It’s a big year for gaming hardware. We’re getting some proper competition in the GPU market, new consoles are playing with ray-tracing for the first time, and 4K gaming might actually become the norm for mid-range PCs. To go with that, you’ll want some new CPUs and Intel has some gaming offerings to consider.
Not all retailers have access to the full range of chips, and some retailers differ slightly on price – Mwave is selling the i9-10900KF for $899, while Scorptech is pushing the same chip for $919.
It’s worth adding that most of the i3 quadcore chips aren’t available in Australia yet, neither are some of the 10th gen i5 hexacore lines. As for the i9, i7 and i5 series that have been released first in Australia, these chips will start shipping in Australia from May 20. Pre-orders are live now.
Intel 10th Gen Desktop CPUs (Available in Australia) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CPU | Cores/Threads | Base GHz | Boost GHz (All Cores) | TDP (Power) | Integrated Graphics | Price |
i9-10900K | 10C/20T | 3.7 | 4.8 | 125 | 630 | $999 |
i9-10900KF | 10C/20T | 3.7 | 4.8 | 125 | – | $899 |
i7-10700K | 8C/16T | 3.8 | 4.7 | 125 | 630 | $749 |
i7-10700KF | 8C/16T | 3.8 | 4.7 | 125 | – | $699 |
i5-10600K | 6C/12T | 4.1 | 4.5 | 125 | 630 | $499 |
i5-10600KF | 6C/12T | 4.1 | 4.5 | 125 | – | $449 |
i5-10400 | 6C/12T | 2.9 | 4.0 | 65 | 630 | $339 |
i5-10400F | 6C/12T | 2.9 | 4.0 | 65 | – | $299 |
For comparison, the i5-10400F is competing directly against the Ryzen 5 3600, which has largely been the go-to all-round budget gaming and productivity CPU since its release last year. (The recently launched 3300X is an even better bang-for-buck gaming offering at $205, and something Intel doesn’t have a local competitor to just yet.)
The i7-10700KF, meanwhile, will be battling against AMD’s octa-core 3700X, although it’ll be doing so at $699. That’s at least $120 more than what most major retailers are selling the 3700X for – some are even going as low as $529 – and the 3700X comes with a serviceable, if supremely loud, air cooler. You’ll need your own third-party cooler for the Intel chips, so that cost has to be factored in as well. The 10700KF has a frequency advantage on the 3700X, of course, but whether it’s worth the premium only benchmarks will tell.
It’ll be interesting to see how the chips fare in real-world scenarios. With the chips shipping to consumers next week, the embargo on real-world results isn’t far away. As we get more info and testing results on how the 10th gen fares in current games, we’ll keep you posted.
Leave a Reply