ZoomPhoto 1 of 1Intel
Intel Core i9-10850K
A ten-core i9 sold at a discount to the 10900K for exactly 100 MHz less boost, released once Intel had enough 14 nm silicon to spare. Overclocked, it lands on the same all-core speeds as the flagship, which made it the sensible LGA1200 top-end buy.
Pros
- 10 cores / 20 threads and 20 MB L3 — the most multi-thread capacity available on LGA1200
- 5.2 GHz Thermal Velocity Boost plus Turbo Boost Max 3.0 on the two best cores
- Typically matches an overclocked 10900K at 5.0–5.1 GHz all-core
- Roughly $35 cheaper than the 10900K at launch for a difference you cannot feel
- Unlocked multiplier, soldered IHS, UHD Graphics 630 on board
Cons
- 250 W PL2 — a 280 mm AIO or a top-tier air cooler is the entry price for sustained boost
- PCIe 3.0 only, on a platform that never got Gen4
- No boxed cooler, and it needs a Z490/Z590 board with serious VRM to hold clocks
- A six-core Alder Lake or Zen 3 chip beats it in games while using half the power
Below average
Computed from specs & benchmarks via our public methodology.
Full specifications
Everything we track for the Intel Core i9-10850K
General
- Announced
- 2020
- Socket
- LGA1200
- Process
- 14 nm
- Base TDP
- 125 W
- Max turbo power
- 250 W
- Unlocked multiplier
- Yes
- Cooler included
- No
Cores & Clocks
- Cores
- 10
- Performance cores
- 10
- Efficiency cores
- 0
- Threads
- 20
- Base clock
- 3.6 GHz
- Boost clock
- 5.2 GHz
- L2 cache
- 2.5 MB
- L3 cache
- 20 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
- Cinebench R23 (single)
- 1,310Bottom 30%
- Cinebench R23 (multi)
- 15,700Top 45%
- PassMark
- 21,859Bottom 50%
- PassMark (single thread)
- 3,066Bottom 44%
Quick answers
Is the Intel Core i9-10850K good in 2026?
The Intel Core i9-10850K earns an Inno Score of 46.1/100 (“Below average”) based on its specs and benchmark results. A ten-core i9 sold at a discount to the 10900K for exactly 100 MHz less boost, released once Intel had enough 14 nm silicon to spare. Overclocked, it lands on the same all-core speeds as the flagship, which made it the sensible LGA1200 top-end buy.
What are the key specs of the Intel Core i9-10850K?
Cores: 10 · Threads: 20 · Boost clock: 5.2 GHz · Socket: LGA1200
What are the closest alternatives to the Intel Core i9-10850K?
Its closest rivals on InnoReviews are Intel Core i7-11700F, AMD Ryzen 5 5500F, AMD Ryzen 5 5600GT — open the comparison pages for a spec-by-spec breakdown.
Use this on your site or forum
Copy a ready-made link. Scores on this page update as new results are published, so the link always leads to the current figures.
