Are the Core i9 worth it in games? Core i7-10700K vs i9-10900K

When you go to buy a high-end gaming PC, it is quite likely that the Intel Core i7-10700K and Core i9-10900K processors are among your candidates, but we enter the eternal dispute of whether one or the other is more worth it. Of course, the Core i9 involves a much higher monetary outlay, but when it comes to games, is it really worth paying more for the difference in performance? Let's see it.

Both processors were released during the second quarter of 2020, and although they are of the same generation and based on the same 14 nm lithography, they are intended for different segments since the 10700K is intended for high-end gaming PCs, but the 10900K is geared towards the enthusiast and even premium range, as it is the prelude to Intel's HEDT processors. Of course, the price difference is more than evident, and here is the proof:

As of December 2020, the difference between these two processors, without promotion, is no less than 237 euros, good money that can be used to buy a better range of graphics cards or a higher capacity SSD, for example. Is it really worth it for its gaming performance?

Intel Core i7-10700K vs Core i9-10900K, differences in their characteristics

The Core i7-10700K is a processor with 8 cores and 16 threads thanks to the HyperThreading technology of the brand, with a base speed of 3.8 GHz but increasing up to 5.1 GHz in Turbo mode. It has 16 MB Smart Cache from Intel, and its TDP is 125 watts (with configurable TDP drop to 95W).

For its part, the Core i9-10900K has 10 cores and 20 processing threads that operate at a base frequency of 3.7 GHz but whose maximum turbo speed is 5.3 GHz, and also has the Intel Thermal Velocity feature Boost for an additional level of performance when temperatures permit, something the Core i7 lacks. The cache is also somewhat higher, at 20MB, but otherwise, it's exactly the same as the 10700K, including TDP.

Both are processors with the multiplier unlocked and therefore suitable for overclocking, and both use the Intel LGA1200 socket of the 10th generation of the brand. They support a maximum temperature of 100ºC (T-junction) and incorporate an Intel UHD 630 iGPU, although it is true that as we have already talked about it is not that this GPU is very suitable for gaming, and in fact, it would be strange that whoever buys one of these processors for a high-end PC does not accompany a dedicated graphics card accordingly.

Gaming performance, is there much difference?

In the following video they show the difference in the performance of an Intel Core i9-10900K compared to a Core i7-10700K (also compared to a Core i5-10600K, which is Intel's best-selling processor for gaming), using the same hardware to test the three processors: an ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-A Gaming motherboard, 32 GB of 3600 MHz G.Skill TridentZ RGB RAM, and an MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Ventus.

All tests have been performed at 1080p resolution and with the graphics settings set to Ultra.

Let's reel the games. Starting with World War Z, we see that obviously, the Core i9 is the best but the difference with respect to the Core i7 is only 4 FPS, and in fact we are talking about more than 200 FPS on average, so it does not matter. In addition, it should be noted that the 10900K is only 16% of its capacity while the 10700K works at 38% of its possibilities, which means that the Core i9 will be cooler and consuming less energy.

We move on to Red Dead Redemption 2, where all three processors get the same FPS rate (1 FPS less than the Core i5 in this case), but again there is a notable difference in CPU usage, with the 10900K running at 32 % and 10700K to 73%. In  Far Cry New Dawn we see a somewhat larger performance difference, with the 10900K delivering 8 FPS more than the 10700K and the 10600K already lagging well behind, with 16 FPS less. In this game, the three processors are around 30% load.

In Assassin's Creed: Odyssey the difference is again just 2 FPS between the two processors, while in Battlefield V they all get the same frame rate per second. In  Need for Speed: Heat, the Core i9 gets just 3 FPS more than the Core i7, and this only 3 FPS more than the Core i5 so the difference is again negligible. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the i9 does get 6 FPS more than the i7, and this 6 FPS more than the i5; finally, in  CS: GO we do see a bigger difference (28 FPS between Core i9 and Core i7, and 27 FPS between Core i7 and Core i5), but we are talking about more than 500 FPS so it is not something that the user will notice for nothing.

The bottom line is that for a high-end gaming PC, there is practically no difference in gaming performance between using a Core i7-10700K or paying the more than 200 euros that the Core i9-10900K costs more. The latter is a much more powerful processor, but it does not represent a notable improvement in games to be worth the outlay, and any gamer would earn more investing that difference in money in jumping, for example, from an RTX 3070 to an RTX 3080.