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Intel Core i9-9900

Intel Core i9-9900: An Obsolete Flagship in 2025 – Is It Worth Buying?

April 2025

Key Specifications: Coffee Lake Architecture in the 14nm Era

The Intel Core i9-9900 processor, released in 2018, is still found on the secondary market and in some new builds. Its Coffee Lake architecture is based on a 14nm process technology, which has already been surpassed by Intel and AMD's 7nm and 5nm solutions. However, even after 7 years, the chip remains relevant for specific tasks.

- Cores and Threads: 8 cores, 16 threads. For 2025, this is the minimum standard for workstations, but it still performs well in gaming.

- Cache: 16 MB L3 — sufficient for data processing in applications like Photoshop or Premiere Pro.

- TDP: 65W — low power consumption by today’s processor standards (for example, the Core i9-14900K requires up to 253W).

- Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 630. Suitable only for basic tasks: office work, 4K video, old games on low settings.

Performance:

- Geekbench 6: 1611 (Single-Core), 7202 (Multi-Core).

In comparison, the Ryzen 5 7600X (2023) scores around 2700/14000 but costs more.

Key Features:

- Supports Hyper-Threading.

- Unlocked multiplier (though overclocking is limited in models without the “K” designation).

Compatible Motherboards: Searching for Rarities

The CPU socket is LGA 1151 v2, which is compatible only with 300-series chipsets:

- Z390 — the best choice for overclocking (e.g., ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero).

- H370/B365 — budget options without overclocking support.

Considerations for 2025:

- New motherboards are rarely produced. Prices for Z390 start from $150 (e.g., Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO), which is expensive for an outdated platform.

- Check the BIOS: some motherboards require updates to work with the i9-9900.

Memory: Only DDR4

The processor supports DDR4-2666 (in dual-channel mode). DDR5 and higher frequencies are not available.

Recommendations:

- Optimal volume is 32GB (2×16GB). For example, Kingston HyperX Fury DDR4-2666.

- 16GB is sufficient for gaming, but modern AAA titles (e.g., "Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty") now require 32GB.

Power Supply: Saving on Energy

With a TDP of 65W, even with a discrete graphics card (e.g., RTX 4060), a PSU of 500-600W is sufficient.

Examples:

- Corsair CX550 (550W, $60) — for systems without a high-end GPU.

- Be Quiet! Pure Power 12 M 600W ($80) — with headroom for future upgrades.

Tip: Do not skimp on the PSU — older models may not support modern energy efficiency standards.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Low power consumption.

- Good single-threaded performance for older games (e.g., "The Witcher 3").

- Availability on the secondary market ($100-150 for used ones).

Cons:

- No PCIe 4.0/5.0 — NVMe Gen4 SSDs will not reach their potential.

- Outdated platform — lacks support for DDR5, Thunderbolt 4.

- Difficulties with new motherboards.

Use Cases

1. Gaming: Suitable for 1080p/60 FPS in titles like "Fortnite" or "Apex Legends," but may experience drops in "Alan Wake 2."

2. Work Tasks: Rendering in Blender, video encoding — 30-40% slower than the Ryzen 7 7700X.

3. Multimedia: Ideal for HTPC (home theater PC) due to low heat output.

Real User Experience: Users in 2025 note that the i9-9900 handles streaming in OBS with NVIDIA NVENC well.

Comparison with Competitors

- AMD Ryzen 7 5800X: New models on AM4 start at $200 but offer +50% Multi-Core performance.

- Intel Core i5-13400: 30% faster in games, supports DDR5, priced at $250.

- Apple M2 (in mini-PCs): Best energy efficiency, but limited upgrade options.

Conclusion: The i9-9900 is only advantageous in terms of second-hand pricing.

Practical Building Tips

1. Motherboard: Look for Z390 boards with a warranty.

2. Cooling: A tower cooler is sufficient (DeepCool AK400, $30).

3. Storage: Kingston NV1 1TB SSD (PCIe 3.0, $50) — the best price-to-performance ratio.

4. Graphics Card: No higher than RTX 4060/RX 7600 to avoid bottlenecking.

Example Build:

- CPU: i9-9900 ($150 used).

- GPU: Intel Arc A580 ($180).

- Total: $500-600 for an office system with gaming potential.

Final Verdict: Who Should Consider the i9-9900 in 2025?

This processor is worth considering only in two cases:

1. Upgrading an old LGA 1151 v2 system without replacing the motherboard.

2. Budget builds focusing on energy efficiency (e.g., for a media server).

For new builds, it’s better to opt for the Ryzen 5 7600 or Core i5-14400F — they offer modern technologies and future-proofing.

Price of New Processor: As of April 2025, new i9-9900 units are rarely found and start at $250, which is unjustifiably expensive. The used market offers it for $100-150, making it a niche solution for enthusiasts.

Basic

Label Name

Intel

Platform

Desktop

Launch Date

April 2019

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.

i9-9900

Code Name

Coffee Lake

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).

Total Threads

Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.

Basic Frequency

3.10 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.

5.00 GHz

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

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

L3 Cache

16 MB

CPU Socket

The socket is the component that provides the mechanical and electrical connections between the processor and motherboard.

