Intel Core S series official: the i9-10900K the top of the new desktop CPUs

Intel renews the offer of desktop processors by presenting the new Core S series of tenth generation. The absolute protagonist is thei9-10900K which starts from important premises: to be the most powerful desktop processor on the market. The Santa Clara house achieves the goal by aiming for the maximum operating frequency which, under certain conditions, can reach i 5.3GHz on a single core.

Focusing on frequency to consolidate the position in the gaming CPU market is a choice that starts from the assumption of the existence of a large number of games that derive the maximum benefit from this parameter rather than from the number of cores. The top range is changing the previous i9-9900K, it is a chip with 14nm +++ production process, 125W TDP, 10 cores / 20 threads (starting from one base operating frequency of 3.7GHz) and benefits from hardware and software novelties and refinements.

From the first point of view, the i9-10900K, as well as the other new unlocked S series chips (they are usually identified by the suffix "K"), can count on a renewed the thermal interface: the company managed to remove very thin layers of silicon from the die reducing its thickness by 0.8mm and consequently increasing the spreader's thickness by 0.3mm with advantages in terms of heat transfer capacity produced by the die.

To push the frequencies to the max Intel then uses one technology triplet that they work together. More in detail it is the Turbo Boost 2.0 previously used by Intel which can increase the core frequency up to 5.1 GHz, to which is added the new Turbo Boost Max 3.0 which, based on software algorithms, identifies the two best performing cores and increases their frequency up to a maximum of another 100MHz (5.2GHz), leaving the voltage unchanged.

To give the last push (with other 100MHz) intervenes the Intel Thermal Velocity Boost which allows you to touch the 5.3GHz threshold (as mentioned, on a single core). Among the conditions analyzed by the software algorithms of the latter technology there is the temperature: Intel has fixed the thermal threshold of 70th after which the Thermal Velocity Boost does not intervene.

Those who intend to squeeze the chip to the maximum will therefore have to consider the use of a lender cooling system (liquid one recommended). Keep in mind that this type of Boost can also help increase the frequency of multiple cores in a proportionate way: the maximum limit is 4.9 GHz and also in this case it is the software algorithms that identify the best cores.

The Turbo Boost and Thermal Velocity Boost technologies work automatically, but Intel still gives new possibilities for manual intervention to users who intend to try their hand at overclocking and manually intervene on the operating parameters: there are renewed tools to optimize the voltage curve and frequency or to intervene onHyper Threading which can be activated and deactivated for each core via BIOS (applies to the CPUs of the new S series from models i3 to i9).

All of the above translates into a increase in the number of frames: compared to the previous top range Core i9-9900K there is talk of increases that in the case of the i9-10900K fluctuate 10 to 33% depending on the game. Even more marked is the gap with the processor which three years ago represented the top proposal of Intel's gaming CPUs for desktop systems or the Core i7-7700K: in this case the increase in FPS varies from 37 to 81%. Benefits are also registered with productivity applications: with Adobe Premiere the i9-10900K allows you to increase the performance of the i9-9900K by 18%. These are indicative findings, based on official information provided by Intel and awaiting field trials.

Intel Core i9-10900K is a sum of the new features introduced with the new 10th generation desktop processors: to complete the picture there is the possibility of exploiting the DDR4-2933 memories, the presence ofbuilt-in 6 AX201 WiFi interface (Gig +) and support for 2.5G ethernet connectivity Intel I225. Processors use the LGA1200 socket and the Intel 400 chipset – will be available as usual in the Z (with overclocking support) and H (low-end proposal without overclocking support) variants – they can manage up to 40 PCIe lines and support technologies Intel Optane is Thunderbolt 3.

The availability of the new processors starts from May.

The family of Intel Core S series processors is very articulated: at the top is the aforementioned i9-10900K, which can be placed in the first group of models also including i7-10700 line processors. In total there are 8 and they differ in TDP (there are 125W and 65W variants), number of cores (from 8 to 10 physical cores, all with Hyper Threading) and operating frequencies (Thermal Velocity Boost technology is reserved for the i9 series ). The K variants indicate the unlocked models and therefore suitable for overclocking, those with the suffix F instead without integrated graphics Intel UHD Graphics 630.

Going further down are the Intel Core i5 and i3 proposals for a total of 9 models. In this case, the latest Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0 technology is dispensed with (in addition to the Intel Thermal Velocity Boost). At the top is the Intel Core i5-10600K, a CPU with 6 cores / 12 threads which starts from an operating frequency of 4,1GHz and can go up to 4.8GHz thanks to Turbo Boost 2.0. Except for this model and for its F variant without integrated graphics which have a 125W TDP, in all other cases it is a CPU with a 65W TDP.

The last group contains 10 T-series CPUs of the Core, Pentium and Celeron lines. Thanks to the 35W TDP they are all suitable for integration in embedded or fanless systems. The top model is the Intel Core i9-10900T a 10 core / 20 thread with a base operating frequency of 1.9GHz which can reach 4.6GHz thanks to Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0 technology.