CPU Reviews Workstations

Intel Core i9-10900K in the versatility test. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the last 14-nm bolide?

I had to make some cuts in the game benchmarks due to time constraints, but I tried to pick out representative cases and of course found a game where the CPU doesn’t perform as well as predicted. However, these situations should rather be an exception, because it will probably take some time until all games have really reached the multi-core heaven. Until then, some lakes will probably be plundered by Intel, I also AMD will have to watch how many really famous painters will be left.

But since we want to test a CPU today, there will only be benchmarks in 720p and 1080p, so there will be something for everyone. I’m using a watered NVIDIA Titan RTX to protect myself from possible GPU bottlenecks, but even with this card I can’t do it completely. Nevertheless you can see a very clear trend, which could have been confirmed by 10 more tests. So at the end of the day there will be a statement that can be used in spite of everything and the somewhat dusty enthusiast platform on the 2066 socket shows once again that it has always been a bit out of place to play.

Tests in 1280 x 720 pixels

Interestingly, the difference between the Intel Core i9-9900K(S) and the 10900K isn’t that big, but at least it’s still measurable. If you use slower graphics cards, these traces become blurred, though. The Ryzen 9 3900X subtracts the Ryzen 9 3950X here, which I noticed several times, even in the workstation benchmarks. When half of the people on the team have nothing to do, you’re just in the way. In Game Mode, the Ryzen 9 3950X would be faster again, but that’s not what this is all about today.

Next, let’s take Assassin’s Creed Odyssey here, I have both 720p and 1080p versions of this game to see the differences. But let’s start with the actually unplayable stamp resolution. The differences between the Intel CPUs are a bit bigger than in Wolfenstein Youngblood. In comparison to the Core i9-9900K(S), the 10900K can score more points due to the high clock rate and the two cores more. The Core i7-9700K does itself considerably harder, but still displaces Intel’s older enthusiast platform with a gesture of nonchalance. The advantage of the Core i9-10900K over AMD’s two bolides is also quite clearly visible here.

Tests in 1920 x 1080 pixels

Same game, but more pixels. If you leave the settings as they were, the field moves a bit closer together, but the order does not change and the differences to the 720p test are not as big as expected. Also a realization.

Far Cry 5 is a good example for all older games, which prefer a high IPC performance with high clock speed. Here the Core-i9-Troika win clearly before the rest, because at the end of the clock is just everything and even the Titan RTX already buckles a bit towards the top. And the two Ryzen? You have to be able to take defeats as well as so many successes, because it rounds off the picture better.

By the way, Total War Three Kingdoms is a very good example of how it can turn out when you need the largest possible team and the working speed of the individual team members is important, but not everything is decisive. Nevertheless the difference of 2 or 6 cores more on the side of the AMD bolides is not as extreme as expected. Not even 10% more, but defeat is defeat and Far Cry 5 hurts a little less on the Red team.

Finally I picked Metro Exodus, because it shows again, where the strengths of which CPU are currently and why AMD with Zen3, especially in IPC and clock still has to catch up. However, the predicted 15 to 20 would easily be enough for the top. But to close the circle again: we live in the here and now. And Zen3 is not yet on the market. What counts is on the pitch and that’s where the Core i9-10900K (still in many games) is the measure of all things.

Danke für die Spende



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About the author

Igor Wallossek

Editor-in-chief and name-giver of igor'sLAB as the content successor of Tom's Hardware Germany, whose license was returned in June 2019 in order to better meet the qualitative demands of web content and challenges of new media such as YouTube with its own channel.

Computer nerd since 1983, audio freak since 1979 and pretty much open to anything with a plug or battery for over 50 years.

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