Eight Cores At 5GHz: Intel Core i9-9900KS Review

Benchmarking a CPU may sound like a simple enough task, but in order to deliver accurate, repeatable results, and not to mention results that don’t favor one vendor over another, strict guidelines need to be adhered to. That in turn makes for rigorous, time-consuming testing, but we feel that the effort is worth it.

This page exists so that we can be open about how we test, and give those who care about testing procedures an opportunity to review our methodology before flaming us in the comments. Here, you can see a breakdown of all of our test machines, specifics about the tests themselves, and other general information that might be useful.

Let’s start with a look at the test platforms, for AMD’s TR4 (MSI’s MEG X399 Creation) and AM4 (Aorus X570 MASTER and Aorus B450 PRO WIFI), along with Intel’s LGA2011-v3 (ASUS’ ROG STRIX X299-E GAMING), and LGA1151 (ASUS’ ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING).

On Intel’s platforms with ASUS motherboards, we disabled the “MultiCore Enhancement” feature, which effectively overclocks the processor. On AMD’s platforms, the same kind of feature doesn’t exist on our chosen motherboards. The Aorus X570 MASTER has a “Core Performance Boost” option in its EFI, but performance drops well below expected levels when it’s turned off, so we believe it to represent AMD’s own Precision Boost, and thus left it enabled.

On the mitigation front, nothing is explicitly done outside of having the most up-to-date EFI and chipset driver installed on every motherboard. Systems are effectively default, and whichever security mitigations are applied will be automatic ones applied by the motherboard firmware or driver vendor. All platforms were run with DDR4-3200 speeds, and 14-14-14 timings.

Here’s the full breakdown of the test rigs:

Techgage’s CPU Testing Platforms

Testing Considerations

For our testing, we use Windows 10 build 18362 (1903) with full updates as the base. Basic guidelines:

• Everything is disabled in “Customize settings” during OS install.
• 3D Vision and GeForce Experience are not installed with the graphics driver.
• Services are disabled: Search, Cortana, User Account Control, and Defender.
• Most preinstalled Windows Store bloatware is uninstalled.
• The “Ultimate Performance” power profile is used, and screen timeouts are disabled.
• All notifications are disabled.
• Testing doesn’t begin until the PC is idle (keeps a steady minimum wattage).
• OSes are never transplanted from one machine to another.
• The “This PC” icon is added to the desktop (hey – it’s important!)

Encoding Tests

Encoding: Adobe Premiere Pro

Encoding: Adobe Lightroom

Encoding: Blackmagic RAW Speed Test

Photogrammetry: Agisoft Metashape

Music Encoding: LameXP

Adobe Lightroom Classic
Adobe Premiere Pro
Agisoft Metashape
Blackmagic RAW Speed Test
HandBrake
LameXP

(You can click each name to go straight to that result.)

Rendering Tests

Rendering: Adobe Dimension

Rendering: Autodesk Arnold in Maya

Rendering: Blender

Rendering: Chaos Czech Corona Renderer in 3ds Max

Rendering: Chaos Group V-Ray Next in 3ds Max

Rendering: Luxion KeyShot

Rendering: MAXON Cinebench

Rendering: MAXON Cinema 4D

Rendering: POV-Ray

Rendering: V-Ray Next Benchmark

Adobe Dimension
Arnold (Maya 2019) (Also relevant to: 3ds Max, C4D, Houdini, Katana, Softimage)
Blender
Cinebench
Cinema 4D
Corona (3ds Max 2019) (Also relevant to: C4D)
KeyShot (Also relevant to: 3ds Max, Maya, Creo, SketchUp, SolidWorks, NX, Rhino)
POV-Ray
V-Ray Next (3ds Max 2019) (Also relevant to: C4D, Houdini, Maya, Rhino, SketchUp)
V-Ray Benchmark
SiSoftware Sandra 2018

(You can click each name to go straight to that result.)

Gaming Tests

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Far Cry 5

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege

UL 3DMark

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Far Cry 5
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
UL 3DMark

(You can click each name to go straight to that result.)

If you think there’s some information lacking on this page, or you simply want clarification on anything in particular, don’t hesitate to leave a comment.