Review on Powerful Intel Core i7-9700F Desktop Processor - 8 Cores, 3GHz, Up to 4.7GHz, LGA1151 300 Series, No Graphics, 65W - BX80684I79700F by Ryan Carter

I upgraded from i5-8400. I saw it was on sale (from an outrageous +$400 when it was first released last year to just $200 on Black Friday), so it was a no-brainer. Many reviews of this card on the Internet are negative, referring to its efficiency when it first came out. At this price it's a bargain. I didn't notice a huge performance gain, but XMP works now. Since I don't overclock, the K version wasn't necessarily on my list. The increased clock speed is almost identical to the K version, and the base clock speed means lower idle temperatures, which is a win for me. I actually had to update the BIOS on my Z370 phone to get it working. You MUST update your BIOS if you have a mobile device that predates the Z390 boards and uses the 8th Gen Coffee Lake chip, which I had in this case. The temperature fluctuates. Apparently this is due to the Speedshift technology. It reads changes in processes and timings are adjusted accordingly within 1/4 second, so benchmarks can be a little disconcerting for beginners. Otherwise the temperature during the games was around 53-60. Using a secondary cooler. DO NOT USE THE SUPPLIED STANDARD COOLER. Noctua has amazing coolers. Also, I'm using an SFF case for reference, so your cooling performance will vary. These chips can get very hot so make sure you upgrade your cooler. Do I need this chip? Probably no. But this chip upgrade was the only sensible upgrade I could do before upgrading my phone. I use a 1440p monitor and everything is amazing. I think I'll upgrade my GTX1070 to something newer to pair with a 9th gen i7. For this generation of boards that are now obsolete, this is the best buy in this scenario. However, if you're planning on buying a brand new rig, I'd stay away from this chip and the Coffee Lake/Refresh family. By purchasing this chip, you fall into the trap of not being able to upgrade your chip in the future (because future chipsets will no longer be compatible with these boards). Those chips and boards are obsolete, and Intel has moved to more advanced chipsets. This chip is great for those members of the Z370/390 family who are left behind or don't want to upgrade their motherboards. Who knows, join us.