Intel 10th Gen i5-10600K & i9-10900K Review

Peter Donnell May 20, 2020Last Updated: May 20, 2020

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The Intel 10th Gen CPUs are finally here, and they seem to have been one of the worst kept secrets in recent memory for tech launches. However, while we’ve read into the rumours and actually written about a fair few of them, it seems things aren’t quite what we expected. Early reports hinted at huge power requirements, enormous temperatures and other issues, so we were ready for a bit of a hell-ride with this testing cycle. However, I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised with how things actually pan out.

Intel 10th Gen i5-10600K & i9-10900K

While Intel has been on the back foot for quite some time now with rising pressure from the AMD Ryzen range, they have been planning a strong counter-attack. AMD appears to still have the PCIe Gen 4 advantage until Rocket Lake, but Z490 motherboards should be broadly ready for those too. Intel has focused big on per-core performance this time, offering speeds of up to 5.3 GHz, while also increasing core counts on many of their CPUs.

i5-10600K

First up, we have the i5-10600K, which offers up 6-cores with 12-threads. You’ll get a base frequency of 4.1 GHz, TB2 IC of 4.8. However, the i9-10900K is much faster, offering up 10-cores and 20-threads, with a maximum boost of 5.3 GHz. It’s a bit tricky, but the Turbo Boost Max 3.0 is actually 5.2 GHz, but the new Intel Thermal Velocity Boost Frequency is 5.3 GHz. It’s basically a quick punch of performance when it’s really needed and so long as the CPU has sufficient cooling at the time. “70°C or lower and turbo power budget is available,” says Wikichip.

What Intel Had to Say

“When it comes to your desktop PC, you can’t have too much speed. Whether enjoying the latest games or getting more done with the latest productivity apps, processor speed matters. That’s why Intel engineers developed Intel® Thermal Velocity Boost (Intel TVB).1 By enabling processor speeds of up to 5.3GHz right out of the box, you’re free to enjoy fast performance—whatever you’re looking to accomplish.”