Intel Core i9-9900K vs Intel Core i7-5550U

Intel Core i9-9900K

The Intel Core i9-9900K is a high end desktop processor based on the Coffee Lake architecture. At the time of announcement in late 2018, the 9900K is the fastest Coffee Lake CPU and offers an open multiplicator for easy overclocking. The CPU integrates 8 cores (16 threads) clocked at 3.6 - 5 GHz and it needs a new Z390 based mainboard.

Thanks to the two additional cores, the performance in multi-threaded applications is up to 25 % faster than the older Core i7-8700K. The single thread performance is only slightly faster due to the higher clock speeds. As a high end desktop CPU, the i9-9900K is suited even for very demanding applications and perfect for 3D gaming.

The integrated Intel UHD Graphics 630 graphics card is clocked at up to 1.2 GHz and offers no advantage compared to previous generations. As it is a very low end GPU, only some low demanding games like Hearthstone can be played with it (see GPU page for benchmarks).

Intel specifies the TDP at 95 Watt, so if the CPU is used in laptops a big and chunky cooling system is needed to avoid throttling and lower clock speeds under sustained loads. When overclocking the CPU, the power consumption can easily rise up to 200 Watt and higher.

Intel Core i7-5550U

The Intel Core i7-5550U is an ULV (ultra low voltage) dual-core processor based on the Broadwell architecture, which has been launched in January 2015. In addition to two CPU cores with Hyper-Threading clocked at 2.0 - 3.0 GHz (2 Cores: 2.9 GHz), the chip also integrates an HD Graphics 6000 GPU and a dual-channel LPDDR3-1866/DDR3L-1600 memory controller. The Core i7 is manufactured in a 14 nm process with FinFET transistors.

Compared to the Core i7-5500U, the i7-5550U features a lower CPU base clock, but integrates a somewhat faster GPU.

Architecture

Broadwell represents the "Tick" in Intel's Tick-Tock model, which means a shrink of its predecessor Haswell. The new 14 nm manufacturing process with three-dimensional FinFET transistors allows not only improvements in energy efficiency, but also a significantly smaller die size fit for more compact packages and devices.

Further advantages result from the revised microarchitecture of Broadwell. Due to its improved branch prediction, bigger buffer sizes (1500 instead of 1000 entries in the L2 TLB) and other tweaks, the performance per clock has been increased by more than 5 percent over its predecessor. There are also some new instruction set extensions designed for cryptographic applications.

Performance

Thanks to its improved architecture, the Core i7-5550U ends up 5 - 15 percent faster than the slightly lower clocked Core i7-4550U (Haswell, 15 W) and matches the Core i5-4258U (Haswell, 28 W). Thus, the CPU has sufficient power for office and multimedia purposes as well as more demanding applications and multitasking.

Graphics

The integrated HD Graphics 6000 offers 48 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at 300 - 1000 MHz. Similar to the CPU core, the GPU architecture (Intel Gen 8) has been thoroughly revised for improved performance-per-clock. In addition, the GPU benefits from faster memory speeds up to LPDDR3-1866 (Haswell: DDR3-1600). We expect the HD Graphics 6000 to be significantly faster than the former HD Graphics 5000 (40 EUs), part of the Haswell generation. Nevertheless, demanding games as of 2015 should be playable only in low or medium settings.

Broadwell is the first Intel chip to fully support DirectX 11.2 as well as OpenCL 1.3/2.0 and OpenGL 4.3. Video will output natively via DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 1.4a. However, the new HDMI 2.0 standard is not supported.

Power Consumption

The i7-5550U is rated at a TDP of 15 W (9.5 W cTDP Down) including the graphics card, memory controller, VRMs and the integrated chipset. Therefore, the CPU is suited even for small ultrabooks 11-inches and greater.