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Intel Core i7-9800X X-series

Intel Core i7-9800X X-series

Intel Core i7-9800X X-Series: Overview and Practical Recommendations for 2025

(Relevant as of April 2025)

1. Key Specifications: Architecture and Performance

Architecture and Manufacturing Process

The Intel Core i7-9800X processor belongs to the X-Series lineup, built on the Skylake-X microarchitecture (14nm). Although the 14nm manufacturing process is considered outdated by 2025, Intel maintains it in the HEDT (High-End Desktop) segment for a balance between cost and performance. Key features include:

- 8 cores / 16 threads with a base frequency of 3.8 GHz and a turbo boost up to 4.5 GHz.

- Support for 64 PCIe 3.0 lanes (relevant for multi-drive systems and multiple GPUs).

- Technologies such as Hyper-Threading, Turbo Boost Max 3.0, AVX-512 for workloads.

Performance

According to Geekbench 6 (2025):

- Single-Core: 1359 — a level sufficient for most games and applications focused on single-core speed.

- Multi-Core: 7090 — a strong result for rendering, 3D modeling, and code compilation.

Key Features

- Unlocked multiplier for overclocking (even with a TDP of 165W).

- Support for Optane Memory to accelerate storage solutions.

2. Compatible Motherboards

Socket and Chipsets

The processor uses the LGA 2066 (Socket R4). Recommended chipsets include:

- Intel X299 — the only option for fully unlocking the processor's potential (price of new boards: $250–$400).

Examples of models: ASUS ROG Rampage VI Extreme, MSI X299 SLI Plus.

Selection Features

- VRM module: Look for boards with 8+ power phases for stable overclocking.

- Cooling: Due to the TDP of 165W, having heatsinks on the VRM and M.2 slots is critical.

- Compatibility: Some X299 boards require a BIOS update to work with the i7-9800X.

3. Supported Memory

Types and Configurations

The processor supports DDR4-2666 MHz (maximum of 128GB in quad-channel mode). By 2025, DDR4 lags behind DDR5 in bandwidth but remains cheaper (16GB DDR4 — $50 vs. DDR5 — $80).

Recommendations

- For multi-threaded tasks, use quad-channel kits (e.g., 4x8GB).

- Latency of CL16–CL18 is the optimal choice for a balance of price and speed.

4. Power Supply: Power Calculation

Minimum Requirements

With a TDP of 165W and a high-end graphics card installed (e.g., NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti):

- Power Supply of at least 750W (80+ Gold or higher).

- Examples of models: Corsair RM750x ($130), Seasonic Focus GX-750 ($140).

Features

- Avoid cheap power supplies without certification — there is a high risk of voltage drops.

- For overclocking, allow an extra 100–150W (e.g., 850W).

5. Pros and Cons

Advantages

- Multi-threaded performance: 16 threads excel at rendering and virtualization.

- Configuration flexibility: 64 PCIe 3.0 lanes for multiple GPUs or NVMe drives.

- Price: In 2025, the processor is sold for $320–$380 (new), which is cheaper than AMD counterparts like the Ryzen 9 7900X ($450).

Disadvantages

- High power consumption: 165W compared to 105W for Ryzen 7 7800X.

- Outdated manufacturing process: 14nm vs. 5nm for competitors (greater heat, lower efficiency).

- No DDR5 or PCIe 5.0: Limitations for future upgrades.

6. Use Case Scenarios

Gaming

- At Full HD / 1440p with RTX 4070: 90–120 FPS in AAA titles (Cyberpunk 2077, Starfield).

- Downside: In games dependent on single-core speed, it lags behind the Ryzen 7 7800X3D (+15% in fps).

Work Tasks

- Blender, Adobe Premiere: Rendering speeds are 8-20% faster than the Core i7-12700K.

- Virtualization: 16 threads allow multiple OS instances to run smoothly.

Multimedia

- Streaming (OBS + gaming) — stable performance thanks to 8 cores.

7. Comparison with Competitors

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X ($400)

- Pros: 5nm, DDR5, PCIe 5.0, energy efficiency.

- Cons: 8 cores / 16 threads, but 10–15% faster in gaming.

Intel Core i9-9900X ($450)

- Pros: 10 cores, higher multi-core score (Geekbench 6 ~8500).

- Cons: Price and TDP of 180W.

Conclusion: The i7-9800X is advantageous for budget workstations where price per core is critical.

8. Practical Assembly Tips

- Cooling: High-end coolers like Noctua NH-D15 ($110) or Corsair iCUE H150i ($170).

- Case: At least 2 intake fans (example: Fractal Design Meshify 2).

- Storage: 1–2 NVMe SSDs (e.g., Samsung 990 Pro 1TB — $120) + SATA SSD for archives.

9. Final Conclusion: Who Should Choose the i7-9800X?

This processor is worth considering if:

1. You need a workstation for rendering without overpaying for "extreme" cores.

2. You are planning an upgrade from previous LGA 2066 generations (saving on motherboard replacement).

3. Overclocking is important on a relatively affordable platform.

However, if you're building a future-proof PC with DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 — look towards Ryzen 7000 or Intel Alder Lake-X.

Prices are relevant as of April 2025. Check availability and configurations with official suppliers before purchase.

