The Core i9-10850K Could Cost $450, But We Don't Know If You Can Buy It

Intel 10th Generation Comet Lake-S Processor

Intel 10th Generation Comet Lake-S Processor (Image credit: Amazon)

Digital Storm (via @momomo_us) has started to offer the Intel Core i9-10850K as an option for the company's custom built PCs. However, the question still remains whether the deca-core processor is an OEM-exclusive chip or not.

As you can tell, the Core i9-10850K wasn't part of Intel's 10th Generation Comet Lake-S launch, and we only know about the processor's existence from previously leaked Geekbench 5 submissions. It now appears that Digital Storm has expelled all doubts of the Core i9-10850K's existence, though. 

Like other Comet Lake-S processors before it, the Core i9-10850K is product of Intel's 14nm process node. The 10-core, 20-thread processor first surfaced with a 3.6 GHz base clock and 5.2 GHz boost clock. Digital Storm has the processor up with the same clock speeds. The company's specifications seemingly confirm our suspicion that the Core i9-10850K is nothing more than a Core i9-10900K with a 100 MHz slower base clock and without the Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) feature.

Intel 10th Generation Comet Lake-S Core i9 Specifications

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ProcessorCores / ThreadsBase Clock (GHz)TBMT 3.0 Clock (GHz)TVB Clock (GHz)L3 Cache (MB)GraphicsTDP (W)Pricing
Core i9-10900K10 / 203.75.25.320Intel UHD Graphics 630125$488 - $499
Core i9-10900KF10 / 203.75.25.320N/A125$463 - $474
Core i9-10850K10 / 203.65.2?20Intel UHD Graphics 630?Row 2 - Cell 8
Core i9-1090010 / 202.85.25.220Intel UHD Graphics 63065$439 - $449
Core i9-10900F10 / 202.85.25.220N/A65$422 - $423
Core i9-10900T10 / 201.94.6N/A20Intel UHD Graphics 63035$439

Despite the lower base clock and lack of TVB, the Core i9-10850K's performance appear to be right up the same alley as the Core i9-10900K in Geekbench 5. The majority of the Core i9-10850K's specifications are already out of the bag, except for the chip's TDP (thermal design power).

The current speculation is that the Core i9-10850K's entire conception is to bring a processor that's comparable to the Core i9-10900K's performance, but with lower cooling and power requirements. The Core i9-10900K is rated for 125W, but the Core i9-10850K's value is still unknown.

Intel Core i9-10850K (Image credit: Digital Storm)

Digital Storm doesn't explicitly expose the pricing for the Core i9-10850K. However, the company states that it costs $42 to upgrade to the Core i9-10900K. Here's where we'll need to speculate a little bit. We're unsure if Intel's pre-built partners get processors at a special price. For the sake of discussion, we'll just the Core i9-10900K's MSRP as a reference.

According to Intel, the Core i9-10900K's MSRP is between $488 and $499. Therefore, the Core i9-10850K could sell for $446 or $457, depending on which limit you're using for the calculation. Assuming that the Core i9-10850K isn't just aimed at OEMs, it's fair to say that the processor can retail for around $450. As it happens, this would also indicate that Intel's TVB feature costs $50.

Zhiye Liu
News Editor and Memory Reviewer

Zhiye Liu is a news editor and memory reviewer at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.