Intel Core I7 9700K Processor BX80684I79700K

I bought one for myself to upgrade from an aging 7700k. Ryzen was an option, but I was aiming at best gaming experience and while the 3xxx Ryzens and b450 mobos are absolutely great price/performance, in gaming Intel still keeps the crown. If you find the right deal, things may even up a bit. And Microcenter had it. So, I finally, somewhat reluctantly, went with the 9700k.My 9700k went into a mobo and required only 1.28vcore for non-AVX Prime95 testing. That was a nice surprise!Therefore I later decided to upgrade my elder son's 8700k, though these CPUs performance doesn't differ much, but the voltages do, in favor of the 9700k. The lower, the better, hence 9700k wins and a i700k still sells well.His delidded 8700k required 1.37v to run at 5GHz with AVX and ... MoreI bought one for myself to upgrade from an aging 7700k. Ryzen was an option, but I was aiming at best gaming experience and while the 3xxx Ryzens and b450 mobos are absolutely great price/performance, in gaming Intel still keeps the crown. If you find the right deal, things may even up a bit. And Microcenter had it. So, I finally, somewhat reluctantly, went with the 9700k.My 9700k went into a mobo and required only 1.28vcore for non-AVX Prime95 testing. That was a nice surprise!Therefore I later decided to upgrade my elder son's 8700k, though these CPUs performance doesn't differ much, but the voltages do, in favor of the 9700k. The lower, the better, hence 9700k wins and a i700k still sells well.His delidded 8700k required 1.37v to run at 5GHz with AVX and 1.36 non-AVX, not the best chip - and the second 9700k I bought for him was not a silicone lottery winner either, and required more than on mine 9700k, but still less than the 8700k. It only "asked for" 1.34vcore and kept the temps on the same level as his 8700k, under a 240mm AIO. For a soldered CPU that was expected, while lower voltages were a bonus.Tech reviews put 9700k slightly above the 8700k in terms of benchmarks, and one doesn't need to delid the 9700k. It also required a lesser voltage. And most importantly Microcenter's prices are unbeatable now, with online taxes collected. This was a win all around.Thank you Microcenter!

A processor either works or it doesn't. Intle products have always worked well for me, I just buy the level of processing performance I desire and drop it into a motherboard. People will tell you that you don't need an expensive cpu if you aren't gaiming just get the cheapest one. Not true, the number of cores plays a big part in multitasking. Some software delegates a thread to each process, meaning you need more to run at a higher Load Average. I've recently upgraded my processors for that reason and received better performance from them for that reason. The generation of the processors is another important matter. AES, AVX, AVX2, AVX512, are found in the latest generation processors and can really increase performance. My idea was to get a motherboard that would ... MoreA processor either works or it doesn't. Intle products have always worked well for me, I just buy the level of processing performance I desire and drop it into a motherboard. People will tell you that you don't need an expensive cpu if you aren't gaiming just get the cheapest one. Not true, the number of cores plays a big part in multitasking. Some software delegates a thread to each process, meaning you need more to run at a higher Load Average. I've recently upgraded my processors for that reason and received better performance from them for that reason. The generation of the processors is another important matter. AES, AVX, AVX2, AVX512, are found in the latest generation processors and can really increase performance. My idea was to get a motherboard that would accept a late generation cpu and get the cpu with a high core count. Price is a factor as well which kept me from purchasing the top level cpu but one close to it.

To start off it's an excellent product, however... If you want to do moderately intensive AVX workloads, look elsewhere to the AMD Ryzen platform for those tasks. Where you benefit from the headroom given to do those tasks while not drawing an enormous amount of power from the wall.If you are the type that is into photo manipulation or an Adobe Premiere user, this product is for you. If you need effects to be completely quickly, or fast timeline scrubbing the 9700k can easily do this and shave time off from rending queues.And as for gamers this probably the best bang of the buck for high refresh rate monitors and competitive gaming. Just make sure you pair it with an appropriate graphics card. Do, however make sure it's something you need for an edge in your ... MoreTo start off it's an excellent product, however... If you want to do moderately intensive AVX workloads, look elsewhere to the AMD Ryzen platform for those tasks. Where you benefit from the headroom given to do those tasks while not drawing an enormous amount of power from the wall.If you are the type that is into photo manipulation or an Adobe Premiere user, this product is for you. If you need effects to be completely quickly, or fast timeline scrubbing the 9700k can easily do this and shave time off from rending queues.And as for gamers this probably the best bang of the buck for high refresh rate monitors and competitive gaming. Just make sure you pair it with an appropriate graphics card. Do, however make sure it's something you need for an edge in your games and not just a flashy showpiece.As stated before about power draw, this CPU can draw quite abit of it. It can draw about 160watts +/- 15% while on load at stock settings. If you do intend to overclock as per the "K" moniker allows, power draw can easily hit 220+ Watts. Try to pair this with a bespoke motherboard for reliable stability. Be sure not to skimp on an efficient cooling solution, under load it can hit the 80s or 90s on regular.Pros:It works and works wellGood solution for content creationCons:Power hog and worse while overclockedIt is an older product compared to new offerings.