Intel Core i7-10700 Desktop Processor 8 Cores up to 4.8 GHz LGA 1200 (Intel 400 Series Chipset) 65W, BX8070110700

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The V-Ray performance is very typical of what we've seen so far. Here the 10700K is 4% faster than the 9900K and that meant it was almost 30% slower than the Ryzen 9 3900X.

Ghost Recon Breakpoint also sees the 10700K match the 10900K and by extension the 9900K, 9700K and even the 8700K. Again, the 10700K was faster than the 3900X, but this time we're talking about just a 5% performance advantage at 1080p. Looking at the average performance across the 7 games tested at 1080p, we see that the 10700K is basically identical to the 10900K and just a whisker faster than the 9900K. The 9700K is also very close in the average, but the 1% low performance was not up to par.See http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/hyper-threading/hyper-threading-technology.html?wapkw=hyper+threading for more information including details on which processors support Intel® HT Technology. The processor has a 2.90 GHz base frequency and supports a 4.80 GHz single-core max turbo frequency. For the turbo, as mentioned, Intel has recommendations for power levels and turbo time in its documentation, however OEMs and motherboard manufacturers are free to routinely ignore it. This is no more obvious than when comparing these two processors. What does this mean for end-users? Well, graphs like this. When looking at single core performance we see that while the 10700K is very strong, it's not exceptional, basically matching the 9900K, 3700X and 3900X.

Compared to the older Core i7-9700, the 10700 now enables HyperThreading and therefore in some applications a nice performance boost. The single core performance is quite similar. Jumping up to 1440p reduces the average frame rate and 1% low margin to just 5%, so while the 10700K is clearly faster for gaming, it's not that much faster and in most instances you won't notice the difference. Excellent for Gaming, But... Processors that support 64-bit computing on Intel® architecture require an Intel 64 architecture-enabled BIOS. The understanding of the way that Intel references its TDP (thermal design point) values has gone through a mini-revolution in the last few years. We have had an almost-decade of quad-core processors at around 90 W and 65 W, and most of them would never reached these numberseven under turbo modes - for example, the Core i5-6600K was rated at 91 W, but peak power draw was only 83 W. This has been the norm for a while, until recently when Intel had to start boosting the core count. As we have slowly gone up in core count, from 4 to 6 to 8 and now 10, these numbers have seemed almost arbitrary for a while.

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It's time to make sense of the data. In one side, this is similar to what we saw with the Core i9-10900K. The 10700K simply can't match the value of the competing Ryzen parts in productivity applications. The Core i7-10700K is either on par with the 3700X for a massive 40% price premium or much slower than the 3900X for about the same price. The goal of this review was initially just to benchmark the Core i7-10700 and see where it fits into the market. As our testing results came into focus, it was clear that we had an interesting comparison on our hands against the Core i7-10700K, which we have also tested. In this review the focus will be on the difference between the two, focusing primarily on where the i7-10700 lands compared to the competition, and perhaps some of the complexities involved. Test Setup Next up we have Far Cry New Dawn and again we're looking at 9900K and even 10900K-like performance with the 10700K. That's good news but also not unexpected. The Far Cry series has always favored Intel CPUs and we like to include it as this is a worst case scenario for AMD. While the 10700K will often be around 5% faster than the 3900X in gaming, there are titles such as Far Cry New Dawn where Intel is around 15% faster and that margin can even be seen at 1440p. We've experienced that single-core performance is essential for some games, as many don't take full advantage of multiple cores.

System and Maximum TDP is based on worst case scenarios. Actual TDP may be lower if not all I/Os for chipsets are used. The 10700K was also slower than the 9900K in Blender's Open Data benchmark, though we're talking a few seconds here, so performance was basically identical. The reason comes down to what TDP really is. In the past, we used to assume that it was the peak power consumption of the processor was its TDP rating – after all, a ‘thermal design point’ of a processor was almost worthless if you didn’t account for the peak power dissipation. What makes Intel’s situation different (or confusing, depending on how you want to call it) is that the company defines its TDP in the context of a 'base' frequency. The TDP will be the maximum power under a sustained workload for which the base frequency is the minimum frequency guarantee. Intel defines a sustained workload one in which the 'turbo budget' has expired, and the processor will achieve its best frequency above base frequency (but not turbo modes) . The margins were reduced at 1440p and now we see basically no difference in performance between the majority of the CPUs tested. The base frequency is more of a minimum guaranteed frequency, than an absolute 'this is what you will get' value under a sustained workload. Intel likes to state that the base frequency is the guarantee, however if a processor can achieve a higher frequency while power limited, it will - if it can achieve that power value with 200 MHz above base frequency, it will run at the higher frequency. If this sounds familiar, this is how all AMD Ryzen processors work, however Intel only implements it when turbo is no longer available. This ends up being very processor dependent.Max Turbo Frequency refers to the maximum single-core processor frequency that can be achieved with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology. See www.intel.com/technology/turboboost/ for more information and applicability of this technology.