The Intel Comet Lake Core i9-10900K, i7-10700K, i5-10600K CPU Review: Skylake We Go Again
by Dr. Ian Cutress on May 20, 2020 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- Skylake
- 14nm
- Z490
- 10th Gen Core
- Comet Lake
CPU Performance: Synthetic Tests
As with most benchmark suites, there are tests that don’t necessarily fit into most categories because their role is just to find the peak throughput in very particular coding scenarios. For this we rely on some of the industry standard tests, like Geekbench and Cinebench.
GeekBench4: Synthetics
A common tool for cross-platform testing between mobile, PC, and Mac, GeekBench 4 is an ultimate exercise in synthetic testing across a range of algorithms looking for peak throughput. Tests include encryption, compression, fast Fourier transform, memory operations, n-body physics, matrix operations, histogram manipulation, and HTML parsing.
I’m including this test due to popular demand, although the results do come across as overly synthetic, and a lot of users often put a lot of weight behind the test due to the fact that it is compiled across different platforms (although with different compilers).
We record the main subtest scores (Crypto, Integer, Floating Point, Memory) in our benchmark database, but for the review we post the overall single and multi-threaded results.
LinX: LINPACK
The main tool for ordering the TOP500 computer list involves running a variant of an accelerated matrix multiply algorithm typically found from the LINPACK suite. Here we use a tool called LinX to do the same thing on our CPUs. We scale our test based on the number of cores present in order to not run out of scaling but still keeping the test time consistent.
This is another of our new tests for 2020. Data will be added as we start regression testing older CPUs.
Cinebench R20
The Cinebench line of tests is very well known among technology enthusiasts, with the software implementing a variant of the popular Cinema4D engine to render through the CPU a complex scene. The latest version of Cinebench comes with a number of upgrades, including support for >64 threads, as well as offering a much longer test in order to stop the big server systems completing it in seconds. Not soon after R20 was launched, we ended up with 256 thread servers that completed the test in about two seconds. While we wait for the next version of Cinebench, we run the test on our systems in single thread and multithread modes, running for a minimum of 10 minutes each.
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Spunjji - Tuesday, May 26, 2020 - link
Mixed disagree.In all likelihood, Intel is incentivizing OEMs to continue working with their products.
It certainly looks like there is some sort of unspecified agreement between OEMs, Intel and Nvidia - hence the seemingly universal limitation of the 2060 with an AMD CPU.
But then... this absolutely is AMD's first proper crack at a high-end notebook chip that performs up to its billing in a very, very long time. It will take time for it to filter though, so the current state of the market may not be a good indicator - especially with COVID-19 about.
Tunnah - Wednesday, May 20, 2020 - link
Regarding your gaming suite test and GTA V/Steam limitations; why not switch to the cracked, offline version ? It's not like you're pirating it as you already bought it.Also you could keep a monolithic version in which you could insert any scripts you want via the modding capabilities, and because it's offline, updates won't come in and screw up your files. I keep a pirate version separate for messing around with modding on, and I never have to worry about an update rolling things back.
arashi - Sunday, May 24, 2020 - link
I'm sure the legal liability would be very welcome.Hxx - Wednesday, May 20, 2020 - link
im excited for the 10700k for my gaming rig. almost as good as the 10900k but cheaper and less power hungry.HammerStrike - Wednesday, May 20, 2020 - link
The lack of PCIe 4.0 is a deal breaker for any gaming focused box. The one area where the new consoles have an undisputed lead is in their SSD’s and I/O infrastructure. As game engines and game design are transformed by this I think, within a few years, we are going to see game performance improvements with faster SSD’s. Much more so then the few % Intel currently has,based on CPU alone. Which is only really of practical benefit if you have a monitor with 165+ refresh rate and game at those settings. I love a high refresh but I’d much rather have the pretty bells and whistles on and get 80-120hz vs setting everything to low for 165.AMD chips are just much more compelling. Of course, unless you absolutely have to upgrade now, I’d wait a few months for Zen 3. Fair chance they take the performance crown, or get so close as not to matter. Plus they will run a lot cooler - even if you don’t care about the power draw per say, the cooler a chip runs the cheaper / quieter the cooling solution is. Take that savings and put it in a GPU, RAM or PCIe 4.0 SSD.
Boshum - Wednesday, May 20, 2020 - link
I don't think lack of PCIe 4.0 is that bad, but is it certain that the LGA1200 won't support PCIe 4.0 when a Rocket Lake chip is plugged in?WaWaThreeFIVbroS - Thursday, May 21, 2020 - link
The board may support PCIe 4.0 signals but the Z490 chipset doesn't, so when a rocket lake is plugged in the PCIe 4 will probably only came from the CPUImNotARobot - Wednesday, May 20, 2020 - link
I feel like there is a lack of testing between PCIe 4 and 3. The way I look at it, nvidia is right around the corner from launch their PCIe 4 lineup so these processors are going to be powering that. I haven't seen anyone review an AMD 5700xt on an intel and AMD machine just to see what other real life gaming impact that can have. Agreed if you're a hardcore gamer you might not want a 5700xt...but it gives insight on what next gen PCIe 4 channel can get you.haukionkannel - Thursday, May 21, 2020 - link
No impact at all. Todays and near future GPUs Are too weak to saturate pci 3.0... maybe in few years we will get GPUs that Are faster in Pci4.0... but that time has not yet arrived. (Unles you have 4Gb amd 5500 that has narrow 8wide bus.)Pci 4.0 is for m2ssd at this moments!
prophet001 - Thursday, May 21, 2020 - link
Can't really argue but the clock performance does matter a lot in WoW which is what I mainly play. No gen 4.0 is wack but so is 16 lanes into the CPU.