Intel lifted the lid on their ninth Gen desktop processors this afternoon, giving us a glimpse of what’s coming subsequent after their present crop of 8th Gen Coffee Lake chips. Leading the pack is their flagship Intel Core i9-9900Okay, an 8-core, 16-thread CPU that may Turbo Boost all the way in which as much as 5.0GHz.
However, the information comes little over every week after Intel’s CFO and interim CEO Bob Swan issued an open letter to prospects and companions warning of an imminent CPU scarcity as a consequence of growing “pressure on [Intel’s] factory network.” If you’re fascinated with constructing a PC any time quickly, you would possibly wish to seize one among Intel’s present Coffee Lake processors now as a substitute (or, certainly, one among AMD’s rather good Ryzen+ CPUs) earlier than they disappear for the foreseeable future.
Before we get to the doom and gloom, let’s speak a bit extra about them there chips. As per regular, Intel’s ninth Gen of desktop CPUs will embody Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 variants (the Okay variations of which is able to come unlocked and primed for overclocking), however this time there may even be a brand new 8-core Core i9 class out there as effectively, marking the primary time these beforehand workstation-grade CPUs are being geared toward common PC peeps.
Most importantly, regardless of sharing the identical underlying Coffee Lake microarchitecture, all ninth Gen chips will include built-in silicon-based defences in opposition to the Spectre and Meltdown safety flaws which have plagued each Intel and AMD since they first got here to mild originally of the 12 months. They’ll even be suitable with all of Intel’s present 300-series of motherboards after a BIOS replace, so that you gained’t must fork out for a brand new board, however these seeking to get the most effective out of their new ninth Gen chips might wish to take into account getting one with Intel’s new Z390 chipset, which was additionally introduced as we speak alongside the three processors.
Here’s a helpful chart summarising the three new CPUs introduced as we speak:
| CPU | Cores / Threads | Base Frequency | Maximum Boost Frequency | Cache | TDP | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Core i9-9900Okay | 8/16 | 3.6GHz | 5.0GHz | 16MB | 95W | $488 |
| Intel Core i7-9700Okay | 8/8 | 3.6GHz | 4.9GHz | 12MB | 95W | $374 |
| Intel Core i5-9600Okay | 6/6 | 3.7GHz | 4.6GHz | 9MB | 95W | $262 |
The dangerous information is that, regardless of pre-orders for Intel’s ninth Gen chips opening as we speak, they and their present eighth Gen Coffee Lake cousins might effectively grow to be more and more troublesome to pay money for within the coming months. As talked about above, Intel have warned of an imminent CPU scarcity on their web site, and processors on the budget-end of the dimensions appear like they’ll be those hit hardest by any potential inventory shortages.
“We’re prioritizing the production of Intel Xeon and Intel Core processors so that collectively we can serve the high-performance segments of the market,” stated Swan. “That said, supply is undoubtedly tight, particularly at the entry-level of the PC market.”
That’s to not say Intel aren’t making an attempt to melt the blow of this attainable inventory drawback. They stated they not solely imagine there are sufficient processors available to hit their monetary targets outlined in July earlier this 12 months, however they’re additionally pumping record-levels of money into their numerous manufacturing websites, which they hope will assist improve provide to fight the growing demand.
Intel additionally confirmed that they’re making course of on their 10nm (nanometer) manufacturing course of, which is able to nearly definitely type the idea of the corporate’s next-next gen CPUs. “Yields are improving and we continue to expect volume production in 2019,” says Swan.
Only time will inform whether or not Intel’s measures will show efficient sufficient to forestall the CPU equal of the Great Graphics Card Drought of 2018, however for sure, when you’re available in the market for a brand new CPU, it could be wiser to get one sooner moderately than later.
