Intel Core i9-10850K, 10C/20T, 3.60-5.20GHz, tray

Der Core i9-10850K rechnet fast so schnell wie das 10900K-Topmodell, vor allem aber schiebt er sich zwischen AMDs Ryzen-CPUs.

Der Core i9-10850K ist nicht besser oder schlechter als der Core i9-10900K – er ist in einigen wenigen Details anders. Man tauscht hier eine etwas geringere Leistung gegen einen niedrigere Leistungsaufnahme und eben den geringeren Preis ein. Am Ende entscheidet der Käufer, ob er lieber zum einen oder dem anderen Modell greift. Das entsprechende Meinungsbild soll unser Artikel ermöglichen.

Überraschend hat Intel den Core i9-10850K direkt unterhalb des teuren Flaggschiffs 10900K platziert. Er sollte eigentlich nicht an die große Glocke gehängt werden, ist er bei deutlich geringerem Handelspreis doch quasi gleich schnell. Die Ausbeute des 10900K mit bis zu 5,3 GHz dürfte Intel aber zum 10850K getrieben haben.

When a company like Intel creates a CPU design, the process of manufacturing brings about variation on the quality of the product. Some cores will only reach a certain frequency, while others have surprisingly good voltage characteristics. Two goals of processor design are minimizing this variance, but also shifting the peak higher, all while controlling how much of the silicon is actually useable. This is part of the magic of ‘binning’, the process of filtering the silicon into different ‘bins’ for applicability to a given product. It is through this process that the Core i9-10850K exists, albeit reluctantly.

Intel has been facing a mainstream CPU headwind since rival AMD arrived armed with Ryzen in 2017. The latest 10th Gen chips do a better job than previous generations of combatting the advancing AMD threat as Core generally matches Ryzen on a thread count at comparable prices. That's true until we reach the top of the stack, where Intel's 10 cores are trumped by 12- and 16-core Ryzens. This situation is unlikely to change in the short term, so Intel needs to provide the enthusiast with extra incentive to go down its established route rather than favour Ryzen.

In my Core i9-10900 review, I declared it "my last Comet Lake review"—guess not. Intel released the Core i9-10850K just a few weeks ago, probably in an attempt to combat AMD's Ryzen 3900XT, which didn't turn out nearly as impressive as everybody expected. The new i9-10850K is pretty much identical to the i9-10900K in every regard, except it ticks at 100 MHz lower rated base and boost clock frequency—there is the lower price of course, and hopefully better availability.