If you’re interested in purchasing Intel’s Core i9-9900KS but haven’t done so yet, it may already be too late. The “world’s best gaming processor” appears to have disappeared from major retailers.
Intel’s Core i9-9900KS was introduced in October 2019 as a limited-edition product, so its early EOL status isn’t all that surprising. Enthusiasts can still get the CPU from re-sellers on eBay, but they’ve already been marked up by as much as $1,300.
“Intel has raised the bar for desktop gaming with the new 9th Gen Intel Core i9-9900KS Special Edition processor,” said Frank Soqui, Intel vice president and general manager of the Desktop, Workstation, and Channel Group in the original announcement.
“Based on the 9th Gen Intel Core i9-9900K architecture, it’s the world’s best gaming desktop processor made even better and created specifically for extreme gamers who want the most performance possible. This processor demonstrates another innovation milestone for Intel, following last year’s limited edition 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8086K.”
The Core i9-9900KS’s biggest marketing point is its ability to hit 5.0 GHz on all eight cores, which is guaranteed through careful binning. The 127 W TDP processor features a base clock of 4.0 GHz, 16 MB of Intel Smart Cache, and support for up to 40 platform PCIe lanes.
Intel claimed that the Core i9-9900KS could provide 35 percent more frames per second compared to older PCs.