INTEL CORE
i9-10900X /£612 inc VAT
SUPPLIER novatech.co.ukI
ntel’s had a tough time reacting to
the competitive thread of AMD’s
Ryzen and Threadripper CPUs. It has
combatted the latter by massively increasing
the number of cores in its CPUs, from the
10-core Core i7-6950X to the 18-core Core
i9-7980XE, and it’s combatted the former
with massive price cuts.
Add in the supply shortages, and it’s clear
that Cascade Lake-X hasn’t had an easy ride.
Both Intel and AMD also have increasingly
powerful mainstream offerings, which makesparticularly well in RealBench, with image
editing scores that were slower than every
AMD CPU on test. Its video encoding score
was reasonable, but it barely beat the Core
i9-9900KF here, and it was bettered by the
cheaper Ryzen 9 3900X.
The Core i9-10900X’s system score
couldn’t even keep up with the Ryzen 7
3800X in RealBench, and the Ryzen 9
3900X was quicker in Premiere Pro, which
means the 10900X isn’t a great option at
stock speed. However, we managed to
overclock it to 4.8GHz, which saw it better
the Ryzen 9 3950X in Premiere Pro and
increase its poor gaming results to frame
rates that no AMD CPU could match. The
downside was that power consumption
then rocketed to 465W, from an already
high 345W.Conclusion
Without a massive overclock, the Core
i9-10900X is average at best, even in games,
but it does have some redeeming qualities
once tweaked, most notably in games and
Adobe Premiere Pro. However, it’s not as fast as
cheaper Intel CPUs in games, and the Ryzen 9
3950X is far more powerful in most other tests.SPEC
Base frequency 3.7GHz
Turbo frequency 4.7GHz
Core Cascade Lake-X
Manufacturing process 14nm++
Number of cores 10 x physical (20 threads)
Hyper-Threading Ye s
Cache 19.25MB L3 cache, 10 x 1MB L2 cache
Memory controller Quad-channel
DDR4, up to 2933MHz
Packaging LGA2066
Thermal design power (TDP) 165W
Features Turbo Boost Max Technology 3,
Turbo Boost 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI /
BMI1 + BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX, AES,
SSE4a, SSE4, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, MMXVERDICT
Faster than AMD’s options in games once
it’s overclocked, but the Core i9-10900X
is otherwise hard to recommend.PCI-E LANES
+^ Large overclocking^
headroom
+^ More PCI-E lanes than^
mainstream platforms
+^ Excellent overclocked
performanceCOUNTRY LANES-^ High power
consumption
-^ Ryzen 9 3950X
generally faster
-^ Poor at stock speed
-^ Expensive
PERFORMANCE
38 / 50FEATURES
13 / 15OVERALL SCORE
72 %%
VALUE
21 / 35it hard to see a solid place for a CPU such as
the and the Core i9-10900X. It has only two
more cores than Intel’s Core i9-9900K, and
six fewer cores than AMD’s slightly more
expensive 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X.
Under the hood you’ll also find a slightly
different CPU die to the others in the Cascade
Lake-X range, courtesy of a Low Core Count
die (LCC) rather than Intel’s High Core Count
(HCC) monolithic die that it uses in CPUs with
more than ten cores. This is now the third
generation of Intel CPUs that are compatible
with Intel’s X299 chipset, and it could well be
the last as well, but that hasn’t prevented Intel
from increasing the PCI-E lane count from 44
to 48, giving its HEDT platform one advantage
over AMD’s mainstream platforms. Every
Cascade Lake-X CPU supports the maximum
number of PCI-E lanes too, which wasn’t the
case in the early days of the LGA2066 socket.
However, while AMD’s X570 chipset has
fewer PCI-E lanes, and also lacks the X299
platform’s support for quad-channel memory,
it does offer PCI-E 4 support. If you just need
a powerful CPU, a single GPU and a couple of
large, very fast M.2 SSDs, X570 is definitely
worth considering over X299.
Apart from the use of an LCC die, the Core
i9-10900X is otherwise similar to the other two
Cascade Lake-X CPUs we’ve included in this
sub-£1,000 CPU group test. All have 19.25MB
of L3 cache, 1MB L2 cache per core, a 165W TDP
and are built on Intel’s 14nm++ manufacturing
process. There’s just 100MHz between their
peak Turbo Boost Max 3 frequencies too, with
the Core i9-10900X sitting at the lower end at
4.7GHz, but with the joint highest all-core boost
frequency of 4.3GHz.
