Intel this morning is pulling out the details of a new Core i9 processor that it is adding to its Comet Lake desktop CPU family. Taking its place as the closest to a budget option in the i9 stack, the i9-10850K is a slightly lower-clocked version of Intel’s flagship 10-core i9-10900K processor. Overall, the chip has a clock speed of 100MHz slower than the 10900K in all respects, from base clocks to turbo clocks, a fairly small increase at a time when Intel chips are boosting to over 5000Mhz. In the meantime, although Intel hasn’t released an official price yet, expect to see the 10850K priced slightly lower than the $ 488 10900K.
| Intel 10th Gen Comet Lake Core i9 and Core i7 |
||||||||||
| AnandTech | Cores | Base Freq |
TB2 2 C |
TB2 New Testament |
TB3 2 C |
TVB 2 C |
TVB New Testament |
TDP (W) |
IGP | MSRP 1ku |
| Core i9 | ||||||||||
| i9-10900K | 10C / 20T | 3.7 | 5.1 | 4.8 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 4.9 | 125 | 630 | $ 488 |
| i9-10900KF | 10C / 20T | 3.7 | 5.1 | 4.8 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 4.9 | 125 | – | $ 472 |
| i9-10900 | 10C / 20T | 2.8 | 5.0 | 4.5 4.5 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 4.6 | Sixty-five | 630 | $ 439 |
| i9-10900F | 10C / 20T | 2.8 | 5.0 | 4.5 4.5 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 4.6 | Sixty-five | – | $ 422 |
| i9-10900T | 10C / 20T | 1.9 | 4.5 4.5 | 3.7 | 4.6 | – | – | 35 | 630 | $ 439 |
| i9-10850K | 10C / 20T | 3.6 | 5.0 | 4.7 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 4.8 | 125? | 630 | $ 453 |
| Core i7 | ||||||||||
| i7-10700K | 8C / 16T | 3.8 | 5.0 | 4.7 | 5.1 | – | – | 125 | 630 | $ 374 |
| i7-10700KF | 8C / 16T | 3.8 | 5.0 | 4.7 | 5.1 | – | – | 125 | – | $ 349 |
| i7-10700 | 8C / 16T | 2.9 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.8 | – | – | Sixty-five | 630 | $ 323 |
| i7-10700F | 8C / 16T | 2.9 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.8 | – | – | Sixty-five | – | $ 298 |
| i7-10700T | 8C / 16T | 2.0 | 4.4 | 3.7 | 4.5 4.5 | – | – | 35 | 630 | $ 325 |
In addition to clock speeds, the Core i9-10850K is a rather unremarkable processor within Intel’s larger lineup. The chip features the same fully-enabled 10-core configuration as the 10900K, as well as Comet Lake’s integrated UHD 630 GPU. The unlocked chip also features the same Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) capabilities as the flagship i9, and while Intel’s figures don’t include a TDP rating, we’re sure they’re the same 125 watts as the other serial K-parts. So for all practical purposes this is a 10900K with a lower 100MHz clock speed, and that’s it.
More curious, perhaps, is why Intel even bothers to launch the chip. While the company maintains a fairly fine and highly bundled product line, 100MHz is a small difference even by usual Intel standards. At least on paper, the 10850K will deliver better than 97% of the 10900K’s performance; Intel has created a SKU that is not even 3% different from its other i9 parts of full TDP.
Our best guess at this point is that, having pushed its 14nm process and Skylake CPU architecture to the limit with its fifth version, the company has been piling up chips that cannot achieve the 10900K’s high clock speeds. Judging from the overclocking results, as well as the current issues with retail shortages, Intel is apparently playing on the end of its frequency, so even 100MHz in free space can make the difference between whether a chip passes validation or not. . Although any kind of de facto price cut is also undoubtedly useful to Intel against AMD’s highly competitive Ryzen 3000 series line.
Continuing, the current version of the processor is not only an OEM version, but also a retail version. Lists for the BX8070110850K began popping up for the chip even before today’s announcement, confirming that the chip will soon be on sale as a proper launch of the boxed CPU. However, the price is a little clearer, as Intel’s announcement doesn’t include an official MSRP. While Intel will have to price it below $ 488 on the 10900K, retail pricing is another matter. With a shortage of 10900K and even the i7-10700K for over $ 400, early retail listings have been inconsistent. We’ll know more for sure once sales start, but it’s hard to imagine the 10850K going under $ 450.
