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Intel’s new Core i9-10850K 10 Core Desktop CPU has been listed online for $500 on ‘Newegg’ retailer


In case you didn’t know Intel’s unreleased Core i9-10850K desktop processor was spotted last month, with geekbench entries of this CPU being listed as well, along with the specs. However, the question back then was whether this processor will remain an OEM-exclusive chip, or it might also end up hitting the retail shelves as well.

Now it appears that this OEM-exclusive chip has been listed online on Newegg for $499.99, which is higher than the OEM’s listed price. This means the processor will now target the DIY/consumer market as well. No cooler is included in this package though, so you need to buy an aftermarket cooling solution, should you plan to purchase this processor.

Like other Comet Lake-S processors, the Core i9-10850K is based on Intel’s 14nm process node. This processor first surfaced with a 3.6 GHz base clock and 5.2 GHz boost clock speed, which now appear to be correct. The specifications seemingly confirm that the Core i9-10850K is nothing more than a Core i9-10900K having a 100 MHz lower clock speed for both the base and boost frequencies, and comes without the Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) feature.

This processor comes with an identical 10-core, 20-thread configuration as the Core i9-10900K. The Core i9-10850K also packs 20MB of L3 cache, and 256KB of L2 cache per core. There’s no doubt that the Core i9-10850K is closely related to the Core i9-10900K. Being an unlocked K processor, it would be easy to overclock the Core i9-10850K to match or even surpass the performance of a stock Core i9-10900K processor (depending on the system and cooling used). The TDP of this SKU also appears to be the same at 125W.

Like mentioned above, the Core i9-10850K doesn’t feature Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB), and this would explain why this 10-core part maxes out at 5.2 GHz, instead of 5.3 GHz value of the Core i9-10900K. To put this in a nutshell, the Core i9-10850K is technically speaking a Core i9-10900K with lower clocks. It’s likely that the chipmaker recycled some of the sub-par defective Core i9-10900K dies/chips to make the Core i9-10850K SKU.

The OEM MSRP was set between $453 and $464 USD for the Core i9-10850K; however it appears that this processor is now selling for $499.99 on online retailers. The Core i9-10900K usually retails for $529.99 (assuming it is in stock), which is $30 more than the Core i9-10850K’s listed price. Expect the price to be north of $500 USD on other retail outlets worldwide.

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