9900k worth upgrading to ?

Well, my i9-9900k died today. Was typing an email and boom, that was it. Wasn't Overclocked or anything. Newegg is taking it back thankfully.

this sucks. was just thinking of getting one of these..... reading all the bad overclocks and stuff like this making me wonder if I should steer clear for awhile.
 
The results from Silicon Lottery are not very encouraging either - very low % (I think 14) can hit 5.0Ghz all cores stable from what I read although it is still early. However, user reports are not that encouraging either.

I wanted to get an 9900K mostly for gaming use by my kids and to serve as a backup machine to my workstation but I am really not sure if it is worth it after seeing those results. The new machine will be on a custom loop but still I don't want to delid with the TIM on it. I am going with direct die cooling on my i9-7940X and that upgrade costs a lot (LM, Skylak-X direct frame, delid tool, scrap the monoblock and get VRM + CPU Block, redo the loop) but it is worth it and there is a big performance advantage to be gained by doing so. With the 9900K I don't see the same big difference and although I thought this would be a 5.0Ghz all cores chip it is nowhere near guaranteed to achieve this no matter the cooling. Yet, it costs the same as entry level 9800X HEDT with full 44 PCI-E lanes but the new X299 SKUs also suck with the new STIM.

So right now I am down to 3 options regarding this new build.

A) Scrap the idea of 9900K and get a 8086/8700K delid and overclock to the max but still get a good Z390 motherboard (Gigabyte Extreme or Master)
B) Get an Socket 2066 chip like 9800X or 7900X (easier delid)
C) Wait for new Ryzens since the purchase of CPU/Motherboard won't happen before March - I got the case and will get everything else first (water loop, SSDs, PSU, GPU I have) so I might as well wait a bit longer - no rush anyway.


Naieve
Do you mind some questions regarding the Gigabyte? I am exclusively Asus for many years but the Z390 Series on Gigabyte is clearly the better hardware.

1) How is the Gigabyte BIOS so far? What about memory XMP profiles and Samsung B-Die chips? I read that memory overclocking is not as good as in Asus.

2) How is their software suite? I am hearing it is as crappy as Asus (windows apps)

3) How are the watercooling features vs Asus. I mean PUMP/PWM fan control based on temp sensors (making curves etc)?

BTW I might even get the Aorus Extreme because of the extras (10Gbit LAN, Extra Fan Controllers + Addressable RGB Hub that Asus charges $100 for, + Thunderbolt 3) but need to seriously examine if they will be used or get the Master instead.

1. Honestly, I still have my old 3000mhz sticks from my 5930k build. They were some of the first ddr4 sticks on the market, sk hynix ics if I remember correctly. I have also heard memory overclocking isn't as good. But all I can say is that 4x4gb 3000mhz is easily set with xmp. All I did was bump the command rate to 1. Which has been stable since on those ics since I bought them. I really do want to buy some B-Dies, but I ended up putting that splurge money onto an EVGA 2080ti Black that popped up for $999.

2. Asus has a better looking software suite. I honestly never really used it. I have rampage extreme motherboards for the last 5+ years. Just have never been big on mobo software suites usually. There is almost always a better third party program for everything they do.

The gigabyte software suite is useable, but honestly looks like something I saw in Windows 3.1. At least the App Center does. Haven't explored the apps enough, though from what I saw they look far more up to date.

3. I wish I could help here mate. I have a couple swiftech d5's with the manual setting screw. And all my fans run off an analog fan controller I have had for years.

Too much of my builds are done with legacy components that I keep because they do the job, are reliable, and I don't have to worry about playing around. I have switched some old bmaverick ddc pumps to pwm with some hong kong modded boards, but I haven't used them in awhile, and they were really more of me just wanting to tinker around with things. I replaced them with dual d5 reservoir I found from an ebay seller for $90, pumps included. So I didn't end up going PWM with a new pump, as I was able to get the reservoir, and 2 d5 pumps for the price of a single new pump. And since I always run double pumps for reliability and head pressure....


TLDR: I don't have any good answers for you on any of your questions unfortunately.


"Regarding the 9900K delidding I really don't want to get into this since it's more complex than the 8700K with the STIM. "


The delid was dead easy. Just did what der8auer did, and pushed one way, and switched 180 for the other. I did remove the solder the stupid way mostly, but rockit cool has a kit out with something that is supposed to absorb the solder, and then you use some flitz to take off the plating. That is what they are saying at least.

Quicksilver and flitz to clean the solder and get to the die.

