Intel's flagship 10th Gen Desktop CPU, the Core i9-10900K, has once again been tested and shows just what to expect from its next fastest chip for the mainstream segment. The Intel Core i9-10900K would be replacing the Core i9-9900K, offering more cores, more threads, and higher frequencies but will also feature higher power consumption and possibly higher temperatures too which could end up hurting its position against AMD's 7nm Ryzen 3000 Desktop CPUs.

Intel Core i9-10900K 10 Core Flagship Comet Lake CPU Tested Once Again - The Last 14nm Refresh of Skylake

The Intel Comet Lake-S or the 10th Generation Core Family is expected to be the last CPU lineup to reuse the 14nm Skylake architecture. The Skylake architecture has been with us since 2015 and Intel has yet to replace it for desktop consumers. The architecture has seen several optimizations and key refinements that have led to an increase from 4 cores and 8 threads to 10 cores and 20 threads. The same 14nm process has also been improved to the point that the flagship CPU speeds have seen a massive jump from 4.20 GHz boosts to 5.20 GHz boosts.

But all of this hasn't come without issues, previous few generations of the 14nm process and the Skylake architecture have started to show why it can't be sustained for long. With higher temps and power consumption figures going off the roof while the competition continues its lead in efficiency, Intel has to look elsewhere and this requires a shift to either an entirely new process node, which definitely isn't possible by Intel due to 10nm yields or get a brand new architecture out as soon as it can and wait till its process technology matures to shift the new architecture over to it similar to how the Tick-Tock cycle was originally meant to function.

I will get back to more of this in a bit but first, let's talk about the Core i9-10900K's benchmarks that we have for today and even before I do that, let's recap what we know about the Core i9-10900K.

Intel Core i9-10900K 10 Core CPU Specifications

The Intel Core i9-10900K will be the flagship part of the 10th Generation Desktop CPU family. Intel has a few tricks up their sleeves to offer even better performance than the Core i9-9900KS. The i9-10900K features 10 cores, 20 threads a total cache of 20 MB and a 125W TDP. The chip has a base frequency of 3.7 GHz and a boost frequency of 5.1 GHz. However, using Intel's Turbo Boost Max 3.0 technology, the chip can boost up to 5.2 GHz on a single-core and what's even better is the 4.9 GHz all-core boost. Some of the features of this particular chip include:

Up to 4.8 GHz All-Core TurboUp to 5.3 / 4.9 GHz Thermal Velocity Boost Singe / All-core TurboUp to 5.2 GHz Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0Up to 10C and 20TUp to DDR4-2933 MHz dual-channelEnhanced Core & Memory OverclockingActive Core Group Tuning

Here's the interesting part, the chip would also get Thermal Velocity Boost, similar to the current flagship parts. CPUs that support this algorithm, like the Core i9-10900K, would feature even faster boost frequencies of 5.3 GHz (single-core) and 4.9 GHz (all-core). However, as the name suggests, only top-tier cooling solutions would be able to allow full utilization of the Thermal Velocity Boost feature. So unless you rock a high-end AIO liquid cooler or a closed-loop setup, don't expect a sustained velocity boost but rather short bursts until the threshold is hit. It will be interesting to know the full extent of the features that this function has to offer and what kind of cooling would the Core i9-10900K requires in general.

Intel's 10th Generation Comet Lake-S based Core i9-10900K 10 Core CPU has once again been tested on a Z490 motherboard. (Image Credits: TUM_APISAK)

Coming to the benchmarks reported by TUM_APISAK, we have Geekbench 5 where the Core i9-10900K is compared to the Core i9-9900KS and the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X. The following are the scores for these CPUs.

Geekbench 5 Single-Core CPU Tests:

Intel Core i9-10900K 10 Core / 20 Thread CPU (Single-Core) - 1437 PointsIntel Core i9-9900KS 8 Core / 16 Thread CPU (Single-Core) - 1412 PointsAMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16 Core / 32 Thread CPU (Single-Core) - 1308 PointsAMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12 Core / 24 Thread CPU (Single-Core) - 1279 Points

Geekbench 5 Multi-Core CPU Tests:

AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16 Core / 32 Thread CPU (Multi-Core) - 14313 PointsAMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12 Core / 24 Thread CPU (Multi-Core) - 12134 PointsIntel Core i9-10900K 10 Core / 20 Thread CPU (Multi-Core) - 11390 PointsIntel Core i9-9900KS 8 Core / 16 Thread CPU (Multi-Core) - 9458 Points

While the single-core performance is definitely impressive here, the AMD Ryzen 4000 CPUs aren't that far behind and they get a huge lead in the multi-core tests. With that said, the single-core perf improvement of the new chip should be around 3-5% while the multi-core performance is said to be around 20-30% better for 25% extra cores and threads along with higher clock speeds. Intel also listed down the PL2 power states for each chip in a previously leaked slide, which showed the max TDP when all cores are hitting the turbo frequency. The Core i9-9900K is a 95W and 210W (PL2) chip while the i9-10900K is a 125W and 250W (PL2) chip. These figures put AMD's 7nm Ryzen chips a league ahead & we aren't even factoring in the stunning performance AMD's chip boasts with ECO mode applied.

Industry insiders and motherboard vendors themselves have stated that the Z490 boards are designed specifically for the higher power input of the Comet Lake-S lineup and they have noticed the chips breaking past the 300W barrier.

Several motherboard manufacturers revealed that the ten-core break the 300-watt mark at maximum load.Not surprisingly,the 9900KS already exceeded the 250-watt mark in scenarios of this kind. viaComputebase

From the earlier benchmarks, one can conclude some pros for Intel's and AMD's current generation lineup which are listed below:

Intel's 10th Gen Core Desktop CPU Pros:

Higher single-threaded performanceHigher Clock SpeedsBetter Overclocking CapabilitiesSolid Memory Support

AMD's 3rd Gen Ryzen Desktop CPU Pros:

Higher multi-threaded performanceMore cores/threads/cache7nm architecture (new features)Impressive value out of the boxSingle-threaded performance right on par with IntelRun cooler and have a lower power consumption

Intel 10th Gen Core Comet Lake Desktop CPU Family: