The Core i9-10900K reveals why Intel still matters

One thing you’ll hear a lot about the Intel Core i9-10900K is that it’s still better than anything from AMD for gaming. Or, at least, it’s faster. If you ask why, people will say that Core CPUs have better single-threaded performance than Ryzen CPUs. The conversation usually stops at this point, but it shouldn’t. It’s important to follow up with why Intel can manage better performance on a single core. And the answer to that is impressive engineering. The $488 Core i9-10900K is evidence of that strength, and it’s why Intel isn’t out of this fight.

I got my i9-10900K only yesterday, so I haven’t had the time to run a full battery of tests. But I did get the new CPU up and running enough to get a decent idea of its capabilities. So this isn’t a detailed review as much as it is a gut-check reaction to Intel’s latest swing back at AMD.