Are the 9th Gen Intel Core Processors good for video editing?

Always look at the date when you read an article. Some of the content in this article is most likely out of date, as it was written on October 19, 2018. For newer information, see our more recent articles.

Intel's new 9th Gen Core Processors feature a number of improvements including a small frequency bump and an increase in core count. Where the previous top-end consumer Core i7 CPU (the Core i7 8700K) has only 6 cores and a maximum Turbo of 4.7 GHz, the Core i7 9700K and i9 9900K both have 8 cores and a 4.9-5.0 GHz maximum Turbo frequency. Because of this blend of both a higher core count and a higher operating frequency, these CPUs fare extremely well in video editing applications, performing close to 20% faster than the i7 8700K in many Adobe applications.

However, be aware that these CPUs still have the same 64GB maximum RAM capacity as the previous generation which can be a concern if your work includes heavy motion graphics or 6K+ footage. It has been reported by Anandtech that the i9 9900K may support 128GB of RAM in the future, but we will have to see if it ends up being stable or if the 32GB RAM modules will be at all cost effective. In addition, while the Core i9 9900K in particular does extremely well in applications like Premiere Pro (often matching the much more expensive Core i9 7900X) the higher-end Intel X-series or AMD Threadripper CPUs can still give you higher performance – assuming you have the budget for them.

If you are interested in examining how well these new CPUs perform in more detail, we recommend checking out our in-depth performance articles:

Is the Intel Core i7 9700K good for video editing?

The Core i7 9700K is decent for video editing, but in most situations, it will only be about 5% faster than the previous generation Core i7 8700K. Because of this, the Core i7 9700K is great if you are already in the market for a new system but there is likely little reason to upgrade from a Core i7 8700K for video editing.

Is the Intel Core i9 9900K good for video editing?

While the new Core i9 9900K is about 20% more expensive than the previous generation Core i7 8700K, it is also up to 20% faster. In fact, it is powerful enough that it actually matches the much more expensive Core i9 7900X in Premiere Pro and is easily the fastest CPU currently available for After Effects.