Intel Core i9-10980HK Review: Flagship Laptop CPU

The Core i9-10980HK is Intel's flagship mobile processor in their 10th generation line-upwardly. This is the 3rd CPU nosotros've looked at in the Comet Lake H-serial, afterwards the Cadre i7-10875H and Core i7-10750H, so we're starting to go a pretty comprehensive outline of where Intel is positioned in the market right now. This Cadre i9 bit is typically plant in the most expensive laptops you lot can get, just it also promises to be the fastest.

To speedily epitomize what Intel is offering this generation for high-end laptops: at that place's only ane Core i9 processor, the 10980HK, which brings 8 cores, 16 threads and Intel's standard 45W TDP. There'southward also 16 MB of cache, DDR4-2933 retentiveness support and the CPU comes unlocked, meaning you can adjust the multiplier table and other values provided the laptop maker gives you that functionality.

In terms of clock speeds, it'due south a bit all over the place. The 10980HK's base clock is 2.4 GHz. The maximum turbo on a unmarried core is 5.iii GHz with Thermal Velocity Boost -- which ways the CPU needs to be running lower than 65C to achieve that clock. The regular turbo clock drops to 5.1 GHz when running higher up 85C, and drops down to four.4 GHz under an all-core load. And of course, due to power limits in mobile class factors, none of these clock speeds are attainable under a sustained workload.

The reason there's a single Core i9 laptop processor this year is that Intel introduced an 8-cadre CPU into the Cadre i7 serial, known as the Core i7-10875H (check out our review). The two principal differences betwixt this yr'south top Core i7 and Core i9 is that the latter comes unlocked, and there's a marginal clock speed difference of 100 MHz/200 MHz for base and boost clocks. But considering these speeds don't tell us how the CPU runs under a sustained workload, the truthful difference betwixt these parts is a bit of a mystery on paper. We'll unravel that mystery today.

As part of today's review, nosotros'll check out the full capabilities of Intel'southward 14nm technology for mobile CPUs as things stand today, because the 10980HK is the best of the best in terms of silicon and performance. How it stacks up against AMD'south 7nm fries, in particular the viii-cadre Ryzen 7 4800H, is going to be very interesting.

For today's testing, nosotros're using the MSI GE66 Raider gaming laptop in its top-tier CPU and GPU configuration. Inside we find the Core i9-10980HK coupled with an RTX 2080 Super Max-Q GPU, 16GB of dual-channel DDR4 retentivity, a 1080p 300Hz display, and a rather sizable 99.9 Wh battery.

While we more often than not prefer slimmer designs on gaming laptops, the MSI GE66 chassis is much nicer than we expected with a premium metallic structure and an interesting RGB LED light bar along the forepart border. The GE66 doesn't get all out for thinness, and so there's a scrap of heft to this "laptop," but as nosotros take come to wait on top portable gaming machines, that's how you fit in the cooling solution that can handle this kind of high-end hardware. All in all, good construction, great display, bully keyboard, the GE66 surprised us.

We'll be showing you lot two ability configurations throughout this review. One is the stock baseline settings for the Core i9-10980HK, which means a 45W long term PL1 power limit. The GE66 doesn't run by default at this power limit, but information technology should represent how the Cadre i9 performs in slim and calorie-free 15-inch productivity laptops, say a Dell XPS xv type of machine.

The second configuration is the maximum the GE66 Raider provides: a 75W PL1 limit, more along the lines of a best case scenario and what you lot'll typically see from beefier gaming notebooks. In both configs we left the boost states untouched, and with this system that topped out around a 115W PL2 for a few seconds.

It's of import to notation the PL2 limit or observed boost ability limits because this is how Intel is able to hit their rated boost clock speeds. It takes 115W for this Core i9 to run at four.two GHz all-core, while we rarely (if ever) saw the CPU hitting 5.1 GHz. In Cinebench R20 single-thread, iv.8 GHz and around 30W of power usage was mutual.

In this review's benchmark charts you'll meet various CPUs listed, these are an average of results using that processor configuration in different laptops, the full listing of laptops tested can be found here. We endeavour our best to make these comparisons as apples-to-apples as possible, so that means removing thermal bottlenecks if we can and running with the same 16GB dual-channel memory configuration. We as well exam with default TDP limits unless otherwise specified.

