Intel Core i7 10700 Review – Performance On A Budget

Gadget Pilipinas | Tech News, Reviews, Benchmarks and Build Guides
Intel Core i7 10700 Review – Performance On A Budget

Introduction – Intel’s 14nm Journey

Intel’s 10th generation processors still sport a 14nm process which has been around since Intel 6th gen Skylake. There’s a variety of SKUs for the 10th Gen Core lineup starting from $122 with the i3-10100, to the flagship i9-10900k at $488. All CPUs under the core series now have hyperthreading regardless of pricing and tiering. There are seventeen SKUs available at launch, with most models having an “F” version. The letter F next to the processor number means that that particular CPU doesn’t have the built-in integrated graphics of their no-letter counterparts. These processors are $15 cheaper on average compared to their non-F counterparts, K-series, or overclockable chipsets included. While we already reviewed the Intel Core i7 10700k at launch, we’re taking a look at the budget-friendly Intel Core i7 10700 locked variant for users who just want a plug-and-play experience for their gaming rigs. Launched last 2020, the Intel Core i7 10700 still boasts a heavy presence in the market in the form of prebuilt partner PCs and desktop packages. Having aged a year also means that owners of these rigs are looking for the latest GPUs to pair with their i7 10700. That said, is the Core i7 10700 still relevant in today’s games and hardware pairing? Let’s find out

Intel 10th Gen Comet Lake-S Overview

Intel Core i7 10700k review cometlakeIntel has aggressively beefed up its lineup by adding more cores and effectively enabling hyperthreading across its product stacks. Core i3 CPUs run now have 4-cores/8-threads but are not overclockable. The i5 processors sport a 6-core/12-thread setup with two K-SKUs ready for overclocking, one of which has no integrated graphics. All Core i7 SKUs are multi-threaded octa-core CPUs while the flagship Intel Core i9 Series has a 10-core/20-thread setup. The additional core count offered by AMD reflects AMD’s aggressive multicore approach, which has been team red’s highlight even before Ryzen. Intel’s 10th-gen 10-core i9 CPUs still lags behind in the mainstream line as AMD offers a twelve and sixteen core processor. However, the other SKUs match the competitors offering in terms of core count, particularly those below the $350 mark.

Intel 10th Generation Processors Spec Sheet

SKU Cores / Threads Base Clock Turbo Boost 2.0 Turbo Boost Max 3.0 All Core Turbo Thermal Velocity Boost/All Core TDP SRP
(USD)
i9-10900K 10C/20T 3.7 GHz 5.1 GHz 5.2 GHz 4.8 GHz 5.3/4.9 GHz 125W $488
i9-10900KF 10C/20T 3.7 GHz 5.1 GHz 5.2 GHz 4.8 GHz 5.3/4.9 GHz 125W $472
i9-10900 10C/20T 2.8 GHz 5.0 GHz 5.1 GHz 4.5 GHz 5.2/4.6 GHz 65W $439
i9-10900F 10C/20T 2.8 GHz 5.0 GHz 5.1 GHz 4.5 GHz 5.2/4.6 GHz 65W $422
i7-10700K 8C/16T 3.8 GHz 5.0 GHz 5.1 GHz 4.7 GHz 125W $374
i7-10700KF 8C/16T 3.8 GHz 5.0 GHz 5.1 GHz 4.7 GHz 125W $349
i7-10700 8C/16T 2.9 GHz 4.7 GHz 4.8 GHz 4.6 GHz 65W $323
i7-10700F 8C/16T 2.9 GHz 4.7 GHz 4.8 GHz 4.6 GHz 65W $298
i5-10600K 6C/12T 4.1 GHz 4.8 GHz 4.5 GHz 125W $262
i5-10600KF 6C/12T 4.1 GHz 4.8 GHz 4.5 GHz 125W $237
i5-10600 6C/12T 3.3 GHz 4.8 GHz 4.4 GHz 65W $213
i5-10500 6C/12T 3.1 GHz 4.5 GHz 4.2 GHz 65W $192
i5-10400 6C/12T 2.9 GHz 4.3 GHz 4.0 GHz 65W $182
i5-10400F 6C/12T 2.9 GHz 4.3 GHz 4.0 GHz 65W $157
i3-10320 4C/8T 3.8 GHz 4.6 GHz 4.4 GHz 65W $154
i3-10300 4C/8T 3.7 GHz 4.4 GHz 4.2 GHz 65W $143
i3-10100 4C/8T 3.6 GHz 4.3 GHz 4.1 GHz 65W $122

