KingAnupamDutta

Essentials

· Product Collection 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i9 Processors

· Code Name Products formerly Rocket Lake

· Vertical Segment Desktop

· Processor Number i9-11900

· Status Launched

· Launch Date Q1'21

· Lithography 14 nm

· Use Conditions PC/Client/Tablet

· Recommended Customer Price $439.00 - $449.00

CPU Specifications

· # of Cores 8

· # of Threads 16

· Processor Base Frequency 2.50 GHz

· Max Turbo Frequency 5.20 GHz

· Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost Frequency 5.20 GHz

· Cache 16 MB Intel® Smart Cache

· Bus Speed 8 GT/s

· Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 Frequency ^‡5.10 GHz

· Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 Frequency^‡5.00 GHz

· TDP 65 W

Supplemental Information

· Embedded Options Available No

Memory Specifications

· Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type) 128 GB

· Memory Types DDR4-3200

· Max # of Memory Channels 2

· Max Memory Bandwidth 50 GB/s

· ECC Memory Supported ^‡No

Processor Graphics

· Processor Graphics ^‡Intel® UHD Graphics 750

· Graphics Base Frequency 350 MHz

· Graphics Max Dynamic Frequency 1.30 GHz

· Graphics Video Max Memory 64 GB

· Execution Units 32

· 4K Suppor tYes, at 60Hz

· Max Resolution (HDMI) ^‡4096x2160@60Hz

· Max Resolution (DP) ‡5120 x 3200 @60Hz

· Max Resolution (eDP - Integrated Flat Panel) ‡5120 x 3200 @60Hz

· DirectX* Support 12.1

· OpenGL* Support 4.5

· Intel® Quick Sync Video Yes

· Intel® InTru™ 3D Technology Yes

· Intel® Clear Video HD Technology Yes

· Intel® Clear Video Technology Yes

· # of Displays Supported ^‡3

· Device ID 0x4C8A

· OpenCL* Support 3.0

Expansion Options

· Scalability 1S Only

· PCI Express Revision 4.0

· PCI Express Configurations ^‡Up to 1x16+1x4, 2x8+1x4, 1x8+3x4

· Max # of PCI Express Lanes 20

Package Specifications

· Sockets Supported FCLGA1200

· Max CPU Configuration 1

· Thermal Solution Specification PCG 2019C

· Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost Temperature 70 °C

· T_JUNCTION100°C

· Package Size37.5 mm x 37.5 mm

Advanced Technologies

· Intel® Deep Learning Boost (Intel® DL Boost) Yes

· Intel® Optane™ Memory Supported ^‡Yes

· Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost Yes

· Intel® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 ^‡Yes

· Intel® Turbo Boost Technology ^‡2.0

· Intel vPro® Platform Eligibility ^‡Yes

· Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology ^‡Yes

· Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) ^‡Yes

· Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) ^‡Yes

· Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT) ^‡Yes

· Intel® 64 ^‡Yes

· Instruction Set 64-bit

· Instruction Set Extensions Intel® SSE4.1, Intel® SSE4.2, Intel® AVX2, Intel® AVX-512

· Idle States Yes

· Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology Yes

· Thermal Monitoring Technologies Yes

· Intel® Identity Protection Technology ^‡Yes

· Intel® Stable Image Platform Program (SIPP) Yes

· Intel® Gaussian and Neural Accelerator 2.0 Yes

Security & Reliability

· Intel® AES New Instructions Yes

· Secure Key Yes

· Intel® Software Guard Extensions (Intel® SGX) No

· Intel® OS Guard Yes

· Intel® Trusted Execution Technology ^‡Yes

· Execute Disable Bit ^‡Yes

· Intel® Boot Guard Yes

The fact that the Intel Core i9-11900K is a powerful desktop processor is indisputable. But it also comes as heavyweight processors such as the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X have claimed both the multi-core and the single-core crowns, and Intel is struggling to hold on to relevance in the desktop market.

With Intel’s 12th-generation Alder Lake-S processors rumored to arrive as soon as September 2021, the Intel Core i9-11900K and the rest of the 11th-generation lineup feels more like a stopgap than chips to get really excited about.

