Intel’s new i9-10900K—fast, yes; competitive, not so much
Enlarge / Intel's shiny new 5.3-ish, maybe, but probably not-GHz CPU is seen here running on a Gigabyte AORUS Z490 Master board, on a Praxis wetbench chassis, with the excellent NZXT Kraken fluid cooler. (credit: Jim Salter)
We finally got our grubby paws on the flagship SKU of Intel's new Comet Lake desktop processors-the (sorta) 5.3GHz, (well over) 125W TDP i9-10900K. Intel's extremely lackluster performance marketing led us to believe the processor would probably be little if any improvement over last year's i9-9900K-but, happily, that's not the case.
The more troubling thing for Team Blue is that it isn't only competing with its own CPUs. Intel's real competition isn't itself, it's AMD-and for now at least, the company is still struggling to keep its head above water.
Performance
The i9-10900K chews its way through Cinebench R20's rendering scene quickly. Its Cinebench score is almost exactly that of a Threadripper 1950x-hardly current, but still impressive for a relatively normal desktop CPU. [credit: Jim Salter ]
| Specs at a glance: Core i9-10900K, as tested | |
|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 Professional |
| CPU | 10-core Intel Core i9-10900K-expected retail ~$525 |
| RAM | 64GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR4 3200-$400 at Amazon |
| GPU | Intel UHD 630 onboard iGPU |
| HDD | Samsung 860 Pro 1TB SSD-$275 at Amazon |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte AORUS Z490 Master-$390 on Amazon |
| Cooling | NZXT Kraken X63 fluid cooler with 280mm radiator-$150 at Amazon |
| PSU | EVGA 850GQ Semi Modular PSU-$130 at Amazon |
| Chassis | Praxis Wetbench test chassis-$200 at Amazon |
| Price as tested | $2,060 |
Intel's new flagship i9 desktop CPU is, as you would expect, very fast indeed. Also as you would expect, for the most part its Ryzen 9 3950X equivalent kicks sand in its face and runs away laughing.
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