Never delidded before, but it was really easy. I put a dab of liquid electric tape on a few metal contact points under hte ihs, loaded the die and new ihs up with conductonaut, a dab of black sillicon gasket maker for each of the corners, into the rockit delidder I got with the copper ihs kit, waited a few minutes to make sure it was stuck in place, then I put it in the socket to cure so I could start playing around immediately.
 
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I upgraded my 8700k to it. But then again money isn't a problem, and I have early adopter syndrom.

It is hella fast though.

What is your need? Media encoding? Just games? Base your need in use case.
 
I upgraded my 8700k to it. But then again money isn't a problem, and I have early adopter syndrom.

It is hella fast though.

What is your need? Media encoding? Just games? Base your need in use case.

Mainly gaming.
 
Mainly gaming.

Its a toss up. Everybody says games prefer single core speeds. However, more and more games are taking advantage of more cores. So you get 7% faster single core speed (as compared by userbenchmark: https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-7700K-vs-Intel-Core-i9-9900K/3647vs4028)

However, as games take advantage of more cores you get 111% faster multi core speed. I noticed on Destiny, the games takes advantage of 8 cores when playing.

Lastly, whats your budget? Since your a chipset gen behind you'd have to upgrade more than just a drop in CPU like I did. Is it worth it to you to spend $550 on the CPU AND motherboard (and possibly ram)

I'm not an overclocker, I don't want to "push/stress" my system for minimal gains (on todays hot chips) so I can't speak to that point.
 
Upgraded from i7 6700k @4.6ghz to i9 9900k not counting difficulty I have overclocking the chip ( might be lack on knowledge ) I find it a nice improvement as long you get good deal or money is not the problem.New AMD CPU,s coming out soon so they wake a little fear in me as it might result my system price drop.
And as for now at stock speeds the CPU runs cooler than my i7-6700k ever did.
In short if you plan to keep the PC for 2 GPU upgrade cycles then i9 9900k is the way to go as it wont bottleneck more powerful cards any time soon as with ryzen 2700k and rtx 2080ti there is some bottleneck already present .But then again never owned 2700x and basing my knowledge of info I find on internet.
 
That video is the main reason I switched away from Asus and went to the Gigabyte Aorus Master. The bigger problem for me is the fact that when I set my vcore above 1.3v, I have 2 cores that start burning up. They are 10c higher than the other cores initially. Though a few close the gap to 5c or so after stress testing for 20 minutes or so. Even an after into small fft, they are 10c higher than the lowest core. After the delid.

The #2 and #4 cores stay hot after multiple reseatings and a full delid with copper ihs and liquid metal everywhere. They are still 10c higher. Before and after the delid. The delid just gave me the room to make my 4.9ghz able to take small fft.

I am rock steady at 4.9 at 1.29v, but even after the delid, I am still roasting those 2 cores at 94c on prime95 small fft w/avx. After a 10c drop.

Basically, it all comes down to the fact I don't have a great chip.


5150, the problem isn't the loop. When I started giving my processor vcore to push to 5.0 before the delid. The #2 and #4 core overheated in seconds. It is the chip. I have been watercooling for many years. I would recommend looking at Der8auers video on his 9900k delid to see what has changed since the 8700k. The solder wasn't used to increase overclocking potential, the solder was used because they had no choice.

I didnt read most of the walls of text after your post so in case this hasnt been covered...

I suggest the reason for the 10C difference between your cores is the underside of the lid (IHS) on your CPU is not flat.
This causes the heatsink paste to work its way out during heat cycling.
I have the same problem with my water cooled and delidded 6700K.
It always had 2 cores 10C hotter than the others which is why I delidded it.
When fresh paste is applied all temps are very low, within a few C, but within days temps on 2 cores start to rise.
I am not heat soaking so this will happen much faster if you push the CPU hard.
After 2 weeks my temps were back to 10C+ higher again, really annoying.

I tested numerous times and in the end ordered the Kickstarter direct die water block so I wont need my IHS any more.
Unfortunately its still not here, 3 months late. Supposedly still on the way due to mfring issues.
I hope it arrives before I upgrade lol.

The only thing making me doubt this in your case is the same issue happens when you use liquid metal which supposedly solidifies.
Perhaps it displaces before it solidifies?
Not having used it I cant be sure.
 
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I went 9700K. Gaming you are getting about the same speed. It runs cooler. No hyperthreading security issues and 8 real cores which can spin up to 4.9 at stock is plenty for me.
$.02
 
So these 9900k run really hot. I asked if 9900k or 9800x was a better. Maybe I found the answer.
 
So these 9900k run really hot. I asked if 9900k or 9800x was a better. Maybe I found the answer.