With lower frequencies than its mainstream
counterparts, the Core i9-10900X didn’t fareINTEL CORE
i9-10900X /£612 inc VAT
SUPPLIER novatech.co.ukI
ntel’s had a tough time reacting to
the competitive thread of AMD’s
Ryzen and Threadripper CPUs. It has
combatted the latter by massively increasing
the number of cores in its CPUs, from the
10-core Core i7-6950X to the 18-core Core
i9-7980XE, and it’s combatted the former
with massive price cuts.
Add in the supply shortages, and it’s clear
that Cascade Lake-X hasn’t had an easy ride.
Both Intel and AMD also have increasingly
powerful mainstream offerings, which makes
particularlywellinRealBench,withimage
editingscoresthatwereslowerthanevery
AMDCPUontest.Itsvideoencodingscore
wasreasonable,butit barelybeattheCore
i9-9900KFhere,andit wasbetteredbythe
cheaperRyzen9 3900X.
TheCorei9-10900X’ssystemscore
couldn’tevenkeepupwiththeRyzen 7
3800XinRealBench,andtheRyzen 9
3900XwasquickerinPremierePro,which
meansthe10900Xisn’ta greatoptionat
stockspeed.However,wemanagedto
overclockit to4.8GHz,whichsawit better
theRyzen9 3950XinPremiereProand
increaseitspoorgamingresultstoframe
ratesthatnoAMDCPUcouldmatch.The
downsidewasthatpowerconsumption
thenrocketedto465W,fromanalready
high345W.Conclusion
Withouta massiveoverclock,theCore
i9-10900Xis averageatbest,eveningames,
butit doeshavesomeredeemingqualities
oncetweaked,mostnotablyingamesand
AdobePremierePro.However,it’snotasfastas
cheaperIntelCPUsingames,andtheRyzen 9
3950Xis farmorepowerfulinmostothertests.SPEC
Base frequency 3.7GHz
Turbo frequency 4.7GHz
Core Cascade Lake-X
Manufacturing process 14nm++
Number of cores 10 x physical (20 threads)
Hyper-Threading Ye s
Cache 19.25MB L3 cache, 10 x 1MB L2 cache
Memory controller Quad-channel
DDR4, up to 2933MHz
Packaging LGA2066
Thermal design power (TDP) 165W
Features Turbo Boost Max Technology 3,
Turbo Boost 2, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI /
BMI1 + BMI2, AVX-512, AVX2, AVX, AES,
SSE4a, SSE4, SSE3, SSE2, SSE, MMXVERDICT
FasterthanAMD’soptionsingamesonce
it’soverclocked,buttheCorei9-10900X
isotherwisehardtorecommend.PCI-ELANES
+Largeoverclocking
headroom
+MorePCI-Elanesthan
mainstreamplatforms
+Excellent overclocked
performance
COUNTRYLANES- High power
consumption - Ryzen 9 3950X
generallyfaster - Pooratstockspeed
- Expensive
PERFORMANCE
38 / 50FEATURES
13 / 15OVERALLSCORE
72 %%
VALUE
21 / 35it hard to see a solid place for a CPU such as
the and the Core i9-10900X. It has only two
more cores than Intel’s Core i9-9900K, and
six fewer cores than AMD’s slightly more
expensive 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X.
Under the hood you’ll also find a slightly
different CPU die to the others in the Cascade
Lake-X range, courtesy of a Low Core Count
die (LCC) rather than Intel’s High Core Count
(HCC) monolithic die that it uses in CPUs with
more than ten cores. This is now the third
generation of Intel CPUs that are compatible
with Intel’s X299 chipset, and it could well be
the last as well, but that hasn’t prevented Intel
from increasing the PCI-E lane count from 44
to 48, giving its HEDT platform one advantage
over AMD’s mainstream platforms. Every
Cascade Lake-X CPU supports the maximum
number of PCI-E lanes too, which wasn’t the
case in the early days of the LGA2066 socket.
However, while AMD’s X570 chipset has
fewer PCI-E lanes, and also lacks the X299
platform’s support for quad-channel memory,
it does offer PCI-E 4 support. If you just need
a powerful CPU, a single GPU and a couple of
large, very fast M.2 SSDs, X570 is definitely
worth considering over X299.
Apart from the use of an LCC die, the Core
i9-10900X is otherwise similar to the other two
Cascade Lake-X CPUs we’ve included in this
sub-£1,000 CPU group test. All have 19.25MB
of L3 cache, 1MB L2 cache per core, a 165W TDP
and are built on Intel’s 14nm++ manufacturing
process. There’s just 100MHz between their
peak Turbo Boost Max 3 frequencies too, with
the Core i9-10900X sitting at the lower end at
4.7GHz, but with the joint highest all-core boost
frequency of 4.3GHz.
With lower frequencies than its mainstream
counterparts, the Core i9-10900X didn’t fare