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: Civilization 6
Originally penned by Sid Meier and his team, the Civilization series of turn-based strategy games are a cult classic, and many an excuse for an all-nighter trying to get Gandhi to declare war on you due to an integer underflow. Truth be told I never actually played the first version, but I have played every edition from the second to the sixth, including the fourth as voiced by the late Leonard Nimoy, and it a game that is easy to pick up, but hard to master.
Benchmarking Civilization has always been somewhat of an oxymoron – for a turn based strategy game, the frame rate is not necessarily the important thing here and even in the right mood, something as low as 5 frames per second can be enough. With Civilization 6 however, Firaxis went hardcore on visual fidelity, trying to pull you into the game. As a result, Civilization can taxing on graphics and CPUs as we crank up the details, especially in DirectX 12.
For this benchmark, we are using the following settings:
- 480p Low, 1440p Low, 4K Low, 1080p Max
For automation, Firaxis supports the in-game automated benchmark from the command line, and output a results file with frame times. We do as many runs within 10 minutes per resolution/setting combination, and then take 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