Intel Core i9-10900K is the 'world's fastest gaming processor,' and you can preorder one now

By Sean Endicott
published

Intel's Core i9-10900K has 10 cores, 20 threads, and high price tag.

Intel Core i9 logo
Intel Core i9 logo (Image credit: Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • The Intel Core i9-10900K is available for preorder.
  • The 14nm processor has at least 10 cores and 20 threads.
  • It's available for preorder through B&H for $600 (opens in new tab).

Intel's powerful 10th Gen Core i9-10900K is now available for preorder through B&H (opens in new tab). The flagship 14nm processor has a maximum boost clock speed of 5.3GHz and default base clock speed of 3.7GHz at 125W. Intel states that the MSRP of the Core i-9-10900K is $488, but the B&H listing has the price at $600 (via Tom's Hardware).

Intel announced the i9-10900K alongside the i7-10700K and the i5-10600K. Thanks to Thermal Velocity Boost it can reach up to 5.3GHz. It has a base frequency of 3.7GHz and goes up to 4.8GHz in boost. Intel states that the i9-10900K offers double-digit gains over the 9900K and refers to the new processors as the "world's fastest gaming processor."

The i9-10900K also includes native support for DDR4-2933 RAM and 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes. It has an L3 cache of 20MB.

Intel's other new chips, the i7-10700K, and the i5-10600K aren't available for checkout yet. You can read more about Intel's new lineup of chips here and check out the listing for the Core i9-10900K at B&H (opens in new tab).

Intel Core I9 10900k

 (opens in new tab)
Intel Core i9-10900K


This powerful processor has a maximum boost clock speed of 5.3GHz. Intel calls it the "world's fastest gaming processor."

Sean Endicott
Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott brings nearly a decade of experience covering Microsoft and Windows news to Windows Central. He joined our team in 2017 as an app reviewer and now heads up our day-to-day news coverage. If you have a news tip or an app to review, hit him up at sean.endicott@futurenet.com (opens in new tab).

17 Comments
  • Still only PCI gen 3 😲
  • $600 isn't that expensive, all things considered. That seems on the low end of pricing for a top of the line (mainstream) processor to me. Not that people should pay over list price, the markup is dumb, but if the list price was $600, it wouldn't really be overpriced.
  • @noirsoft I'm sorry, you can get the R9 3900X for £414 or $414 off Amazon, which is 12 core, 24 thread part AND use it on a motherboard that costs substantially cheaper than what you'd need to run the 10900k without burning your PC into a crispy cinder block. Not to mention you can the 3900X on the stock cooler, the 10-900k with a stock cooler? Hell no.... Intel recommends a 360 mm AIO at minimum and even that ain't enough. So yeah $600 is over priced. As you can still can get really decent gaming performance on the 3900x and beat the 10-900k in many multi-tasking workloads. For the same price of the 10900k, you can buy the 3900X, motherboard and ram. If you're especially thrifty even more components as well.
  • They needed to change the naming. How do you even say that?!
  • Intel I Nine Ten Nine hundred K.
  • I kinda like tenty nine hundred K.
  • I will just wait for 2 years the price will be minus 70% hahaha. https://u.to/6OdNFw
  • Fastest gaming processor, Threadripper thinks not - since it can run things like Crysis on CPU alone. Sure, it doesn't run well - but it can run it. You can't do that with any intel chip.
  • Remember, it can also heat your house for you while you run it. It has a P1 baseline of 125W, with Turbo-Boost going up to 250W, so make sure you have excellent cooling (and a beefy Power Supply.) Of course, if you can afford a Core i9-10900K, you can probably afford those things too.
  • Pffft...*laughs in Xeon* 125W for 1... Try 2 (24 threads combined though), 6 dimms of RAM, 18x 3TB HDDs. I don't heat a closet or room, I heat the downstairs...
  • Concept of pre-order is an American concept? What's the point of it when you can pay on the day of release.
  • Supply & Demand is the answer. If you absolutely want to be the first to get it on day one, preferably without leaving your house to do so, pre-order makes sure that happens. It's not a perfect system, sometimes pre-orders sell out and cannot be filled on day one. In the end, it is about (1) you must have this item (2) you must have it on or as close to release date as possible.
  • Simple, you cannot gaurantee that suck will be available on the day to just go in and buy, better off ensuring stock is held for you than risk missing out. If it's something you absolutely must have, that is.
  • @Hiswona 1) Some companies offer a pre-order discount like Amazon, if it goes up on launch day and pre-order price is lower, you pay the lower price. 2) Scalpers, these opportunistic individuals buy up all the stock and sell higher often at massive premiums. 3) Bragging rights for the vain 4) Fear if missing out or fomo Just to least a few reaons. In the case of Intel CPUs, the stock is going to extremely limited at launch (in effect it's really a paper launch) which will also drive up the price.
  • As others said, I was expecting more than under $500.
  • @Avatar of Apathy, Hah! It's Intel what else did you expect. They've been fleecing customers dry for years. Sure, the engineers are awesome but the bean counters? Nah. They did a pretty decent job of trying to tame the K series of CPUs by reducing the die size and increasing the density of the IHS. BUT! That's only the K series, and non K variants? If Intel doesn't extend this to the latter variants, then... I say Good luck and may the Grace of God be with those who are foolhardy enough to buy them and couple it with a cheap motherboard, a inadequate cooler and cheap psu 😶.
  • Hard pass! Some people have reported that you need a custom water loop to even keep the temperatures in check. Best check out the reviews such as Jayztwocents, derbauer, hardwareunboxed, hardwarecanucks, gamersnexus, level1techs, paulshardware etc before shelling out that much money. The i9-10900K does not only draw 125 watts, it can draw over 321 damn watts.... If you're going to get this cpu, best budget for a custom water loop with AT LEAST TWO 360 mm radiators and a large reservoir. A single 360 loop is radiator is not enough to draw the heat away fast enough. Not to mention you will need motherboard with some heavy duty VRMs and Mosfets, Buildzoid is pretty good on that front. Sure, his videos can ramble on ages but they are full of technical info. You will also need a PSU that can supply at minimum 750 watts and gold rated or better given how much power this CPU eats. So with PSUs in short supply right now expect to pay even more of a premium. If you get this CPU make sure you use also use the PSU fan as an exhaust (fan facing up towards the motherboard). You do not want to retain any sort of heat in the PC case when this CPU is under full load. In short, unless you have money to burn just like this CPU will do you if cheap out on cooling, the motherboard and PSU, avoid it.