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The new part, the 9900K, comes with a 2mm heatspreader

March 16, 2017 by Carolyn Mueller

The new part, the 9900K, comes with a 2mm heatspreader and heatsink. The part, which was previously reported in the mainstream press, comes in three colors—red, blue, and green—and will retail for $1,299 (with free shipping). The part comes with a new 3.0GHz core, 13nm Intel integrated GPU, 5GB of VRAM, and a 4GHz unlocked-memory TDP of 2.6 watts (up from 2.5 watts in the previous generation).

"There's nothing in this chip to replace the more demanding DDR4 memory that's already commonplace in this generation of graphics chips," said Brian L. Moore, a leading enthusiast processor expert at Intel. "It's an evolution from previous generations that has given this chip an advantage over the competition."

While there are two different Intel K-series CPUs, the chip's base clock speed is 2133MHz—that's a far higher speed for a desktop processor than the Core X and Core 2 Duo chips, and it's the same speed as the Core II and Core x4. Because of its higher base clock speed, the 9900K is expected to be available in a few years' time. In addition to the new chips, Intel is also adding in a new 8GB DDR4 memory chip for a further 2.4GHz core and a new 3GB of VRAM. The current DDR4-2633 memory chip at the time of this writing was the first to support DDR4 memory, and it's expected to release in 2016.

"This new design is a step forward for the mainstream market, but the new design will be a major boon for those wishing to build high-end, high-end desktop computing platforms," said Lyle McEntee, president and CEO of Intel. "The high-end market is getting the most out of their new motherboards."

The new chips are the latest development in a long line of high-end enthusiast chips that will soon be available for purchase on Intel's Computex 2014, where the company is expected to announce a new processor at an event in Los Angeles later this summer.

The Intel K-series processor is also slated to be released in early 2018.