Benchmarks

Let'due south kick this benchmark session off with Cinebench R20. What'south very interesting straight off the bat is how the Core i9-10980HK performs relative to the Core i7-10875H. Despite both beingness 45W 8-cadre processors, the Cadre i9 is quite faster, we're looking at a 20% performance advantage hither. This is partly explained by the college heave power limit, 115W versus 80W, but the rest is down to the Core i9 role simply clocking higher overall. The Core i9 CPU is likely a better binned part, too, but nosotros'll explore that further a flake later.

Nosotros also run into the 10980HK matching the operation of the 10875H when configured at around 62W in our Gigabyte Aorus 15G test organization, which is a decent efficiency improvement. We're too a good thirty% faster than the Core i7-10750H within the same 45W envelope, and around xx% slower than the Ryzen vii 4800H.

Even when we push button the 10980HK up to 75W of sustained power describe, it can't outperform the Ryzen 7 4800H, catastrophe up ~5% behind in this workload. Unmarried-thread functioning is too on par with the 4800H, and below that of our 10875H laptop.

Cinebench R15 shows similar results: the Core i9-10980HK is the fastest Intel 14nm laptop CPU nosotros've tested, but in multi-core workloads information technology isn't fast enough to go along up with the latest Ryzen processors, although it does beat out Ryzen for single-thread speed.

Handbrake is 1 of the most important benchmarks we run on productivity-focused laptops because it'southward a long product exam. Afterwards you end your piece of work, this is something you lot hitting the get button on and make a sandwich. Those who desire to slam down a sandwich and get back to work quickly should choose a Ryzen processor, because the Ryzen 7 4800H was 20% faster than the Cadre i9-10980HK in this exam, shaving off around 7 minutes of encode time.

Notwithstanding y'all won't exist wasting too much company time on your sandwich pause with the Core i9-10980HK considering it however concluded upwardly 11% faster than the Core i7-10875H and 25% faster than the Core i7-10750H. Increasing the 10980HK to 75W gets it closer to what AMD is providing with Ryzen, just it doesn't fully lucifer the performance on offer.

Blender is some other important multi-core productivity benchmark and here, over again we see the Core i9-10980HK delivering a decent fourteen% performance gain over the i7-10875H at the same power limit. And increasing the power limit from 45W to 75W in Blender provides the largest improvement we saw in our examination suite, with a xx% gain. Ryzen nonetheless holds the overall performance crown with the 4800H, Intel is but unable to match AMD's 7nm tech with 14nm within reasonable limits.

Excel is typically a potent workload for Intel processors and that'south no exception hither. While the Core i7-10875H is in the ballpark of AMD'southward Ryzen seven processor, the Core i9-10980HK is able to take a operation lead of ~ten% when performing calculations with a large spreadsheet. This is largely down to increased all-core clocks, given this workload takes only a scattering of seconds to complete.

There'south not much difference between the 10980HK, 10875H and Ryzen 7 4800H in PCMark 10'south productivity test, which looks at lighter productivity functioning. The 10980HK ends up 9% faster than the 10750H, but with functioning practically equal at the tiptop end, if y'all just use your notebook for light document work, there's no reason to spend big on a Core i9.

Essentials operation, which measures app loading and other sort of lighter tasks, is also reasonably close between about of the high-terminate processors.

The 10980HK is able to achieve single-digit operation gains over the 10875H in seven-Zip, with a larger gain seen in decompression. Like we've seen from other eight-core Intel CPUs, the 10980HK is faster than Ryzen in compression, simply slower in decompression.

MATLAB is some other benchmark that largely runs in the processor'south all-core boost state, so gains over the 10875H are more than limited than with sustained performance. We're seeing a five% difference, although this increases to 15% over the 10750H. Comparing Intel to AMD, performance is roughly equivalent between the two.

Anybody's favorite single-threaded workload is Acrobat PDF exporting, one of the strongest results for Intel processors. As our 10980HK arrangement tin't clock quite every bit loftier equally the 10875H, it does fall somewhat backside in this test, however Intel does hold a double digit gain over Ryzen in this workload regardless.

AES crypto performance is unchanged compared to other Intel 10th-gen processors every bit this workload is hardware accelerated. AMD's AES decryption block is faster than Intel's, so leads to ameliorate encryption performance in this examination.

