By Steve Makris
Intel launched its new 10th Gen Intel Core S Series Processors, including the flagship i9-10900K processor that Brandt Guttridge, Intel’s Director of Desktop Product Marketing, described as “the fastest gaming chip on the planet.”
The processor is heating up the competition with rival chip maker AMD, which has challenged Intel with its own next-gen processors at competitive price points. The Intel chip features a top speed of 5.3 GHz with Intel Thermal Velocity Boost out of the box for faster game frame rates. It has 10 cores and 20 threads for faster multiple processing. The new series will include i7, i5, i3, and Celeron variants.
Computer gaming is all about speed and detail. Intel has partnered with tier one game makers like Dynasty Mode, which is optimizing Total War: Three Kingdoms, a new horde-style arcade mode game. It renders six times more soldiers in the gaming field, providing eye candy for gamers.
Intel also released in-house gaming tests between the i9-10900K, Intels’ previous-generation 9th Gen i9-9900KS and AMD’s currently best Ryzen 9 3959X on 25+ demanding game titles with equivalent hardware specs like RAM, graphics cards, and 1,920 x 1,080 screen display resolution. It also rendered a 4K video on Adobe Premiere using only CPU processing.
According to Intel, the new chip scored higher FPS (frames per second), the Holy Grail of gaming enthusiasts, on the majority of gaming titles. The new processor averages 17% faster FPS gaming performance to its previous top 9th Gen sibling and is 60% faster than a three-year old Intel PC, while 4K video creating renders 18% faster than last years’ i9 and 35% faster than a three-year old PC. And all at cheaper prices.
Although changes to new processors are usually incremental, Intel spurred by a competitive AMD, included a plethora of new features in its 10th Gen chips and supporting 400 Series Chipset motherboard.
- Up to 5.3 GHz processing speed with Intel Thermal Velocity Boost which automatically adjusts to the fastest speed possible depending on current resources like power, heat, and memory.
- Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 identifies the two best performing cores to overclock on each processor (apparently different on every chip sold) to maximize performance for single or dual-core performance.
- Up to 10 cores with 20M Intel Smart Cache compares to last year’s 9th Gen i9 16M cache.
- Up to faster DDR4-2933 RAM support.
- Enhanced Core & Memory Overclocking.
- Intel 400 Series Chipset which will only work on the newest motherboards also released today.
- A faster Ethernet connection with 2.5G Intel Ethernet Connection I225.
- Integrated three times faster Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 (Gig+) support.
The new i9-10900K processor which also includes built-in Intel UHD Graphics 630, is priced at US$488 compared to last year’s 9th Gen similar model for $524. It shares its most powerful multi-tasking feature, multithreading, down to its smallest Turbo Boosting i3-10320 sibling with four cores and eight threads as well as UHD Graphics 630 and speedy Optane memory, priced at US$154.
10th Gen Intel Core S-series processors are expected to be available globally through normal retail channels and in desktops sold worldwide by OEMs and channel system integrators, starting in May.