If you're just gaming then I'd probably buy an 8700k or 9700k and just keep the money in your pocket. If you don't care about spending the money, then yeah, just buy the 9900k.
The 9900k won't give you and improvement other than if you can obtain higher clock speed on your particular chip versus the others. The 8700k and 9700k both can do 5GHz or 5.1 in some very rare cases. But if you have cash to burn it doesn't matter.
 
If you're just gaming then I'd probably buy an 8700k or 9700k and just keep the money in your pocket. If you don't care about spending the money, then yeah, just buy the 9900k.
The 9900k won't give you and improvement other than if you can obtain higher clock speed on your particular chip versus the others. The 8700k and 9700k both can do 5GHz or 5.1 in some very rare cases. But if you have cash to burn it doesn't matter.
I'd second this opinion on the 9700K if it's just going to be used for gaming. I personally got the 9900K, but I also do Video Editing of 4K drone footage so I wanted the extra cores.

As for temps, I'm not overclocking at the moment, but I'm not finding it especially hot. my idling temps with a corsair AIO cooler is in the upper 20's with pump and fans in quiet mode. My testing while running Prime95 has the CPU running between 68 and 78c after 30+ minutes. It's not that much hotter than the 6700K it replaced, and cooler than the 7700K.
 
Well, my i9-9900k died today. Was typing an email and boom, that was it. Wasn't Overclocked or anything. Newegg is taking it back thankfully.
Do you know the motherboard and psu models? What were the core/sa/io voltages?
 
Do you know the motherboard and psu models? What were the core/sa/io voltages?

All default. Here is the Reddit which has many others that it's been happening too.
Asus Maximus X Code Board (stock settings)

G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-3200 memory 16gb

NZXT Kraken X62 CPU 280mm Cooler
 
It's important to know exactly the voltage behaviors of your motherboard otherwise your experience is very generic and unhelpful to us fellow owners.
 
9900k is less than a sidegrade to a 8700k , even more so when its overclocked to 5.0. My 8700k never pass more than 42c to 47c in gaming keeping my loop cool for my gpu. With a 9900k you need to add more rad area for terrrible gains. Now if stock the 9900k is ok for video renedering and a great cpu for gaming , just not so much a enthusist cpu if your worried about price performance and temps
 
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9900k is less than a sidegrade to a 8700k , even more so when its overclocked to 5.0. My 8700k never pass more than 42c to 47c in gaming keeping my loop cool for my gpu. With a 9900k you need to add more rad area for terrrible gains. Now if stock the 9900k is ok for video renedering and a great cpu for gaming , just not so much a enthusist cpu if your worried about price performance and temps
If you are doing gaming ONLY then sure is not worth it much but add anything like streaming and then the 9900k is a BIG upgrade.
Also to say it is "ok" for video rendering is absurd. Thanks to its iGPU it can match or even beat CPUs with more cores. So you are downplaying the clear advantages of the 9900k when it comes to "non gaming only" needs.
 
It's important to know exactly the voltage behaviors of your motherboard otherwise your experience is very generic and unhelpful to us fellow owners.

Default settings should of been good enough for that processor. It's temps were 35c at idle too. So, your assumption is false. Also, there are around 15 people on the INTEL reddit now that has had a 9900k fail for unknown reasons with stock voltages. Last one didn't have a ASUS board.
 
I'd second this opinion on the 9700K if it's just going to be used for gaming. I personally got the 9900K, but I also do Video Editing of 4K drone footage so I wanted the extra cores.

As for temps, I'm not overclocking at the moment, but I'm not finding it especially hot. my idling temps with a corsair AIO cooler is in the upper 20's with pump and fans in quiet mode. My testing while running Prime95 has the CPU running between 68 and 78c after 30+ minutes. It's not that much hotter than the 6700K it replaced, and cooler than the 7700K.
It's a good cpu if you run it stock. I was curious and read some benchmarks and videos on it and it was a very good performer if you leave it stock. It's when you try to OC there are possible/potential problems with heat - actually, most bencharks showed that there is despite the soldered IHS. Unfortunately, for prospective shoppers and intel 9900k owners, it doesn't seem to help as much as you would think. I could try to rationalize it to myself since the upgrade is from a LGA 775/Q6600 system. ;-)
 
It's a good cpu if you run it stock. I was curious and read some benchmarks and videos on it and it was a very good performer if you leave it stock. It's when you try to OC there are possible/potential problems with heat - actually, most bencharks showed that there is despite the soldered IHS. Unfortunately, for prospective shoppers and intel 9900k owners, it doesn't seem to help as much as you would think. I could try to rationalize it to myself since the upgrade is from a LGA 775/Q6600 system. ;-)
I'm admittedly running stock speeds. But I'm still happy with my choice. It was a pretty huge upgrade from the 6700K.
 
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