You’re getting almost identical specs on the 11700K, and with a little overclocking, exactly identical ones. The 11900K may perform better than the 11700K, but it doesn’t perform $150 better. We normally recommend i9s for their core advantage in applications that favor a lot of cores. On paper, it’s identical to the 11700K outside of clock speed. Although there are generational improvements, the newer i9 comes with two fewer cores and four fewer threads. It’s strange, then, that the 11900K looks like a downgrade compared to the 10900K. Rocket Lake features a new microarchitecture, but it’s still built on the 14nm process node Intel has been using for years. The 11900T is almost identical to the 11700T, just with a slightly faster boost clock (4.9GHz). The 11900K and 11900KF start at 3.5GHz and boost up to 5.3GHz on a single core, while the 1190F top out at 5.1GHz at only 65 watts. The i9 lineup is almost exactly the same, just with a few differences in clock speed. It can drop as low as 1.4GHz, but can still boost up to 4.6GHz on a single core. Finally, there’s the 11700T, which is a power-optimized processor with a TDP of only 35 watts. These processors are clocked slightly lower with a base clock of 2.5GHz and a single-core boost of up to 4.9GHz, and they cut the TDP from 125 watts to 65 watts. The 11700K and 11700KF are both unlocked with eight cores and 16 threads, and they have a base clock of 3.6GHz with a single-core boost of up to 5GHz. Intel’s current Rocket Lake lineup has five i7 processors, but they’re all similar. “K” processors are overclockable, “F” processors lack integrated graphics, and “T” processors draw less power at the cost of clock speed.
Core 2 quad vs i7 full#
We have a full breakdown, but for the purposes of this guide, you only need three suffixes. Core i9 on desktop Intel Corporationīefore diving in, it’s important to define Intel’s CPU naming scheme. Thin and light laptops top out with 11th-gen i7 processors, while beefy workstations or gaming laptops may feature a Comet Lake i9. If you’re shopping for a laptop, it’s less about the processor you should choose and more about the laptop’s design. Intel staggered its last two mobile releases, porting the desktop Comet Lake design to laptops before releasing its 11th-gen Tiger Lake platform.
The 11700K is around $150 cheaper, too, depending on where you look.įor mobile, you have the choice between a newer i7 or an older i9. Without a core advantage, the 11900K doesn’t have the same reach that the 10900K did in multithreaded workloads. The current i9 and i7 processors are very similar on desktop, as we’ll get into in the next section. The newer CPU comes with two fewer cores and four fewer threads, but it maintains a high boost clock. Intel recently replaced the 10900K with the 11900K, which looks like an odd step back. However, like that chip, the 11700K can draw far more power under load.
Intel pegs its TDP at 125 watts, mirroring last gen’s 10700K.
It’s an eight-core CPU with 16 threads that can boost up to 5GHz. For the i7, Intel’s new-generation processor is the 11700K. It depends on what you’re doing, but most users won’t notice much of a difference between an i7 and i9. To help you decide which is the right CPU for you, we’ve pitted the Intel i7 versus Core i9 to see how much you really get by upgrading. Intel’s most recent desktop and mobile generations blur the lines between the i9 and i7 markers. Intel’s top two CPU lines are known as Core i7 and Core i9, but other than that mild numerical difference, what does that actually mean in terms of real-world features, performance, and pricing? A higher number generally indicates better performance, but there’s a little more to the story than that.