If every letter has a special meaning for a feature in a product, and a product portfolio offers a mix and match of those features, then eventually a combination of letters will end up with a secondary meaning. Today we’re seeing the beginning of the Kentucky Fried version of Intel: in the latest changelog to AIDA64, a well-known utility for system identification and testing, the company behind the software has added in the hooks and details for the Core i9-9900KFC.

This CPU is as-yet unannounced by Intel. Software houses like the one behind AIDA, as well as OEMs, have to design software (and hardware) in advance of future products, and so they need to know the specifications and details in advance as well. It just so happens that sometimes those parts get listed in updates and changelogs, which is the case here.

No other details other than the name are given, although we can infer a few things. Intel’s K processor line means that the processor will be overclockable, and the i9-9900 means that it will be using the fastest speeds of the generation. F processors are new to Intel’s lineup, and mean that the processor doesn’t have integrated graphics, and users will need a discrete graphics card to use the chip.

The letter causing confusion however, is the C. In the past, Intel used ‘C’ to designate the Broadwell CPUs that had improved integrated graphics. This would fly in the face of the ‘F’ part of the name. However, those C processors also contained a small amount of eDRAM to act as a buffer between the L3 cache and the CPU. In our testing of those processors, it only really gave extra performance to integrated graphics workloads, which is where those Broadwell processors were focused.

But if the naming holds true here, then Intel might be set to offer eDRAM on its high-end eight core processors. Given that we saw benchmark performance increases only on a couple of benchmarks, it will be interesting to hear what Intel has to say about the added benefits are here. Having a non-integrated graphics part with extra hardware to improve graphics performance is like a double edged sword, except with no swords and two hilts.

But at least it is deep fried and from Kentucky, right? This chip needs some dip.

We've reached out to the people behind AIDA, and Intel, for extra clarity on this processor.

Related Reading

Source: AIDA64

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  • Iketh - Saturday, February 16, 2019 - link

    this is why AT needs upvoting
  • StrangerGuy - Friday, February 15, 2019 - link

    Looks like Intel really doubled down on this one.
  • KlfJoat - Friday, February 15, 2019 - link

    I'm sorry, is no one going to address the obvious...

    Where in the world did you get the article photo?!?!? If it's Gimped, then kudos. If it's stock, who even thinks to make that kind of thing as a stock photo? And if it was created just for this article, and what kind of chip was it?
  • Bolognesus - Friday, February 15, 2019 - link

    By a rough count (sorry, on phone) it seems to be an s775 chip and those are pretty much available at scrap prices nowadays, so it might well be an actual photo.
  • Lord of the Bored - Saturday, February 16, 2019 - link

    The missing corner means that if it isn't an edit, someone was screwing around with a busted chip. No one would bust a corner off just for dipping.
  • enteradifferentusername - Saturday, February 16, 2019 - link

    I swear I've seen that exact picture somewhere before... I think it's a real chip though.
  • alysdexia - Wednesday, April 17, 2019 - link

    origin:
    https://9gag.com/gag/aAxpvPg/whats-your-favorite-c...
    https://www.reddit.com/r/AyyMD/comments/7urte2/shi...

    The size-date trail don't align however.
  • LoLo2207 - Saturday, February 16, 2019 - link

    K --> overclockable
    F --> disabled integrated graphics
    C --> improved integrated graphics

    Clearly, it will be overclockable and will have improved but disabled integrated graphics, duh. /s
  • GreenReaper - Monday, February 18, 2019 - link

    They just improved it by adding a bigger cache. That happens to improve a bunch of other things too.
  • watzupken - Saturday, February 16, 2019 - link

    I do feel that Intel needs to revise their naming convention. Instead of making it really cryptic as this KFC, they should simplify it for people to understand the differentiation. And seriously Intel, KFC is the model you want to name your processor?

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