FCLGA1151

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

65 W

Max. Operating Temperature

Junction Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor die.

100°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.

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

Instruction Set

The instruction set is a hard program stored inside the CPU that guides and optimizes CPU operations. With these instruction sets, the CPU can run more efficiently. There are many manufacturers that design CPUs, which results in different instruction sets, such as the 8086 instruction set for the Intel camp and the RISC instruction set for the ARM camp. x86, ARM v8, and MIPS are all codes for instruction sets. Instruction sets can be extended; for example, x86 added 64-bit support to create x86-64. Manufacturers developing CPUs that are compatible with a certain instruction set need authorization from the instruction set patent holder. A typical example is Intel authorizing AMD, enabling the latter to develop CPUs compatible with the x86 instruction set.

64-bit

PCI Express Configurations

PCI Express (PCIe) Configurations describe the available PCIe lane configurations that can be used to link to PCIe devices.

Up to 1x16 | 2x8 | 1x8+2x4

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.

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).

41.6 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.

GPU Specifications

Integrated Graphics Model

An integrated GPU refers to the graphics core that is integrated into the CPU processor. Leveraging the processor's powerful computational capabilities and intelligent power efficiency management, it delivers outstanding graphics performance and a smooth application experience at a lower power consumption.

Intel® UHD Graphics 630

Graphics Base Frequency

Graphics Base frequency refers to the rated/guaranteed graphics render clock frequency in MHz.

350 MHz

Graphics Frequency

Graphics max dynamic frequency refers to the maximum opportunistic graphics render clock frequency (in MHz) that can be supported using Intel® HD Graphics with Dynamic Frequency feature.

1.20 GHz

Graphics Video Max Memory

64 GB

4K Support

Yes | at 60Hz

DirectX Support

DirectX* Support indicates support for a specific version of Microsoft’s collection of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for handling multimedia compute tasks.

Max Resolution (HDMI)

Max Resolution (HDMI) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the HDMI interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

4096 x 2304@24Hz

Max Resolution (DP)

Max Resolution (DP) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the DP interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

4096 x 2304@60Hz

Max Resolution (eDP - Integrated Flat Panel)

Max Resolution (Integrated Flat Panel) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor for a device with an integrated flat panel (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your device.

4096 x 2304@60Hz

Number of Displays Supported

Miscellaneous

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 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 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

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 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

Intel Boot Guard

Intel® Device Protection Technology with Boot Guard helps protect the system’s pre-OS environment from viruses and malicious software attacks.

Yes

Intel Clear Video HD Technology

Intel® Clear Video HD Technology, like its predecessor, Intel® Clear Video Technology, is a suite of image decode and processing technologies built into the integrated processor graphics that improve video playback, delivering cleaner, sharper images, more natural, accurate, and vivid colors, and a clear and stable video picture. Intel® Clear Video HD Technology adds video quality enhancements for richer color and more realistic skin tones.

Yes

Intel Clear Video Technology

Yes

Intel VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)

Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT), also known as Second Level Address Translation (SLAT), provides acceleration for memory intensive virtualized applications. Extended Page Tables in Intel® Virtualization Technology platforms reduces the memory and power overhead costs and increases battery life through hardware optimization of page table management.

Yes

Intel InTru 3D Technology

Yes

Intel OS Guard

Yes

OpenGL Support

OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics.

4.5

Intel Quick Sync Video

Intel® Quick Sync Video delivers fast conversion of video for portable media players, online sharing, and video editing and authoring.

Yes

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6

Single Core Score

1611

Geekbench 6

Multi Core Score

7202

Geekbench 5

Single Core Score

1198

Geekbench 5

Multi Core Score

7459

Passmark CPU

Single Core Score

2574

Passmark CPU

Multi Core Score

21780

Compared to Other CPU

Geekbench 6 Single Core

EPYC 7573X

1742 +8.1%

Ryzen Threadripper 3960X

1665 +3.4%

Core i9-9900

1611

Xeon E-2234

1552 -3.7%

Xeon E-2146G

1497 -7.1%

Geekbench 6 Multi Core

Ryzen 7 3700X

8089 +12.3%

Xeon E5-2690 v4

7670 +6.5%

Core i9-9900

7202

Ryzen 9 4900H

6826 -5.2%

Xeon E-2136

6379 -11.4%

Geekbench 5 Single Core

EPYC 7773X

1277 +6.6%

Xeon W-1270P

1235 +3.1%

Core i9-9900

1198

Core i9-9900X

1165 -2.8%

Core i5-1038NG7

1136 -5.2%

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Xeon E5-2695 v3

8260 +10.7%

Core i7-10875H

7882 +5.7%

Core i9-9900

7459

Core i3-12300

7118 -4.6%

Xeon E-2278GE

6697 -10.2%

Passmark CPU Single Core

Xeon Gold 6244

2664 +3.5%

Core i5-1140G7

2620 +1.8%

Core i9-9900

2574

Core i5-11500T

2549 -1%

Core i9-7920X

2507 -2.6%

Passmark CPU Multi Core

Core i7-12650H

23088 +6%

Core i9-11900F

22564 +3.6%

Core i9-9900

21780

Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U

20864 -4.2%

Ryzen 7 5800HS

20184 -7.3%