Intel Comet Lake 10th Gen CPUs Release Date, Specs, and Rumors

The Intel 10th generation CPUs are already waiting in line for their debut. Today we will talk about what to...

The Intel 10th generation CPUs are already waiting in line for their debut. Today we will talk about what to expect from Intel Comet Lake 10th Gen CPUs. Before we get into details, let us rewind back to the 6th gen Skylake microarchitecture.

Skylake took many forms upon its introduction. This may have been the case after the new Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen CPUs launched. This pressure made Intel roll out higher core counts on all three of its consumer-grade CPUs.

The current Core i3 CPU falls in the quad-core segment. The Core i5 gained an extra 2 cores as well giving it a total of 6 cores now. While the lower-end models got 2 extra cores, it was not the case with the mid to high-end Core i7 variant.

The core count was the same as the Core i5 and on top of that Intel also cut down on Hyperthreading in this lineup. Hyperthreading technology was moved to Core i9 CPUs only. This may have turned many people away from Intel.

The Intel 10th Gen Comet Lake CPUs will launch soon. This raises the question, will Intel make up for its previous mistakes? Let’s find out.

Intel Comet Lake Release Date, Specs, Performance, News and Rumors

Expected Release Date

While a fixed number is not set when we talk about an exact date, the NDA document gave us two dates (April 13th & June 26th). The huge gap between both the dates may indicate a few things.

The launch may either take place between these two dates, or the two variants K & KF series may release separately. The KF series only differs by supporting no onboard graphics. Hence this slight difference between both variants does not make up for a solid point.

However, we also heard that Intel is facing a lack of capacity in production which may be the case with the date gap. We also know that LGA1200 z490 motherboards will be announced in May so it only makes sense for the Comet Lake CPUs to follow up.

Intel Comet Lake-S 10 Gen 125W Desktop CPU Family

The unlocked lineup of CPUs consists of three variants. We have the flagship core i9 10900K followed by the Core i7 10700K and the last but not least the Core i5 10600K. There is no sign for an unlocked Core i3 listing.

While the Core i3 CPUs now support a quad-core configuration, an unlocked version should prove successful targeting a very competitive market. It costs around $180, but it does not sound like a good bargain considering the current Ryzen 3 3200G is a quad-core fully unlocked APU for $156.

Intel Comet Lake Core i9 10900K
At the moment, the 10th generation Comet Lake has four variants with the flagship Core i9 being on top. The Core i9  10900K features 10 cores, 20 threads with a 20MB of total cache and a 125W TDP. It comes with an idle frequency of 3.7GHz and boosts up to 5.1GHz. This also supports the Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0 and can reach up to 5.2GHz on a single core and 4.9GHz on all core-boost.

Here is a list that sums up the Core i9 10900K:

  • 4.8 GHz All-Core Turbo
  • 5.3 / 4.0 GHz Thermal Velocity Boost Singe / All-core Turbo
  • 5.2 GHz Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0
  • Up to 10C and 20T
  • 2933MHz DDR4 dual-channel
  • Enhanced Core & Memory Overclocking
  • Active Core Group Tuning

Another interesting feature on the new chip is that it will also get a Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB). This feature is also present on the current flagship products. The feature helps boost to higher frequencies on both single and all-core more efficiently.

However, this will require good aftermarket cooling solutions to have this utilize the (TVB) feature. Here you can find Fire Strike benchmark scores spotted by data miner _Rogame.

Intel Comet Lake Core i7 10700k
The Comet Lake Core i7 10700k will be featuring 8 cores and 16 threads followed by a 16MB total cache. The base clock will 3.6GHz idle and will boost up to 5.1GHz on a single-core. On all cores, this will boost up to 4.9GHz. The Core i7 10700K will also support Turbo Boost 3.0.

In comparison to the older generation Core i9 9900k, this has a higher single-core boost with a 100MHz difference. On all-cores, it does the opposite boosting 100MHz less. This will cost around $350 to 400 dollars. Here is what the Comet Lake Core i7 10700k sums up to:

  • 3.8 GHz Idle-Core
  • 5.1 GHz Single Core Boost
  • 4.9 GHz All-Core Boost
  • 2933MHz DDR4 dual-channel
  • Enhanced Core & Memory Overclocking

Intel Comet Lake Core i5 10600K
The Comet Lake Core i5 10600K will feature 6 cores and 12 threads in a 125W of TDP. This also packs 12MB of total cache with a 4.1GHz base clock. The single-core boosts at 4.8GHz and the all-core boost will sit at 4.5Ghz. This is said to be faster than the flagship 8th generation Intel Core i7 8700K.

