Intel releases Core i9 laptop processors with eight cores

Intel has announced its ninth generation Core H processors for laptops. For the first time, there are octacores in the series. Two i9 models have eight cores; the i7s remain variants with six cores and twelve threads, but get more L3 cache.

The Core i9-9980HK is the new top model in the Core H-series laptop processors with a tdp of 45W. It is an overclockable chip, with a clock speed of 2.4GHz and a turbo speed of up to 5GHz on one core. That speed is only achieved with Intel Thermal Velocity Boost, a new function that increases the speed by 100MHz if the CPU has a temperature below 70°C. Without this boost, the maximum turbo is 4.9GHz. With all cores active, the turbo speed is 4.2GHz. There will also be a Core i9-9880H variant. It is not overclockable and has slightly lower clock speeds.

Furthermore, Intel is releasing new Core i7 and i5 models for laptops. Just like the variants of the eighth generation, which came on the market last year, these are hexa and quad cores. The new i7 models have an L3 cache of 12MB, with the variants of the eighth generation that was 9MB. The L3 cache of the i5 variants has not changed at 8MB. Intel has also put a Core i7-9750HF in its database. That is a variant of the i7-9750H but without an integrated GPU. Intel does not mention this variant in the announcement.

Manufacturers such as Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo and MSI will announce laptops with the new processors on Tuesday. Many manufacturers come up with designs that also include a GTX 1650 or GTX 1660 Ti. Nvidia also announced those laptop video cards on Tuesday. Many new laptops will also receive support for the 802.11ax standard, or Wi-Fi 6. Intel released a Wi-Fi 6 network adapter in early March.