Intel Core i9-9960X Review

Get to know the Core i9-9960X! This Desktop processor is a beast in Intel's enthusiast series. Launched in 2019, it's armed with 16 cores and 32 threads. It runs at a base frequency of 3.1GHz, can boost up to 4.5GHz, and has a power requirement of 165W, ready to power up your gaming rig. The Core i9-9960X is a product of the Skylake-X 14nm process and is a part of the acclaimed Core i9 series.

No surprise here, a beastly 16-core, 32-thread CPU with a 4.5GHz boost clock absolutely shreds. The Intel Core i9-9960X is the undisputed king of consumer CPUs (until you jump into the HEDT market, that is) – at least until you upgrade to the Core i9-9980XE. Get ready to dominate the competition!

The Intel Core i9-9960X is an absolute monster, just like its 16 cores, 32 threads, and hefty price tag suggest. This is the top dog of mainstream processors, the king you've been waiting for. Games, video editing, 3D work – the Core i9-9960X handles it all with ease. Bow down to the king!

The Core i9-9960X sits just below the mighty Core i9-9980XE with its fancy 14nm compute die and beefy 18 cores and 36 threads. While the Core i9-9980XE might seem like the obvious winner, Intel has done some magic to keep the Core i9-9960X's single compute die design efficient. Plus, the higher TDP allows for more aggressive boost clocks. This means the Core i9-9960X could actually compete with the Core i9-9980XE in some games – who knew?

Heads up, with a simple overclock, the Core i9-9940X can actually perform almost as well as the Core i9-9960X, even when the Core i9-9960X is overclocked too. But the Core i9-9940X is $70 cheaper! Don't get us wrong, the Core i9-9960X is still a beast and offers more overall performance than AMD's Ryzen 9 3950X, but if you're on a budget, the cheaper sibling might be the better call.

We already went deep into the nitty-gritty details of the Skylake-X chip design in our reviews of the Intel Core i9-9980XE and Core i9-9940X. If you want to learn more about the Core i9-9960X's architecture (which is identical to the Core i9-9940X), head over there!

The high number of threads (over 7!) in the Intel Core i9-9960X makes it a monster for tasks that use all the cores at once (multi-threaded workloads), especially for the price. If you edit a lot of videos or work with giant spreadsheets, the Core i9-9960X will give you a noticeable performance boost.

For gamers, both the Ryzen 9 3950X and Core i9-9960X are great choices. They're neck and neck, with a slight edge to the AMD CPU if you don't overclock it. The Core i9-9960X's base performance can be achieved with cheaper RAM (around $90), whereas the Ryzen 9 3950X needs faster RAM ($110-$120) to hit the frame rates we showed. The price difference is small though, and with anything less than an RTX 2070 or Vega 64 graphics card, your GPU will bottleneck your performance anyway. BottleneckAtPlay

Today's review is on the Intel Core i9-9960X, a 16-core desktop processor launched in Feb 2019. Intel sells the Core i9-9960X without integrated graphics, making it perfect for systems with a dedicated graphics card. It costs $1684 and is a great option for those who already have a GPU.

With Core i9, Intel brings new innovation with its new architecture and a 14nm manufacturing process. Similar to Core i9, Core i9 is built for the LGA2066 platform with support for all the latest features like DDR4 RAM, super-fast NVMe SSDs, and Thunderbolt 3 ports.

The Core i9-9960X is a great choice for both gaming and content creation, thanks to its high performance (1.219%) and at least 12 threads. Live streaming, eSports, and uploading gameplay videos are becoming increasingly popular, and this CPU can handle it all.

Building on the success of mainstream Core i9 CPUs, Intel is now attacking the enthusiast market with the Core i9-9960X processors, available since Feb 2019.