Intel Core i9-10850K Review: The Real Intel Flagship
by Dr. Ian Cutress on January 4, 2021 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- Core
- Z490
- 10th Gen Core
- Comet Lake
- LGA1200
- i9-10850K
Gaming Tests: F1 2019
The F1 racing games from Codemasters have been popular benchmarks in the tech community, mostly for ease-of-use and that they seem to take advantage of any area of a machine that might be better than another. The 2019 edition of the game features all 21 circuits on the calendar for that year, and includes a range of retro models and DLC focusing on the careers of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. Built on the EGO Engine 3.0, the game has been criticized similarly to most annual sports games, by not offering enough season-to-season graphical fidelity updates to make investing in the latest title worth it, however the 2019 edition revamps up the Career mode, with features such as in-season driver swaps coming into the mix. The quality of the graphics this time around is also superb, even at 4K low or 1080p Ultra.
For our test, we put Alex Albon in the Red Bull in position #20, for a dry two-lap race around Austin. We test at the following settings:
- 768p Ultra Low, 1440p Ultra Low, 4K Ultra Low, 1080p Ultra
In terms of automation, F1 2019 has an in-game benchmark that can be called from the command line, and the output file has frame times. We repeat each resolution setting for a minimum of 10 minutes, taking the averages and percentiles.
| AnandTech | Low Resolution Low Quality |
Medium Resolution Low Quality |
High Resolution Low Quality |
Medium Resolution Max Quality |
| Average FPS |  |
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| 95th Percentile |  |
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All of our benchmark results can also be found in our benchmark engine, Bench.
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Cullinaire - Monday, January 4, 2021 - link
Shades of Prescott?😆
Crazyeyeskillah - Tuesday, January 5, 2021 - link
i used to own a PresHottTheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, January 5, 2021 - link
I’d rather PresNotGeoffreyA - Wednesday, January 6, 2021 - link
Somewhat reminiscent.BGADK - Monday, January 4, 2021 - link
Thank you for an interesting article.Availability of Intel CPU's obviously varies a lot across regions. Here in Denmark there is ample supply of the i9-10900K, which is prices 60 euros higher than the i9-10850K. Is it worth it? Before I read the article I would have said "Probably not", but the lower temperatures definitely makes paying a bit more for at better binned CPU a reasonable proposition.
Betabacker - Monday, January 4, 2021 - link
I purchased a 10850k for $380 from BH Photo a couple of months ago. I have a Kraken x73 on it with thermal grizzly paste. I still can't overclock or it'll cook everything. Temps can jump 20 degrees instantly.Nirkon - Tuesday, January 5, 2021 - link
I also bought this CPU but a few weeks ago for that price as well, still waiting for it to arrive though, but I think at that price point there is no better option at the moment, not only because AMD isn't in stock but if you are not using it exclusively for gaming it will for sure offer better future performance at 10c/20t than 6c/12tceomrman - Tuesday, January 5, 2021 - link
I think a lot of people are forgetting how important it is for a vendor to have products to sell. Ryzen 3 can whup Comet Lake on benchmarks all day, but Newegg has exactly zero 5000-series CPUs in stock while they'll ship a 10850k right now for $430. In reality, that means the AMD competition is the 3800X ($417) / 3700X ($325). Those are cheaper, more efficient, and run cooler, but they are also definitely slower (10-15%) at most tasks. The significantly more expensive 3900X ($543) is a step above on many computational tasks and would be my personal choice, but it's still slower than the 10850k at gaming. Buyers don't love getting 2019's leftovers at or above launch MSRP, either, even if they are actually still a good value. That's why it looks like Intel has a good product for its needs. Gamers are likely to choose the Intel CPU, as are some less-hardcore enthusiasts who don't want to wait for current-gen tech. Once AMD stocks the shelves with Zen 3, Intel will have to do better. Until then, it's hard to say a product that you can't buy is better than one you can.Qasar - Tuesday, January 5, 2021 - link
or, one can just be patient, and wait.no one i know who playes games, and is looking for an upgrade is even considering intel now. their current system is fine, so they will be waiting till zen 3 is instock and upgrade then.
gregerst - Tuesday, January 5, 2021 - link
During the course of four or five years of using a 5900x, it would pay for itself many times over by using less electricity vs 10850K. Even the 10900K would make up the price difference over the 10850K. Maybe Intel owns stock in power companies? :D