Intel Core i9-10900K and Core i5-10600K CPU Review
Power Consumption
Power consumption is something that you should be aware of with regards to processors as someone is going to be paying the electric bill. The processors that we have tested have a wide range of TDPs that you can find in the bullet list below.
- AMD Ryzen TR 3970X 280W TDP
- AMD Ryzen TR 2990WX 250W TDP
- AMD Ryzen TR 1950X – 180W TDP
- AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 105W TDP
- AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 105W TDP
- AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 65W TDP
- AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 95W TDP
- AMD Ryzen 3 3300X – 65W TDP
- AMD Ryzen 3 3100 – 65W TDP
- AMD Ryzen 7 2700X 105W TDP
- Intel Core i9-10980XE 165W TDP
- Intel Core i9-10900K – 125W TDP
- Intel Core i9-10600K – 125W TDP
- Intel Core i9-9900KS 127W TDP
- Intel Core i9-9900K 95W TDP
- Intel Core i7-9700K – 95W TDP
- Intel Core i5-9600K – 95W TDP
- Intel Core i5-9400F 65W TDP
- Intel Core i3-9100 65W TDP
- Intel Core i7-8700K 95W TDP
- Intel Core i5-8400K 65W TDP
The Intel Core i9-10900K was tested using using CPU limits imposed by Intel in the BIOS. the Intel Core i9-10900K managed to idle at 51.1 Watts and topped out at 283 Watts in three runs of Cinebench R20. The Intel Core i9-10600K ideled slightly lower at 49.6 Watts and reached 151 Watts at the peak value in Cinebench R20. Our system was water cooled and CPU temperature/noise was never an issue.
Most companies talk about perf/W or Performance per Watt these days, so let’s take a look at that real quick. As you can see the 10th Gen Intel Core series processors do better here than the 9th Gen Intel Core series processors. That said, AMD still comes out ahead when you compare say the 10600K to the 3600X or the 10900K to the 3900X. Adding more cores and threads has helped Intel close the perf/W gap, but they still have a ways to go.