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Basic

Label Name
Intel
Platform
Desktop
Launch Date
October 2018
Model Name
?
The Intel processor number is just one of several factors - along with processor brand, system configurations, and system-level benchmarks - to be considered when choosing the right processor for your computing needs.
i7-9800X
Code Name
SkyLake

CPU Specifications

Total Cores
?
Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).
8
Total Threads
?
Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.
16
Basic Frequency
3.80 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency
?
Max Turbo Frequency is the maximum single-core frequency at which the processor is capable of operating using Intel® Turbo Boost Technology and, if present, Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 and Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost. Frequency is typically measured in gigahertz (GHz), or billion cycles per second.
4.40 GHz
Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 Frequency
?
Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 identifies the best performing core(s) on a processor and provides increased performance on those cores through increasing frequency as needed by taking advantage of power and thermal headroom. Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 frequency is the clock frequency of the CPU when running in this mode.
4.50 GHz
Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0
?
Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 identifies the best performing core(s) on a processor and provides increased performance on those cores through increasing frequency as needed by taking advantage of power and thermal headroom.
Yes
Intel Hyper-Threading Technology
?
Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) delivers two processing threads per physical core. Highly threaded applications can get more work done in parallel, completing tasks sooner.
Yes
Intel Turbo Boost Technology
?
Intel® Turbo Boost Technology dynamically increases the processor's frequency as needed by taking advantage of thermal and power headroom to give you a burst of speed when you need it, and increased energy efficiency when you don’t.
2.0
CPU Socket
?
The socket is the component that provides the mechanical and electrical connections between the processor and motherboard.
FCLGA2066
Technology
?
Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.
14 nm
TDP
165 W
Max. Operating Temperature
?
Junction Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor die.
95°C
PCI Express Version
?
PCI Express Revision is the supported version of the PCI Express standard. Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (or PCIe) is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard for attaching hardware devices to a computer. The different PCI Express versions support different data rates.
3.0
Number of PCI Express Lanes
?
A PCI Express (PCIe) lane consists of two differential signaling pairs, one for receiving data, one for transmitting data, and is the basic unit of the PCIe bus. Max # of PCI Express Lanes is the total number of supported lanes.
44
Intel 64
?
Intel® 64 architecture delivers 64-bit computing on server, workstation, desktop and mobile platforms when combined with supporting software.¹ Intel 64 architecture improves performance by allowing systems to address more than 4 GB of both virtual and physical memory.
Yes

Memory Specifications

Memory Type
?
Intel® processors come in four different types: Single Channel, Dual Channel, Triple Channel, and Flex Mode. Maximum supported memory speed may be lower when populating multiple DIMMs per channel on products that support multiple memory channels.
DDR4-2666
Max Memory Size
?
Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.
128 GB
Memory Channels
?
The number of memory channels refers to the bandwidth operation for real world application.
4
Bus Speed
8 GT/s
Max Memory Bandwidth
?
Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).
85 GB/s
ECC Memory Supported
?
ECC Memory Supported indicates processor support for Error-Correcting Code memory. ECC memory is a type of system memory that can detect and correct common kinds of internal data corruption. Note that ECC memory support requires both processor and chipset support.
No

Miscellaneous

Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)
?
Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) continues from the existing support for IA-32 (VT-x) and Itanium® processor (VT-i) virtualization adding new support for I/O-device virtualization. Intel VT-d can help end users improve security and reliability of the systems and also improve performance of I/O devices in virtualized environments.
Yes
Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)
?
Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) allows one hardware platform to function as multiple “virtual” platforms. It offers improved manageability by limiting downtime and maintaining productivity by isolating computing activities into separate partitions.
Yes
Intel Standard Manageability (ISM)
?
Intel® Standard Manageability is the manageability solution for Intel vPro® Essentials platforms and is a subset of Intel® AMT with out-of-band management over Ethernet and Wi-Fi, but no KVM or new life cycle management features.
Intel® SSE4.1 | Intel® SSE4.2 | Intel® AVX2 | Intel® AVX-512
Number of AVX-512 FMA Units
2
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology
?
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology is an advanced means of enabling high performance while meeting the power-conservation needs of mobile systems. Conventional Intel SpeedStep® Technology switches both voltage and frequency in tandem between high and low levels in response to processor load. Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology builds upon that architecture using design strategies such as Separation between Voltage and Frequency Changes, and Clock Partitioning and Recovery.
Yes
Execute Disable Bit
?
Execute Disable Bit is a hardware-based security feature that can reduce exposure to viruses and malicious-code attacks and prevent harmful software from executing and propagating on the server or network.
Yes
Cache
?
CPU Cache is an area of fast memory located on the processor. Intel® Smart Cache refers to the architecture that allows all cores to dynamically share access to the last level cache.
16.5 MB Intel® Smart Cache
Intel AES New Instructions
?
Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) are a set of instructions that enable fast and secure data encryption and decryption. AES-NI are valuable for a wide range of cryptographic applications, for example: applications that perform bulk encryption/decryption, authentication, random number generation, and authenticated encryption.
Yes

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6
Single Core Score
1359
Geekbench 6
Multi Core Score
7090
Geekbench 5
Single Core Score
1093
Geekbench 5
Multi Core Score
8179

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core
Core i5-9600
1443 +6.2%
Xeon W-3265
1389 +2.2%
Core i7-9800X X-series
1359
Core i5-10200H
1316 -3.2%
Core i3-10100T
1274 -6.3%
Geekbench 6 Multi Core
Xeon W-2175
8050 +13.5%
Ryzen 7 4700G
7548 +6.5%
Core i7-9800X X-series
7090
EPYC 7232P
6674 -5.9%
Ryzen 3 PRO 8300GE
6307 -11%
Geekbench 5 Single Core
Ryzen 3 PRO 4350G
1136 +3.9%
Xeon W-2265
1114 +1.9%
Core i7-9800X X-series
1093
Core i7-8750H
1071 -2%
Core i7-9850HE
1050 -3.9%
Geekbench 5 Multi Core
Xeon Gold 6209U
9263 +13.3%
Xeon E5-4627 v4
8685 +6.2%
Core i7-9800X X-series
8179
Xeon Silver 4214
7792 -4.7%
Core i7-1260P
7382 -9.7%