Intel’s latest 10th Gen Core Comet Lake-S CPU series is expected to be announced this April 30th. But a head of its official announcement, official slides surfaced on the web; revealing essentially everything we need to know about the new 10th Gen processors, except for the actual performance. The Intel Core i9-10900K leads the family with 10 cores and 20 threads; and a boost clock speed of up to 5.3GHz. The new Comet Lake-S processors are not backwards compatible and will only work with the new Z400 series motherboards with socket LGA 1200. Check out the new features, specs and prices of these new 10th gen Intel desktop CPUs below.
10th Gen Intel Core Desktop CPUs – What’s New?
Aside from having a maximum boost clock speed of 5.3GHz, there are several new key features that the 10th gen Intel CPU has to offer. Note that not all CPUs in this family can reach 5.3GHz maximum boost clock speed. Intel introduces Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 and Thermal Velocity Boost (TBV) with the new CPUs. Hyperthreading technology is also available from Core i3 all the way to Core i9 CPUs.
The new CPUs will also support up to DDR4-2933 memory, enhanced core and memory overclocking features and will only work with the latest Intel 400 series chipset motherboards. Intel also introduces 2.5G Intel Ethernet connection I225 support and integrated Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201(Gig+) support.
Intel is also aiming for increased performance in games, thanks to the higher clock speeds. There is also a per-core HT disable and enable function, enhanced voltage and frequency curve controls. Surprisingly, Intel opted to use a thinner die this time. Basically, the package thickness is still the same; the die is made thinner while the HIS is made thicker. This move is expected to result in a better thermal performance.
The Not So Exciting Part of 10th Gen CPUs
Unfortunately, the 10th Gen Intel processors are still based on 14nm (+++); not sure how many pluses are there already. The flagship Core i9-10900K and Core i7-10700K are 125W CPUs. This basically means while we get a higher performance with higher boost clock speeds; this could result in a higher power consumption as well.
Also, PCIe 4.0 is not (natively) supported. Most Z490 motherboards, if not all, will sport a PCIe 3.0 interface. If ever you are planning to buy one of the PCIe Gen4 M.2 NVMe SSDs; it will still basically work but will only run at half of their expected speeds.
Below are the specifications of the 10th Gen Intel CPUs with their suggested retail prices.
10th Gen Intel Core Comet Lake-S Specifications and Prices
| SKU | Base Clock Speed | Turbo Boost Tech 2.0 Max Single Core | Turbo Boost Max Tech 3.0 | TVB Single / All Core Turbo Freq | All Core Turbo Freq | Cores / Threads | TDP | iGPU | Pricing (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| i9-10900K | 3.7 GHz | 5.1 GHz | 5.2 GHz | 5.3 GHz / 4.9 GHz | 4.8 GHz | 10C / 20T | 125W | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | $488 |
| i9-10900KF | 3.7 GHz | 5.1 GHz | 5.2 GHz | 5.3 GHz / 4.9 GHz | 4.8 GHz | 10C / 20T | 125W | $472 | |
| i9-10900 | 2.8 GHz | 5.0 GHz | 5.1 GHz | 5.2 GHz / 4.6 GHz | 4.5 GHz | 10C / 20T | 65W | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | $439 |
| i9-10900F | 2.8 GHz | 5.0 GHz | 5.1 GHz | 5.2 GHz / 4.6 GHz | 4.5 GHz | 10C / 20T | 65W | $422 | |
| i7-10700K | 3.8 GHz | 5.0 GHz | 5.1 GHz | NA | 4.7 GHz | 8C / 16T | 125W | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | $374 |
| i7-10700KF | 3.8 GHz | 5.0 GHz | 5.1 GHz | NA | 4.7 GHz | 8C / 16T | 125W | $349 | |
| i7-10700 | 2.9 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 4.8 GHz | NA | 4.6 GHz | 8C / 16T | 65W | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | $323 |
| i7-10700F | 2.9 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 4.8 GHz | NA | 4.6 GHz | 8C / 16T | 65W | $298 | |
| i5-10600K | 4.1 GHz | 4.8 GHz | NA | NA | 4.5 GHz | 6C / 12T | 125W | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | $262 |
| i5-10600KF | 4.1 GHz | 4.8 GHz | NA | NA | 4.5 GHz | 6C / 12T | 125W | $237 | |
| i5-10600 | 3.3 GHz | 4.8 GHz | NA | NA | 4.4 GHz | 6C / 12T | 65W | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | $213 |
| i5-10500 | 3.1 GHz | 4.5 GHz | NA | NA | 4.2 GHz | 6C / 12T | 65W | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | $192 |
| i5-10400 | 2.9 GHz | 4.3 GHz | NA | NA | 4.0 GHz | 6C / 12T | 65W | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | $182 |
| i5-10400F | 2.9 GHz | 4.3 GHz | NA | NA | 4.0 GHz | 6C / 12T | 65W | $157 | |
| i3-10320 | 3.8 GHz | 4.6 GHz | NA | NA | 4.4 GHz | 4C / 8T | 65W | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | $154 |
| i3-10300 | 3.7 GHz | 4.4 GHz | NA | NA | 4.2 GHz | 4C / 8T | 65W | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | $143 |
| i3-10100 | 3.6 GHz | 4.3 GHz | NA | NA | 4.1 GHz | 4C / 8T | 65W | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | $122 |
| Pentium Gold G-6600 | 4.2 GHz | NA | NA | NA | NA | 2C / 4T | 58W | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | $86 |
| Pentium Gold G-6500 | 4.1 GHz | NA | NA | NA | NA | 2C / 4T | 58W | Intel UHD Graphics 630 | $75 |
| Pentium Gold G-6400 | 4.0 GHz | NA | NA | NA | NA | 2C / 4T | 58W | Intel UHD Graphics 610 | $64 |
| Celeron G-5920 | 3.5 GHz | NA | NA | NA | NA | 2C / 2T | 58W | Intel UHD Graphics 610 | $52 |
| Celeron G-5900 | 3.4 GHz | NA | NA | NA | NA | 2C / 2T | 58W | Intel UHD Graphics 610 | $42 |
All 10th Gen CPUs will have a two channel DDR4-2933 memory support, Intel Optane memory support and up to 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes. Only the K and KF series are unlocked and overclockable.
Where Are the Benchmarks?
Well, the April 30 is only the official announced of the 10th Gen Intel Desktop CPUs, and perhaps the new Z490 motherboards as well. According to TechPowerUp’s hardware release schedule, the review embargo is on May 27th 20++ and the expected retail availability will be on May 30th 20++.
We won’t be seeing benchmark results for the new 10th Gen CPU until May 27th 20++. Not unless someone deciding to leak their benchmark results ahead of the embargo. This is nothing new. So, there is still a lot of time before we see how these new Intel CPUs and Z490 motherboards will actually perform in real world scenario.
