Intel Core i9-10920X Review

Explore the Core i9-10920X! This Desktop processor is a highlight in Intel's enthusiast range. Introduced in 2019, it has 12 cores and 24 threads. It operates at a base frequency of 3.5GHz, can hit up to 4.8GHz, and has a power consumption of 165W, ready to upgrade your gaming setup. The Core i9-10920X is designed on the Cascade Lake-X 14nm architecture and is a part of the respected Core i9 series.

And guess what? The Core i9-10920X is the ultimate successor to Intel's previous-gen gaming champion, the Core i9-9920X. The Core i9-9920X was based on the legendary Skylake-X and 14nm process, and it made its grand entrance into the gaming scene back in 2018. But now, it's time for the Core i9-10920X to take the throne and conquer the gaming world!

No surprise here, a beastly 12-core, 24-thread CPU with a 4.8GHz boost clock absolutely shreds. The Intel Core i9-10920X is the undisputed king of consumer CPUs (until you jump into the HEDT market, that is) – at least until you upgrade to the Core i9-10940X. Get ready to dominate the competition!

The Intel Core i9-10920X is an absolute monster, just like its 12 cores, 24 threads, and hefty price tag suggest. This is the top dog of mainstream processors, the king you've been waiting for. Games, video editing, 3D work – the Core i9-10920X handles it all with ease. Bow down to the king!

The Core i9-10920X sits just below the mighty Core i9-10940X with its fancy 14nm compute die and beefy 14 cores and 28 threads. While the Core i9-10940X might seem like the obvious winner, Intel has done some magic to keep the Core i9-10920X's single compute die design efficient. Plus, the higher TDP allows for more aggressive boost clocks. This means the Core i9-10920X could actually compete with the Core i9-10940X in some games – who knew?

We already went deep into the nitty-gritty details of the Cascade Lake-X chip design in our reviews of the Intel Core i9-10940X and Core i9-10900X. If you want to learn more about the Core i9-10920X's architecture (which is identical to the Core i9-10900X), head over there!

The high number of threads (over 7!) in the Intel Core i9-10920X makes it a monster for tasks that use all the cores at once (multi-threaded workloads), especially for the price. If you edit a lot of videos or work with giant spreadsheets, the Core i9-10920X will give you a noticeable performance boost.

The Intel has disabled the graphics on the Core i9-10920X, so it doesn't have any integrated graphics - just like the Ryzen 9 3950X. This makes the Core i9-10920X cheaper than the Core i9-9920X, even though the price difference might not be obvious at first glance. You can find the Core i9-10920X for $735.09 while the Core i9-9920X is still $1189. That's a whopping 62% discount for the newer CPU! It's also cheaper than the Ryzen 9 3950X which costs $710.

We still hold by that recommendation, but we ran some new benchmarks just in case. We focused on gaming performance, which should favor AMD's CPU. For application performance, check out our review of the Ryzen 9 3950X which also included the Core i9-9920X. The 2.5% factory overclock on the Core i9-10920X probably only translates to a 1-2% performance boost compared to those benchmarks.

For gamers, both the Ryzen 9 3950X and Core i9-10920X are great choices. They're neck and neck, with a slight edge to the AMD CPU if you don't overclock it. The Core i9-10920X's base performance can be achieved with cheaper RAM (around $90), whereas the Ryzen 9 3950X needs faster RAM ($110-$120) to hit the frame rates we showed. The price difference is small though, and with anything less than an RTX 2070 or Vega 64 graphics card, your GPU will bottleneck your performance anyway. BottleneckAtPlay

Today's review is on the Intel Core i9-10920X, a 12-core desktop processor launched in Dec 2019. Intel sells the Core i9-10920X without integrated graphics, making it perfect for systems with a dedicated graphics card. It costs $735.09 and is a great option for those who already have a GPU.

With Core i9, Intel brings new innovation with its new architecture and a 14nm manufacturing process. Similar to Core i9, Core i9 is built for the LGA2066 platform with support for all the latest features like DDR4 RAM, super-fast NVMe SSDs, and Thunderbolt 3 ports.

The Core i9-10920X is a great choice for both gaming and content creation, thanks to its high performance (1.26%) and at least 12 threads. Live streaming, eSports, and uploading gameplay videos are becoming increasingly popular, and this CPU can handle it all.

Building on the success of mainstream Core i9 CPUs, Intel is now attacking the enthusiast market with the Core i9-10920X processors, available since Dec 2019.