This CPU will float in the $220 to $270 price tag. This is decent pricing considering it is a 6 core multi-threaded chip. Here is how the 6 core Comet Lake CPU sums up:

  • 4.1 GHz Idle-Core
  • 4.8 GHz Single Core Boost
  • 4.5 GHz All-Core Boost
  • 2933MHz DDR4 dual-channel
  • Enhanced Core & Memory Overclocking

Intel Comet Lake 10th Gen Desktop CPU Family

CPU Name Cores / Threads Base Clock Single-Core Boost Clock Turbo Boost Max 3.0 (Single-Core) All Core Boost Clock Cache TDP Price
Intel Core i9-10900K 10/20 3.7 GHz 5.1 GHz 5.3 GHz (Velocity) 5.2 GHz 4.8 GHz 4.9 GHz (Velocity) 20 MB 125W TBD
Intel Core i9-10900KF 10/20 3.7 GHz 5.1 GHz 5.3 GHz (Velocity) 5.2 GHz 4.8 GHz 4.9 GHz (Velocity) 20 MB 125W TBD
Intel Core i9-10900 10/20 2.8 GHz 5.0 GHz 5.2 GHz (Velocity) 5.1 GHz 4.5 GHz 4.6 GHz (Velocity) 20 MB 65W TBD
Intel Core i9-10900F 10/20 2.8 GHz 5.0 GHz 5.2 GHz (Velocity) 5.1 GHz 4.5 GHz 4.6 GHz (Velocity) 20 MB 65W
Intel Core i9-10900T 10/20 2.0 GHz 4.5 GHz TBD TBD 20 MB 35W TBD
Intel Core i7-10700K 8/16 3.8 GHz 5.0 GHz 5.1 GHz 4.7 GHz 16 MB 125W TBD
Intel Core i7-10700KF 8/16 3.8 GHz 5.0 GHz 5.1 GHz 4.7 GHz 16 MB 125W
Intel Core i7-10700 8/16 2.9 GHz 4.7 GHz 4.6 GHz 4.8 GHz 16 MB 65W TBD
Intel Core i7-10700F 8/16 2.9 GHz 4.7 GHz 4.6 GHz 4.8 GHz 16 MB 65W
Intel Core i7-10700T 8/16 2.0 GHz 4.4 GHz TBD TBD 16 MB 35W TBD
Intel Core i5-10600K 6/12 4.1 GHz 4.8 GHz N/A 4.5 GHz 12 MB 125W TBD
Intel Core i5-10600KF 6/12 4.1 GHz 4.8 GHz N/A 4.5 GHz 12 MB 125W
Intel Core i5-10600 6/12 3.3 GHz 4.8 GHz N/A 4.4 GHz 12 MB 65W TBD
Intel Core i5-10600T 6/12 2.4 GHz 4.0 GHz N/A TBD 12 MB 35W TBD
Intel Core i5-10500 6/12 3.1 GHz 4.5 GHz N/A 4.2 GHz 12 MB 65W TBD
Intel Core i5-10500T 6/12 2.3 GHz 3.7 GHz N/A TBD 12 MB 35W TBD
Intel Core i5-10400 6/12 2.9 GHz 4.3 GHz N/A 4.0 GHz 12 MB 65W TBD
Intel Core i5-10400F 6/12 2.9 GHz 4.3 GHz N/A 4.0 GHz 12 MB 65W
Intel Core i3-10350K 4/8 TBD TBD N/A TBD 8 MB 125W TBD
Intel Core i3-10320 4/8 3.8 GHz 4.6 GHz N/A 4.4 GHz 8 MB 65W TBD
Intel Core i3-10300 4/8 3.7 GHz 4.4 GHz N/A 4.2 GHz 8 MB 65W TBD
Intel Core i3-10100 4/8 3.6 GHz 4.3 GHz N/A 4.1 GHz 8 MB 65W TBD
Intel Core i3-10100T 4/8 2.3 GHz 3.6 GHz N/A TBD 8 MB 35W TBD
Intel Pentium G6400 2/4 3.8 GHz 3.8 GHz N/A TBD 4 MB 65W TBD
Intel Pentium G6400T 2/4 3.2 GHz 3.2 GHz N/A TBD 4 MB 35W TBD
Intel Celeron G5900 2/2 3.2 GHz 3.2 GHz N/A TBD 2 MB 65W TBD
Intel Celeron G5900T 2/2 3.0 GHz 3.0 GHz N/A TBD 2 MB 35W TBD

LGA 1200 Chipset and Intel 400-Series Platform

Intel is moving to a new socket with the 400-series motherboards. These motherboards will release around May. The socket dimensions on the LGA 1200 is the same as LGA 1151 but the socket keying has shifted to the left side instead.

