We have been hearing about the imminent launch of Intel's 9th generation Core processor family for the past several months, including information about specific model numbers, specs, and even what kind of thermal interface material (TIM) Intel will use (solder, thankfully). But if all you really want to know is what kind of packaging they will ship in, today's your lucky day.
The answer to that is: something that looks like a Destiny engram. That's according to a leaked listing on Amazon. Our pals at TomsHardware confirmed the listing was real, which was first spotted by a Twitter user earlier today. It was pulled before we could see it ourselves, though THG shared a few images with us.
The engram-style packaging is not exactly the most efficient way to box up a processor. It seems pretty clear that AMD's resurrection in the high-end CPU space is having an effect on Intel's psyche. Specifically, AMD's second generation Threadripper CPUs ship in a splashy retail box, and let's not forget that AMD was the first to release 8-core processors in the mainstream desktop CPU space. Intel is getting ready to respond to both with its upcoming Core i9-9900K and Core i7-9700K processors.
Amazon's short-lived listing outlined what we already knew, which is that the Core i9-9900K is an 8-core/16-thread CPU that can boost up to 5GHz (on one or two cores). We're pretty confident at this point that those will hold true. What we don't know yet is the price—this listing had it pegged at $582.50, though that's not necessarily accurate. Even if it is, at least you'll have some weird packaging to put on display.
