Intel
Intel Core i7-10700K
Eight-core, sixteen-thread Comet Lake i7 that pushes Skylake architecture to a 5.1 GHz single-core boost — essentially a rebadged 9900K with slightly higher clocks. A used one still drives a modern GPU well at 1440p.
Pros
- 8 cores / 16 threads with 16 MB L3, still comfortable for gaming plus background encoding
- 5.1 GHz Thermal Velocity Boost gives strong per-core speed for its era
- Unlocked multiplier and soldered IHS, so 5.0–5.1 GHz all-core is a common overclock
- Supports DDR4-2933 officially and far higher on Z490
- UHD Graphics 630 for troubleshooting and QuickSync
Cons
- PL2 is 229 W — the 125 W label understates real sustained draw badly
- No boxed cooler; a 240–360 mm AIO is realistic for all-core loads
- PCIe 3.0 only, so it caps modern NVMe drives at Gen3 speeds
- Overclocking needs a Z-series board with a strong VRM
Below average
Computed from specs & benchmarks via our public methodology.
Full specifications
Everything we track for the Intel Core i7-10700K
General
- Announced
- 2020
- Socket
- LGA1200
- Process
- 14 nm
- Base TDP
- 125 W
- Max turbo power
- 229 W
- Unlocked multiplier
- Yes
- Cooler included
- No
Cores & Clocks
- Cores
- 8
- Performance cores
- 8
- Efficiency cores
- 0
- Threads
- 16
- Base clock
- 3.8 GHz
- Boost clock
- 5.1 GHz
- L2 cache
- 2 MB
- L3 cache
- 16 MB
Integrated GPU
- iGPU
- Intel UHD Graphics 630
- iGPU clock
- 1,200 MHz
Memory
- Memory support
- DDR4-2933
- Max memory
- 128 GB
- Memory channels
- 2
Platform
- PCIe version
- 3
- CPU PCIe lanes
- 16
Benchmarks
- Geekbench 6 (single)
- 1,670
- Geekbench 6 (multi)
- 8,600
- Cinebench R23 (single)
- 1,300
- Cinebench R23 (multi)
- 13,000
- PassMark
- 19,500
Quick answers
Is the Intel Core i7-10700K good in 2026?
The Intel Core i7-10700K earns an Inno Score of 42.9/100 (“Below average”) based on its specs and benchmark results. Eight-core, sixteen-thread Comet Lake i7 that pushes Skylake architecture to a 5.1 GHz single-core boost — essentially a rebadged 9900K with slightly higher clocks. A used one still drives a modern GPU well at 1440p.
What are the key specs of the Intel Core i7-10700K?
Cores: 8 · Threads: 16 · Boost clock: 5.1 GHz · Socket: LGA1200
What are the closest alternatives to the Intel Core i7-10700K?
Its closest rivals on InnoReviews are AMD Ryzen 5 5600G, AMD Ryzen 5 3600X, Intel Core i9-9900K — open the comparison pages for a spec-by-spec breakdown.