Comet Lake will not be compatible both electrically or mechanically with Coffee Lake motherboards. With these slight differences, 400-series boards will be able to support the existing heatsink fans. Some other details regarding the LGA 1200 are specified below:

  • Comet Lake CPUs will transition to a higher pin-count package
  • No backward compatibility with legacy platforms
  • Same  ILM dimensions and thermal solution retention.
  • Improved power delivery and support for future incremental I/O features
  • The Pin 1 orientation is unchanged but socket keying has shifted on the left side

LGA 1200 Intel 400-Series Chipset Family

Chipset Name Intel Z490 Intel W480 Intel Q470 Intel H410
Total HSIO Lanes 46 Lanes (16 CPU + 30 PCH) 46 Lanes (16 CPU+ 30 PCH) 46 Lanes (16 CPU+ 30 PCH) 30 Lanes (16 CPU+ 14 PCH)
Total PCIe 3.0 Lanes (CPU + PCH) Up To 40 (16 CPU + Up To 40 (16 CPU + Up To 40 (16 CPU + 22(16 CPU + 6 PCIe 2.0)
Chipset PCIe 3.0 Lanes Up To 24 Up To 24 Up To 24 6 (PCIe 2.0 Only)
SATA 3.0 Ports Up To 8 Up To 8 Up To 6 4
Maximum USB 3.2 Ports Gen 2 (10 Gb/s) / Gen 1 (5 Gb/s) 8/10 8/10 6/10 0/4
Tota USB Ports (Maximum USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gb/s)) 14 (10) 14 (10) 14 (10) 10 (4)
Intel RST Technology For PCIe 3.0 storage ports 3 PCH 3 PCH 3 PCH 0
eSPI 2 Chip Select 2 Chip Select 2 Chip Select 1 Chip Select
Overclocking Support Yes N/A N/A N/A
Processor PCIe Express 3.0 Lanes Configuration 1×16 or 2×8 or 1×8 + 2×4 1×16 or 2×8 or 1×8 + 2×4 1×16 or 2×8 or 1×8 + 2×4 1×16
Display Support (Ports / Pipes) 3/3 3/3 3/3 3/2
DMI 3.0 Lanes 4 4 4 4 (DMI 2.0 Only)
System Memory Channels / DPC 2/2 (DDR4-2666) 2/2 (DDR4-2666) 2/2 (DDR4-2666) 2/1 (DDR4-2666)

Intel UHD 620  Series Onboard Graphics

The 10 generation CPUs come with the Intel 620 UHD Graphics. This was present on the Kaby Lake architecture called HD 620. Apart from the additional alphabet ‘U’, there is a slight frequency difference as well. The Intel UHD 620 is clocked at 1.150MHz which is 100MHz  higher than the Intel HD 620 (1.050MHz). This also lacks dedicated graphics memory and fulfills the lack of eDRAM by accessing the main memory (2x 64bit DDR3/DDR4).

On the performance side not much should be expected from the UHD 620. IT keeps up with the Nvidia GeForce 910M and 920M. Though it may still be capable of running casual games like Team Fortress 2 or Rocket league etc. Intel’s graphics line has only proven significance in the mobile segment.

Benchmark Tests: Intel Comet Lake Core i9 10900k vs AMD Ryzen 9 3900X

While many battles took place between Team Red and Team Blue this year, both titans clash once again. While Intel fell behind in the recent benchmark tests. This time the results were a bit surprising.

The newest benchmark scores that _Roagme dug up shows that the Core i9 10900K was able to score 28940 on the Fire Strike test. This came close to the AMD Ryzen 3900X which scored 30415. Both the setups were running on dual-channel 16GB RAM with 3200MHZ bus frequency.

This article may give users an overview of what the Comet Lake CPUs will come with as a whole package. While many are double-minded about the new lineup, it is clear that it still lacks in comparison to AMD. The Comet Lake does not feel very different than the older gen and upgrading to a new socket type makes it a mood killer.

Intel also has its Tiger Lake 11th Gen CPUs on its way later this year. This puts the Blue team in a very awkward scenario. The following is a price listing of the Intel Comet Lake processors:

Model Part Number Base Clock (GHz) Pricing
Core i9-10900K CM8070104282844 3.7 $562
Core i9-10900KF CM8070104282846 3.7 $532
Core i9-10900 CM8070104282624 2.8 $506
Core i9-10900T CM8070104282624 1.9 $506
Core i9-10900F CM8070104282625 2.8 $476
Core i7-10700K CM8070104282436 3.8 $436
Core i7-10700KF CM8070104282437 3.8 $405
Core i7-10700 CM8070104282327 2.9 $376
Core i7-10700T CM8070104282215 2.0 $376
Core i7-10700F CM8070104282329 2.9 $346
Core i5-10600K CM8070104282134 4.1 $296
Core i5-10600KF CM8070104282136 4.1 $266
Core i5-10600 CM8070104290312 3.3 $250
Core i5-10600T CM8070104290410 2.4 $250
Core i5-10500 CM8070104290511 3.1 $226
Core i5-10500T CM8070104290606 2.3 $226
Core i5-10400 CM8070104290715 2.9 $215
Core i5-10400T CM8070104290806 2.0 $215
Core i5-10400F CM8070104290716 2.9 $185
Core i3-10320 CM8070104291009 3.8 $184
Core i3-10300 CM8070104291109 3.7 $171
Core i3-10300T CM8070104291212 3.0 $171
Core i3-10100 CM8070104291317 3.6 $147
Core i3-10100T CM8070104291412 3.0 $147

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