That is even evident in the tech behind this processor. Intel backported the 10nm Ice Lake architecture to a 14nm process for the Intel Core i9-11900K, which is the core reason why it’s back down to an 8-core, 16-thread design. This makes its place in the CPU market really odd, because while it does mean that the processor has extremely strong single-core performance, it falls so far behind in multi-core that it's definitely not worth the sticker price for anyone that uses their computer for more than just playing games.

The Intel Core i9-11900K will easily power through pretty much any workload you throw at it. Sadly, at the end of the day, there are plenty of other processors that can do so, which means there’s little reason to jump on the Intel Core i9-11900K over other processors – even older Intel ones.

Price and availability

The Intel Core i9-11900K will be available March 30, with a suggested retail price of $539 (about £390, AU$710). That price positions this processor as a direct replacement for the Intel Core i9-10900K and a competitor to the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X.

Intel’s processors have seemed to elude the recent availability problems faced by graphics cards and AMD processors recently, so we’re not sure if the prices will go up much higher.

However, when prices do get back to normal across the industry, the Intel Core i9-11900K doesn’t look particularly great when put up against the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, or even the much cheaper $449 (£419, AU$799) AMD Ryzen 7 5800X. Intel does rack up some wins in some single-threaded applications and games. But when you’re willing to spend nearly a thousand bucks on just your CPU and motherboard, it’s unlikely that you’ll just be using your computer to play some Overwatch.

For folks that are looking to get in on some creative applications without jumping to an HEDT (high end desktop) platform, you’re probably going to want to look elsewhere.

Chipset and features

Like every other desktop platform launched since Skylake back in 2015, the Intel Core i9-11900K is based on the Rocket Lake-S architecture – which is manufactured on a 14nm process. However, unlike Comet Lake, Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake before it, this isn’t just another iteration of Skylake itself.

Rather, Intel took the core design of its 10nm Ice Lake processors, which are primarily found in laptops, and backported it to the 14nm manufacturing process. Intel claims that this lets it push clock speeds higher than its 10nm process would allow, which is important for gaming. However, when combined with the Intel Xe graphics present on the die, there is less room on the chip for CPU cores, which means that the Intel Core i9-11900K has just 8 CPU cores, down from the 10-core design of the Intel Core i9-10900K.

That sounds bad, but this new Cypress Cove core does allow Intel to not only push clock speeds slightly higher – up to 5.3GHz on a single core – but also allows for a pretty substantial 19% boost in Instructions Per Cycle (IPC) performance.

However, it looks like a pretty big part of the improvement that comes with Cypress Cove results in higher power consumption and, with it, higher temperatures.

During heavy workloads, particularly those like Blender, the Intel Core i9-11900K can reach up to a whopping 203W of power consumption, and that’s with disabling the Multi-Core enhancement that the Asus ROG Maximus XIII Hero enabled by default. Having that option enabled pushed power consumption all the way up to around 230W, which is more than a lot of modern graphics cards will use.

With power consumption this high, temperatures can also jump up considerably. With all stock settings, the Intel Core i9-11900K can reach up to 82°C, a pretty considerable jump over the 76°C that the Intel Core i9-10900K reaches under the same conditions. We’re not using a lightweight CPU cooler either – this is with a 360mm AIO cooler, so if you’re thinking about grabbing this processor, consider grabbing a robust cooler as well.

It doesn’t look too good, either, that the Intel Core i9-11900K arrives just weeks after Team Blue discontinued its CPU overclocking warranty. We typically don’t cover overclocking in our reviews, as it still voids your warranty, but with these processors consuming more power and spitting out more heat than ever before, overclocking is going to be even more difficult.

If you’ve been lucky enough to get your hands on a power-hungry graphics card, like the RTX 3090 and you were hoping to pair it with this processor, it’s probably a good idea to make sure you have a power supply that can handle the load.

It’s not all bad, though. With the Intel Core i9-11900K, Intel has finally worked in PCIe 4.0 support, which means you will be able to use the best SSDs on the market. Even some Z490 boards will be able to use this functionality, but you’re going to want to check your motherboard’s manufacturer’s website to see if it’s supported.

Review:

Intel seems to have made some significant improvements core-for-core in 11th Gen processors over 10th Gen processors. And the integrated graphics is certainly a great improvement but it will have to get a little better to compete with AMD’s Vega11 iGPU.