For code compilation first up nosotros have GCC compile, which is the more than unmarried-threaded of our tests, although information technology does hit multiple cores at times. Hither the 10980HK is effectually 15 to 20 pct faster than Core i7 processors, merely nevertheless 8 percent backside AMD's Ryzen 7 4800H. This gap to Ryzen narrows with the heavily multi-threaded Chromium compile, but but marginally: AMD is still faster here.

We'll round out this review with a cursory wait at some of our compute heavy productivity workloads, which are influenced to some extent by the GPU. Given this MSI GE66 includes a powerful RTX 2080 Super Max-Q, at that place are some tests where this component is more influential than the CPU. Merely the results may be useful to some people regardless.

First up is Adobe Photoshop using the Puget workload, and this is a mostly CPU express criterion one time you reach mid-tier level discrete graphics. At that place's no real functioning deviation on offer here between the Cadre i9-10980HK and Cadre i7-10875H, both outperform the Ryzen 7 4800H past 10%. This makes one of Intel's viii-core parts a great choice for those who primarily employ Photoshop.

DaVinci Resolve makes heavy utilise of the GPU, so choosing a laptop with a potent discrete GPU is the best class of action for Resolve editors. Core i9 laptops are often paired with loftier-cease GPUs, which is why information technology'south no surprise to see the pairing of the 10980HK with the RTX 2080 Super take information technology to the summit of the charts.

With Adobe Premiere performance, there are multiple tales to tell. With the latest version, 14.2.0, introducing GPU accelerated encoding for Nvidia and AMD GPUs, many aspects to exporting have go more GPU demanding. This is why we come across, like with Resolve, higher-tier GPUs performing well in this workload. With that in mind, the Core i9 configuration finishes loftier.

Editing functioning is largely equivalent between the Ryzen and Core i9 configurations, equally seen in Puget's live playback examination. In fact, when using effects such as the Warp Stabilizer, you lot're actually amend off with Ryzen which comes out double digit percentages ahead. Yous also get ameliorate performance, or in the worst cases equal performance, with Ryzen when exporting using a 2-pass encode, which is not GPU accelerated exterior of standard furnishings.

Clock Speed: Core i7 vs Core i9

Before nosotros cheque out some performance summaries, we wanted to show you clock speeds for the Core i9-10980HK and Core i7-10875H in Handbrake, to run across how Intel'south superior binning for the Core i9 function allows for greater sustained performance within the same ability limit. At 45W, the 10875H mostly ran around 2.8 GHz long term in our criterion, whereas the 10980HK was comfortably pushing iii.1 GHz in this same workload. This 300 MHz clock speed difference is why the Core i9 CPU finished the encode 10% faster.

Naturally this can be improved through increasing ability limits, undervolting and overclocking, which are all possible on this unlocked K-series office, depending on whether your OEM allows it and whether in that location'southward enough thermal headroom. Simply with stock settings and the same power limit, we did find the Core i9 office to accept ameliorate silicon, so at that place'due south a divergence betwixt the SKUs.

Performance Breakdown

Clearly the Cadre i9-10980HK is mostly faster than the Core i7-10875H. We saw upwardly to 20% performance gains in multi-thread workloads, though five to 10% difference is more realistic in most scenarios. Not all of this comes from increased power consumption in burst state, the chip is also better binned.

This meliorate binning allows the 10980HK to perform effectually the marking of the Core i7-10875H when the ability limit is increased to 62W. And so the baseline functioning from this Cadre i9 should be around the marking of a mid to upper tier 10875H configuration.

Intel'south flagship tenth-gen processor is also substantially faster than the Core i7-10750H under the same 45W limit. The upgrade to 8 cores delivers up to 35% amend multi-cadre performance, with an boilerplate performance gain near 20 percent. In a exam like Handbrake, the 10980HK is well-nigh able to match the clock speeds of the 10750H, just two extra cores at hand leads to this performance delta.

The 10980HK is more often than not going to be found in laptop chassis that utilise a power configuration to a higher place 45W. When increasing the power limit to the maximum MSI allowed using their built-in utilities with the GE66, which is approximately 75W, nosotros saw up to a 20% gain in sustained multi-core workloads. This further separates the Core i9 office from Core i7s, although what exact power configurations you're comparison is very important.