The spec sheet shows Intel’s Turbo Boost Max 3.0 technology as well as Thermal Velocity Boost, which are the highlights of Intel’s 10th generation Comet Lake processors. Turbo Boost Max 3.0 is present for a long time but was mostly found on HEDT processors that required driver and software downloads to enable it. Turbo Boost Max 3.0 selects the two fastest cores of a processor and assigns single or multi-threaded workloads to them. Depending on the processor, Turbo Boost Max 3.0 is faster than Thermal Velocity Boost.

Thermal Velocity Boost was first introduced in Intel Coffee Lake H mobile processors and is now carried over to Intel’s 10th gen desktop line, albeit as an exclusive feature of the 10th-gen Core i9 series. Thermal Velocity Boost is a similar and simpler feature of Nvidia’s GPU boost and AMD’s Precision Boost 2. Simpler meaning that it doesn’t have a smart scaling that depends on silicon lottery. TVB enables a processor to achieve a higher boost clock than Max Turbo Boost for a short period, or so long as the processor’s temperature doesn’t go over 70° celsius. That is if the processor is within Power Limit 2 and under TAU. TAU is Intel’s timing variable, which tells a processor how long it should be on PL2 mode before dropping to PL1.

Intel Core i7 10700

Intel Core i7 10700 Review - 10700 vs 10700k reviewThe Intel Core i7 10700 8-core CPU is the locked variant of the 10700K with reduced clockspeeds. While the Intel i7 10700 has a 1 GHz less base clock, it only has 100MHz less all-core turbo speeds than the overclockable variant. Being an i7 series processor, the Core i7 10700 supports Turbo Boost Max technology at 4.8Ghz for its two-best cores maximizing the processor’s performance for single and multi-threaded workloads despite being a locked variant.

Benchmark Setup and Methodology

Gadget Pilipinas’ testing philosophy is to provide detail-oriented results as accurately as possible that our readers can replicate our tests given that these conditions are met. Different benchmarking apps and sequences are used depending on the component or device being tested.

Intel Core i7 10700 Review Test Bench Specs
CPU Intel Core i7 10700 Intel Core i9 10900K AMD Ryzen 9 5900X AMD Ryzen 9 5950X AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
COOLER Corsair H100i RGB PRO XT 240mm AIO – Noctua NT-H2 Thermal Paste
MOTHERBOARD ASUS ROG Strix Z490-E Gaming Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix X570-E Gaming Motherboard
MEMORY Tforce XTREEM ARGB 16GB(2x8GB) 3600Mhz DDR4
GPU Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iChill X4
STORAGE WD SN850 1TB SSD
POWERSUPPLY ThermalTake ToughPower 1200w Platinum
OPERATING SYSTEM Windows 10 Pro Build 2404
DISPLAY Lenovo Legion Y27Q Gaming Monitor

We use CapFrameX as our FPS capture and analysis tool for all our gaming benchmarks. The latest build version of Windows 10 and WHQL certified drivers are used for our benchmarks. Readings such as temperatures and power draw are recorded using HWMonitor and HWInfo64 as well as other relevant software used for cross-checking.

Benchmark list
  • SuperPi 32M
  • wPrime
  • AIDA64 Memory Benchmark
  • Geekbench 5
  • Cinebench R20
  • Google Octane
  • V-Ray
  • Blender
  • Corona Renderer
  • 3DMark
  • DOTA 2
  • Rainbow Six Siege
  • Metro Exodus
  • Far Cry 5
  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider
  • F1 2020
  • Assassins Creed: Odyssey
Our benchmark list and methodology may change in the future, depending on the industry trend. For now, enjoy our benchmark results of the Intel Core i7 10700 processor.

