2700X gains ground on the 9900k in Principled Technologies's retests, Intel claims the 9900k is still the world's best gaming CPU

While Intel's newest i9 9900k may be the "world's fastest gaming processor," few were denying it anyways. (Source: Digiworthy)

Following severe backlash over what has been described as "incompetent" benchmarking, Principled Technologies retested their AMD CPUs with creator mode. In their new results, the 2700X narrowed the gap between the 9900k down to about 15-20% on average, whereas previously the 9900k was sometimes 60% faster than the 2700X. Intel stated that these new results prove that the 9900k is still the "world's best gaming processor."

Matthew Connatser, Published 10/13/2018

Some days ago, Intel and Principled Technologies released a study and review of the 9900k, which traditional third party reviewers haven't even tested yet. The study seemed to confirm that not only was the 9900k the "world's fastest gaming processor" (a claim one will hear Intel make often), but that it was 30-40% faster than the 2700X on average. Outlets such as GamersNexus and Hardware Unboxed immediately contested the results, arguing that the testing methodology was malformed, pointing out the use of different coolers, different memory timings and speeds, and most important the use of "Game Mode" on all AMD systems, including the 2700X. "Game Mode" turned the 2700X into a quad core CPU.

However, Principled Technologies updated its study with "Creator Mode," which is the default mode for Ryzen and Threadripper systems. The company also tested with essentially equal memory timings for both platforms. The newer results were completely different, as the 2700X gained double digits in performance, going from 30-40% slower than the 9900k on average to just about 15-20% slower on average, and even less than 10% in some cases.

While many will be satisfied by this retest, which at least proves that Principled Technologies's methodology was biased against AMD, critic Steve Burke of GamersNexus is still very critical of Intel on how they handled the issue. Following the retests, Intel merely commented to Burke:

Given the feedback from the tech community, we are pleased that Principled Technologies ran additional tests. They've now published these results along with even more detail on the configurations used and the rationale. The results continue to show that the 9th Gen Intel Core i9-9900K is the world's best gaming processor. We are thankful for Principled Technologies' time and transparency throughout this process. We always appreciate feedback from the tech community and are looking forward to comprehensive third party reviews coming out on October 19.

Burke responded harshly, saying "Intel knows better. Intel knows exactly what 'Game Mode' does." He also pointed out that Intel validated the study's results in a statement made soon after the backlash began, meaning Intel endorsed inaccurate benchmarks. Burke described Intel's actions as "deception" and "bullshit" and expressed his dislike for the term "world's best gaming processor," as it doesn't account for value, thermal performance, or other metrics.