Intel launches ninth-gen core desktop processors

Hold on to your headsets!

In a launch event on Monday, Intel unveiled its ninth-generation CPUs, including the monstrous Intel Core i9 desktop processor. With 5GHz, 8 Cores, and 16 threads, Intel is touting its i9-9900k chip as “the world’s best gaming processor.”

Gamers can expect to see the Core i9s in products soon, too. Vice president and general manager of Intel’s Client Computing Group Anand Srivatsa said, “There’s going to be broad ecosystem support for these products,” including with Acer Predator, Asus Republic of Gamer, Lenovo Legion, HP Omen, and Dell’s Alienware. The ninth-gen CPUs are available for pre-order Monday, and will ship October 19.

But if you’re ready to ride those 16 threads to gaming bliss, expect to open those wallets. The i9s won’t come cheap, and aren’t the hugest update over Intel’s eighth-generation CPUs. But with a new heat dissipation system and the promise of faster frame rates, it beefs up gaming capabilities in ways that might be worth the money if you’re into all that.

Intel also launched a suite of desktop processors for “creators” at the press event (i.e. for people who need a lot of computing power as they animate games or other media). The Intel Core X-Series Processors include one product with a 28-core processor. Srivatsa called the line “Intel’s most scalable desktop platform.”

Did we need a launch event with obviously rehearsed banter to debut a new generation of processors? Probably not. But these CPUs pack a punch and will let both home PC gamers and professionals of all stripes process with nary a frame drop in sight.