A Closer Look

Intel Core i9-9900K is such a special product for Intel that it has given the chip a retail packaging that's found not even on the $1,800 Core i9-7980XE. A large see-through acrylic dodecahedron, which is a 3-D shape with 12 pentagonal faces, greets you at first. Inside is a padded paperboard box, and the processor is packaged inside another tiny acrylic case. That's not all, some retailers pack the outer dodecahedral package into an even bigger paperboard box to prevent scratches or cracks. Your processor is hence hidden inside five layers of packaging!

Unfortunately, the voluminous box is mostly just air. Intel could have very easily gone with a simpler packaging and bundled the processor with a 130 W-capable cooling solution to win over some hearts. AMD is bundling its Wraith Prism with the 2700X. You're either too confident about your processor or overcompensating for asking $500 for a mainstream-desktop processor.


Once you excavate your product out of the packaging, you'll find that it looks like just any other LGA115x-class mainstream desktop processor made in the past nine years. The processor is compatible with LGA1151 motherboards based on the Intel 300-series chipset.


For its mainstream-desktop processors, Intel has maintained a largely uniform package size for the past decade, dating all the way back to Core "Lynnfield" LGA 1156. The cooler mount-hole spacing hasn't changed. You will be spoiled for choice when choosing a compatible cooler; however, make sure it can cope with at least 95 W TDP. Certain low-profile coolers designed for 65 W or 45 W TDP chips are not recommended.