will also consume a bit less power, because of that vicious cycle of
higher temps -> higher power consumption -> more heat produced -> higher temps ...

i don't OC my 7700K because 1) i don't notice any meaningful gains in games i play and 2) it's already running VERY hot at load even with my beefy Noctua.
but it i had a soldered CPU, i'd give it the beans!

 

[AtenRa]

I would phrase that differently: a soldered core should mean it will be easier to keep cool because the heat is easier to transfer from the die to the cooler since solder is a better conductor than thermal paste/toothpaste.

True

However, it will still require as much cooling since those watts have to be removed. 100W is 100W either way, just like how a two GPU which consume, for example, 250W but where one exhausts at 60°C and one exhausts at 90°C will both require the same amount of cooling.

If you use the same cooling the soldered CPU will operate at lower temps. So with a soldered CPU you may use a smaller cooler to operate the chip at the same temps as a non-solder CPU with a bigger cooler.

What that means is that if you have the same CPU and one is soldered then the TDP will be lower on the soldered CPU.

Example,
Non-soldered (TIM) Core i7 8700K is 95W TDP
Soldered Core i7 8700K would be a 65W TDP.

Power usage will be almost the same for both.

 

[phillyman36]

Is anyone with a i7 8700k actually going to get the i9 9900k?

 

[TheELF]

Is anyone with a i7 8700k actually going to get the i9 9900k?

The only people who would actually need a i9-9900k are the same people that needed the i7-8700k so I would say yes.
Remember these are semi professional CPUs and getting a ~33% boost + clocks is nothing to sneeze at.

(Yes crazy gamers with more money then brains are also going to switch)

 

[phillyman36]

The only people who would actually need a i9-9900k are the same people that needed the i7-8700k so I would say yes.
Remember these are semi professional CPUs and getting a ~33% boost + clocks is nothing to sneeze at.

(Yes crazy gamers with more money then brains are also going to switch)

I myself usually like having the latest stuff but as nice as the i9 9900k is i think im passing on this one and wait until next year. For the gaming, web surfing and little video encoding i do I don't see a reason to upgrade. I could sell my i5 7600k and i7 7700k to reduce the cost but whats the point.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Is anyone with a i7 8700k actually going to get the i9 9900k?

I'm passing on the 9900k unless it is an insane overclocker and is absurdly cheap and we all know the latter won't happen.

 

[Gideon]

If it's 460€ + VAT (as it's rumored to be) It also seems a tad on the expensive side. 500€ is ok for a halo product, but IMO there should be at least one 8/16 thread product slotted below that in that case (as was with the initial Ryzen).

 

[RichUK]

I'm passing on the 9900k unless it is an insane overclocker and is absurdly cheap and we all know the latter won't happen.

8 cores and 16 threads at 5Ghz should be relatively normal with good cooling (5.2 / 5.3 being above average, but achievable), especially given it now employs solder.

This should be plenty good for a very a long time, plus it's a platform that can attain good memory overclocks and doesn't suffer the latency from the mesh interconnect (ergo Skylake X and future spin offs).

I'll be getting one.

 

[StinkyPinky]

The only people who would actually need a i9-9900k are the same people that needed the i7-8700k so I would say yes.
Remember these are semi professional CPUs and getting a ~33% boost + clocks is nothing to sneeze at.

(Yes crazy gamers with more money then brains are also going to switch)

Guilty as charged.

 

[ehume]

My 4790k was damaged by a convex heatsink. I had to give up heatsink comparisons. So I bit when the 8700k became available. I was surprised to find I could run AVX2 Linpack at 5GHz with absolutely top end air. So no, I won't be getting an i9 9900k. But if I did not have all the comparisons done on the 8700k, I would jump at the i9 9900k, or even the eight-core eight-thread i7 9700k if it is soldered. As the man said, it looks good for the long haul.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

8 cores and 16 threads at 5Ghz should be relatively normal with good cooling (5.2 / 5.3 being above average, but achievable), especially given it now employs solder.

This should be plenty good for a very a long time, plus it's a platform that can attain good memory overclocks and doesn't suffer the latency from the mesh interconnect (ergo Skylake X and future spin offs).

I'll be getting one.

I've got a fast 8700k. The 9900k isn't worth it for me.

 

[Zucker2k]

Guilty as charged.

Power to you, my friend.

 

[epsilon84]

Is anyone with a i7 8700k actually going to get the i9 9900k?

Probably not anytime soon. Can't really justify it for gaming, that money should be going into a new GPU instead...

If I was building new... Maybe. Depends on the premium over the 9700K.

 

[IEC]

Is anyone with a i7 8700k actually going to get the i9 9900k?

I will be getting one.

It's likely someone is going to get a very reasonably priced 8700K in the not-so-distant future

 

[Dayman1225]

Supposed soldered 8 core die

 

[RichUK]

^^ Nice, though the black sealant looks a bit off - it usually covers the whole IHS / PCB contact surface.

 

[LTC8K6]

Supposed soldered 8 core die

It says all three models have "full welding" according to the translation.

For three models full welding
9900k 9700k 9600k

 

[LTC8K6]

9600K 9700K 9900K
Finally don't use the radiator.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Has October being established as the release month?

 

[ozzy702]

Is anyone with a i7 8700k actually going to get the i9 9900k?

I will be and will sell my 8700k. It's a drop in that will last me until the next build several years from now.

 

[ozzy702]

8 cores and 16 threads at 5Ghz should be relatively normal with good cooling (5.2 / 5.3 being above average, but achievable), especially given it now employs solder.

This should be plenty good for a very a long time, plus it's a platform that can attain good memory overclocks and doesn't suffer the latency from the mesh interconnect (ergo Skylake X and future spin offs).

I'll be getting one.

^ This. 9900k will be all the CPU I need for a very very long time and I don't have to change out my cooling, mobo, etc, just pop the new chip in.

 

[IntelUser2000]

Intel's Knights Landing Xeon Phi with a nearly 700mm2 die size uses thermal paste between the die and IHS. If it was for saving a few cents it doesn't make sense.

Enthusiasts demanding their chips be soldered can influence Intel to solder K series chips. It's not like they are deaf.

Companies often go for reducing the worst-case scenario to an absolute minimum possible. So -55C to +180C may sound unrealistic, but maybe not so.

To say it is superior is to imply Intel's implementation is not efficient; which is to say, don't talk about SMT in a vacuum.

It's a relatively minor(from a user's perspective) implementation difference where AMD's version favors multi-thread and Intel's version favors single thread. It's about how resource sharing/splitting affects performance. Generally, shared resource is better for single thread, and distributed one is better for multi-thread. Your team has limited budget/time, so it has to choose between the two.

 

[beginner99]

Has October being established as the release month?

More important will be availability. 8700k might have launched in October but availability in most of the world was early 2018.