Intel Core i7 10700 CPU Benchmarks

SuperPI 32M

Intel Core i7 10700 Review - SuperPI BenchmarkSuperPI is a single-threaded benchmark application that lets the CPU calculate Pi(π) to the nth digit. In this benchmark, we selected the Pi calculation to 32M, the highest available for the app.

wPrime 1024M

Intel Core i7 10700 Review - wprime BenchmarkwPrime is a benchmark tool similar to SuperPI, but the former takes on finding prime numbers using Newton’s Method. The benchmark is set to calculate 1024M, and measured according to calculation time.

AIDA64

Intel Core i7 10700 Review - Aida64 BenchmarkAIDA64 is a very popular and powerful monitoring tool, as well as a benchmarking application. AIDA64 is commonly used to stress test CPUs, especially testing if an overclock is stable. We used AIDA64’s Memory Benchmark to measure the data transfer bandwidth of the system memory.

GeekBench 5

Intel Core i7 10700 Review - Geekbench 5 BenchmarkGeekbench is a multi-platform benchmark that’s used to gauge CPU performance and compare them across Windows, Mac, and Mobile. Geekbench 5 is the latest version and doesn’t rely on memory as much compared to the previous Geekbench 4, making it a great tool to measure both single-core and multi-core CPU performance.

CINEBENCH R20

Intel Core i7 10700 Review - Cinebench BenchmarkMaxon’s Cinebench benchmark is one of the most iconic benchmark applications used by reviewers and enthusiasts. The latest Cinebench R20 uses the latest rendering architectures, including Intel’s Embree ray tracing technology and other advanced features from AMD and Intel that allows users to render the same scene on the same hard. Cinebench R20 uses a larger and more complex testing scene than Cinebench R20 by about 8x computational power and requires 4x the memory.

GOOGLE OCTANE 2.0

Intel Core i7 10700 Review - Google Octane BenchmarkGoogle Octane 2.0 is a benchmark that measures a Javascript engine’s performance by running multiple tests representing different use cases of JavaScript applications. While Google Octane is retired and no longer maintained, it is still a good representation of today’s dynamic, interactive web applications. Our Google Octane 2.0 is run on Microsoft’s latest Chromium-based Edge browser.

V-RAY

Intel Core i7 10700 Review - VRAY BenchmarkV-Ray Benchmark is a stand-alone version V-Ray developed by Chaos Group. It is designed to test the CPU and GPU by rendering sample scenes at a fixed amount of time. V-Ray is a plug-in mostly utilized by 3D computer graphics software applications mainly for industrial design, product design, architecture, film, and video game production. V-Ray is not limited to 64-threads as it supports multi and mega-threading.

BLENDER

Intel Core i7 10700 Review - Blender BenchmarkBlender is a widely used, free, open-source 3D creation suite. It supports the whole 3D pipeline process from modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, and even motion tracking. Blender has become a standard for CPU benchmarks with the BMW27 and Classroom scene most used. This prompted the company to release Blender Open Data Benchmark in 2018, a benchmark-specific version that allows users to run a preset benchmark and share the results online similar to 3D Mark.

CORONA RENDERER

Intel Core i7 10700 Review - Corona 1.3 BenchmarkCorona Renderer is an unbiased photorealistic render available for Autodesk 3Ds Max, Maxon Cinema 4D, and as a stand-alone application. Its popularity, similar to Blender, led Chaos Group to develop a benchmark version of the app which runs using Corona Renderer 1.3. Workstation systems, especially CPUs, can utilize Corona Benchmark as up to 72 threads can be used in the benchmark, making it very suitable for CPUs with various price segments.

Intel Core i7 10700 Gaming Benchmarks

3DMARK

Intel Core i7 10700 Review - 3DMark Firestrike Benchmark Intel Core i7 10700 Review - 3DMark Timespy Benchmark

3DMark is the go-to benchmark for gamers because of the ability to share and compare results online. We used Time Spy DirectX 12 benchmark and Fire Strike DirectX 11 benchmark to gauge the CPU’s performance using different APIs.

