Intel Core i9-9920X socket: LGA 2066

What the Core i9-9920X is

The Core i9-9920X is a twelve core, twenty four thread HEDT processor with a 3.5 GHz base, up to 4.4 GHz turbo and up to 4.5 GHz on favored cores. It carries 19.25 MB of shared L3 cache and a 165 W TDP on the 14 nm process. Intel announced it on October 8, 2018 with the 9th Gen Core X refresh.

Twelve cores mark the point where renders scale clearly over the ten core bins while clocks stay high for mixed play. The chip covers 3D work, compilation and streaming production in one tower. The multiplier is unlocked for tuning on X299 boards.

There is no integrated graphics, so a separate card is required. The launch price was $1189.00 Intel RCP. Boards need an X299 BIOS with 9th Gen X support from late 2018.

Socket and motherboard compatibility

The 9920X fits LGA 2066 on X299 motherboards with quad channel DDR4. Boards sold before the 9th Gen launch need a BIOS update with the new IDs before the chip will start. The Socket vs chipset: what decides whether a CPU works guide explains chipset support by generation.

X299 carries the chip with up to 68 platform PCIe lanes across CPU and chipset links. Twelve cores reward boards with heatsinked voltage stages and fair case airflow for long sessions. Check the maker CPU list for the minimum BIOS per board.

The chip ships without any cooler and mounts on the large LGA 2066 pattern. The Intel Core i9-10920X is the later 12 core successor on the same boards with faster memory support.

Memory, PCIe and cooling

Memory support is DDR4-2666 in four channels up to 128 GB, with up to 85 GB per sec of bandwidth. ECC is not supported. Threaded work loves both capacity and speed, so 4 by 16 GB is the common starting point with room to double where the board has eight slots.

PCI Express arrives as version 3.0 with 44 lanes from the CPU for graphics and NVMe arrays. Two graphics cards and three fast SSDs fit the lane budget of a render tower. Cooling needs a large tower or liquid loop at 165 W.

Upgrade paths

On the same socket the step up is a fourteen core chip such as the Intel Core i9-9940X where thread count matters, keeping the board and DDR4. The 9920X keeps its place where twelve cores cover renders at lower cost than the larger dies.

Moving past LGA 2066 means a new board and usually DDR5 on current platforms. Owners usually add memory or a faster GPU before replacing the processor.