While the 10980HK is the fastest 14nm mobile CPU even so, it's beaten by AMD's 7nm Ryzen 7 4800H in most multi-thread tests. At 45W, the Core i9 processor is around 20% slower, only it does deliver better unmarried-thread functioning and improve cache-express operation. Whether Ryzen or Intel is better for y'all volition depend on the workloads you are running.

Even at 75W, the Cadre i9-10980HK is unable to trounce the Ryzen seven 4800H across the board though more often than not speaking, this configuration gets pretty close. An even higher power configuration, such equally 90W or 100W should beat the stock Ryzen vii 4800H at the cost of heat and power.

What We Learned

Starting with the positive stuff, we were surprised past how much meliorate binned this Cadre i9-10980HK is compared to the Core i7-10875H. We were expecting similar long term operation at 45W on both CPUs, with the benefit of the Cadre i9 mostly coming downward to higher ability limits, but that'due south not the case. The 10980HK is able to clock higher inside the aforementioned TDP, leading to a modest gain depending on the exam. This makes the 10980HK the fastest Intel mobile CPU available right now.

With a raised ability limit, the 10980HK is also a good choice for a productivity-focused laptop as it gets pretty close to AMD's Ryzen seven 4800H in multi-cadre tests while outperforming it in single-core. Yeah, it's a lot less efficient, totally incapable of this performance on battery, and needs a better cooling solution, only buyers of a heftier Core i9 notebook shouldn't feel similar they are getting something significantly inferior to AMD'south mid-range laptop APU. The same can't be said for the rest of tenth-gen parts which fall behind Ryzen in productivity tasks.

This is especially true when y'all consider that nigh Core i9 laptops will come with a powerful GPU like an RTX 2070 or higher. Because AMD laptops are currently unavailable with elevation-end GPUs, this makes Intel the default choice for a high performance DaVinci Resolve system or best-in-class gaming machine, only to cite two examples.

The Core i9-10980HK has its caveats besides. The fact that it takes a substantial power increase to match a Ryzen 7 4800H, makes information technology unsuitable in our stance for thinner and lighter laptops like you might see from a Dell XPS xv type of ultraportable. And that's where Intel is stuck at the moment with 14nm. For pushing this new Core i9, they had to pull their best binned silicon and increase the power limits well beyond what some laptops can do.

The other major downside is going to exist toll. PC makers will exclusively use the Core i9 in loftier-terminate laptops, and then the starting price for a 10980HK laptop is going to be well above $2,000. Right now the most affordable organization we could find will gear up you back $2,500 with an RTX 2070 Super Max-Q GPU, which itself is quite capable. The GE66 Raider nosotros tested today is closer to $3,000.

With AMD offering like or amend multi-core operation in laptops starting at $i,000, that puts the pressure on Intel from another bending. If you're fine with an RTX 2060 GPU or don't need anything faster for your production workloads, it doesn't make much sense to spend more than twice as much on a system that delivers mostly equal or inferior performance.

For gaming, the Cadre i9 volition serve a niche of exclusive expensive laptops that come equipped with a fast discrete GPU. Unlike desktops, y'all can't pick and cull what your CPU/GPU combo is going to be and so far nearly Ryzen laptops are not getting the tiptop performing graphics chips, and it is the GPU commanding nearly of your gaming experience.

With laptop-class GPUs, a Core i7-10750H is fine with a high-tier GPU like an RTX 2070 Super, then for well-nigh in that location will be little incentive to spend more on a Core i9 when the price deviation is several hundred dollars.

Those of you after great productivity operation tin can get it at a much lower price with a Ryzen 7, and those who desire a high-stop gaming laptop -- not currently serviced past AMD systems -- may want to do so at a lower price with a Core i7-10750H laptop. This leaves the Cadre i9 equally the best option for those that want both superlative-stop gaming and elevation-end productivity performance, or top-end productivity in apps that make heavy employ of the GPU.

We've got mixed feelings most what the Core i9-10980HK delivers, though it's clear that when you're shopping for a gaming laptop, the CPU is one factor of many. The MSI GE66 Raider we tested for this review seems similar a cracking machine and nosotros think MSI has done a really squeamish job with its construction and attending to detail. It's far from a value option, simply evidently the Core i9-10980HK is not aiming for value either.