DOTA 2

Intel Core i7 10700 Review - dota 2 1080p BenchmarkMost gamers play at least one of the following free-to-play titles: League of Legends, CS: GO, Dota 2, and/or Fortnite.  Dota 2 is a good representation of the F2P titles as it is the most demanding game in the spectrum. The benchmark will give you an idea of the laptop’s relative performance on other lesser demanding titles. Our benchmark sequence is based on a replay of OG vs. Liquid in the TI9 grand finals from the team fight that happened on 28:30 to 29:30.

Far Cry 5

FarCry 5 is an FPS game published by Ubisoft and uses the Dunia engine. It heavily relies on and takes advantage of DirectX 11 to render a realistic environment that makes it taxing to both the CPU and GPU.

Rainbow Six Siege

Rainbow Six Seige is one of the few popular AAA games that’s still popular in 2019 due to its competitive gameplay mechanics. R6S uses the AnvilNext game engine, which is developed by the game’s publisher, Ubisoft. As of writing, Rainbow Six Siege is currently the most popular Tom Clancy title beating out Wildlands, Breakpoint and even, Division 2.

Intel Core i7 10700 Temps

Intel Core i7 10700 Review - i7 10700 TempsOne of the main advantages of being a locked processor is its incredibly low TDP which results in lower temperatures. The Intel Core i7 10700 peaks at 68°c on our 240mm AIO. Running the i7 10700 on the included stock cooler should pose no thermal issues that would degrade the CPU’s performance. That said, there’s the i7 10700 doesn’t require heavy-cooling as it only has a 65w-TDP.

Conclusion

Intel Core i7 10700 Review - i7 10700 ReviewThe Intel Core i7-10700 performs admirably in gaming as it hits FPS numbers close to the Intel Core i9 10900K which has higher clock speeds, two more cores, and is overclockable, and is priced almost double the Core i7 10700. Intel has managed to balance compromises in terms of performance and pricing on the i7 10700 which makes it still a viable processor despite being a generation old considering how it can keep up even with the Nvidia RTX 3070. However, as seen in our benchmarks, for more efficient productivity, you may be better off with the 10900K. Although it’s worth mentioning that it still gets the job done, especially if you rarely do video editing here and there – it’s a processor that’s still intended for gaming.

All in all, the Intel Core i7 10700 is a solid option for gamers who don’t want but to spend much on a CPU but desires a no-frills, plug-and-play processor that maximizes gaming performance without the need to worry about thermals. Despite being launched last 2020, the Intel Core i7 10700 has no problem in keeping up with the latest graphics card, not to mention the different render resolutions. Yes, the Php 15,000 price tag is an arguably steep price to pay for a last-gen processor, but the i7 10700 offers some savings as you don’t need a third-party cooler nor a VRM-heavy motherboard to run it.

Intel Core i7 10700 Review - i7 10700 Review
Intel Core i7 10700 Review – Performance On A Budget
Intel Core i7 10700 - Performance On A Budget
All in all, the Intel Core i7 10700 is a solid option for gamers who don't want but to spend much on a CPU but desires a no-frills, plug-and-play processor that maximizes gaming performance without the need to worry about thermals. Despite being launched last 2020, the Intel Core i7 10700 has no problem in keeping up with the latest graphics card, not to mention the different render resolutions. Yes, the Php 15,000 price tag is an arguably steep price to pay for a last-gen processor, but the i7 10700 offers some savings as you don't need a third-party cooler nor a VRM-heavy motherboard to run it.
What's Good
Included Stock Cooler
Can Keep Up with the latest processors
Power Efficient
What's Not
Lags Behind in Productivity-related tasks
One Generation Old
9.1

The post Intel Core i7 10700 Review – Performance On A Budget appeared first on Gadget Pilipinas | Tech News, Reviews, Benchmarks and Build Guides.


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