We originally covered Intel's work on the (more) energy-efficient version of their Core i9-9900 processor back in January. However, it seems that the company has improved the i9-9900T's performance before final release. Initial specifications for the processor were expected to deliver a 1.70 GHz base clock (down from 3.60 GHz of the original i9-9900K), with 1~2 core Turbo Boost frequency down to 3.80 GHz. However, the Geekbench benchmarks show a different story, one that's much more appealing to users: Intel managed to keep the 35 W TDP target, but base clocks stand at a much more interesting 2.1 GHz and much improved Boost clocks of 4.4 GHz.

This is good news, as performance is sure to be better than initially expected. However, this seems like a necessary move from Intel - AMD's Ryzen 3000 processors would be staring hungrily to Intel's 9900T otherwise (and likely still are). The eight cores, 16 threads, 16 MB of cache and Intel UHD Graphics 630 are kept from the original part. The test scores pitting it against an Intel i9-9900KS show an expected drop in performance compared to the faster processor. The Core i9-9900T has an Intel-set pricing of $439.