Intel Core i9
Shares rank 14 of 16 processors by recommenders
People recommend it for strong 4K gaming performance and reliable daily use. Critics warn of aggressive throttling, power hunger, and voltage problems.
People recommend it for strong 4K gaming performance and reliable daily use. Critics warn of aggressive throttling, power hunger, and voltage problems.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 42%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Reliable from day one
“has worked like a dream from day one and still to this day”
Comment from 25 May 2026 in “Bug 1950764: Work Around Crash on Intel Raptor Lake CPU” Strong 4K gaming performance
“it's still glorious for 4K gaming even today”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Hetzner increased dedicated server prices 3-4x” Cheaper than DDR5 memory
“since its still cheaper than dd5”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “RAM is so expensive, Samsung won't even sell it to Samsung”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Aggressive boosting and thermal throttling
“Intel's Core i9 tries to be clever by aggressive boosting and throttling”
Comment from 22 Apr 2026 in “Windows Server 2025 Runs Better on ARM” “The i9 was notorious. Would thermally throttle almost instantly”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “How to Quickly Warm Up Your MacBook” Laptop i9 chips a poor idea
“It was a truly ridiculous idea to put an i9 in any laptop.”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “How to Quickly Warm Up Your MacBook” “The 2020 era i9s were BAD even in macs.”
Comment from 3 Oct 2026 in “The Forgetful CPU (Linux on M4)”
Other processors people recommend
The four most recommended other processors, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple M5 | 48 | 14 | 77% | 11 | — | Approved |
| AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 | 44 | 14 | 76% | 11 | — | Approved |
| AMD Ryzen | 25 | 12 | 68% | 11 | 1.4 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Intel N150 | 21 | 1 | 95% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Intel Core i9This page | 5 | 7 | 42% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
11 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The 2020 era i9s were BAD even in macs.”
“His code's so fast it makes Intel 13900k's self destruct”
“it's still glorious for 4K gaming even today”
“It was a truly ridiculous idea to put an i9 in any laptop.”
“The i9 was notorious. Would thermally throttle almost instantly”
“was affected by the widespread voltage issue and had to be replaced”
“has worked like a dream from day one and still to this day”
“Intel's Core i9 tries to be clever by aggressive boosting and throttling”
“I seem to remember even more recent vulns in that family”
“which are very power hungry”
“since its still cheaper than dd5”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.