Intel Core i9-10900K CPU Review

Game Testing

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI

Originally created by legendary game designer Sid Meier, Civilization is a turn-based strategy game in which you attempt to build an empire to stand the test of time. Become Ruler of the World by establishing and leading a civilization from the Stone Age to the Information Age. Wage war, conduct diplomacy, advance your culture, and go head-to-head with history’s greatest leaders as you attempt to build the greatest civilization the world has ever known.

Civilization VI offers new ways to engage with your world: cities now physically expand across the map, active research in technology and culture unlocks new potential, and competing leaders will pursue their own agendas based on their historical traits as you race for one of five ways to achieve victory in the game.

Intel bills the new Core i9-10900K as the world’s fastest gaming processor, and that appears to hold true right out of the gate with Civilization 6’s Ai test completing rounds in just under 6.7ms.

Far Cry 5

Anything can happen. Everything will.

Welcome to Hope County, Montana, land of the free and the brave, but also home to a fanatical doomsday cult—known as The Project at Eden’s Gate—that is threatening the community’s freedom. Stand up to the cult’s leaders, Joseph Seed, and the Heralds, as you spark the fires of resistance that will liberate the besieged community.

Far Cry 5 hits modern multi-core CPU’s pretty hard, and can take advantage of more than a couple of cores. Here we see the 10900K pull the crown off the special edition 9900KS’ head. The new i5-10600K is hot on its heels here as well.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Experience Lara Croft’s defining moment as she becomes the Tomb Raider. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Lara must master a deadly jungle, overcome terrifying tombs, and persevere through her darkest hour. As she races to save the world from a Maya apocalypse, Lara will ultimately be forged into the Tomb Raider she is destined to be.

The latest Tomb Raider also sees a benefit from more CPU power and the 10900K delivers the best experience out of the box of anything on the market, albeit only a fraction of an FPS ahead of the former champion.

Ashes of the Singularity

Planet by planet, a war is raging across the galaxy. The technological singularity has given humanity the power to expand further than they ever have before. Now, they compete with each other and their sentient artificial intelligence adversaries for control of newfound worlds.

Ashes of the Singularity is more of a playable benchmark, but the Core i9-10900K holds a commanding lead here. If you scrolled past everything to here, the i9-10900K took 1^st place in every gaming test we put it against.