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10th Generation Intel Core processor specifications and pricing published



Finally it became known how Intel will respond to the ultra-popular AMD Ryzen processors, which by April 2020 captured up to 90% of new CPU sales .

Intel's answer is the 10th generation Intel Core series, code-named Comet Lake-S. The official announcement of the new processors will take place today, and full information and presentation slides have leaked in a few days .

Formally, Intel introduced 32 (!) New processors of the 10th generation, but if you carefully examine the table under the cut, then almost all of them are reincarnations of top and pre-top old CPUs, and there are only two real new products: Intel Core i9-10900 and Intel Core i9- 10900K.

Go to CPU list


Intel Core i9-10900K: 10 cores, 20 threads, frequency up to 5.3 GHz (in small letters it says: only for one core and only with the appropriate cooling system), $ 488

A new family of Comet Lake-S processors is manufactured using the 14 nm process technology. The letter 'K' in the name of each processor means an unlocked multiplier for free overclocking, the letter 'F' means no integrated graphics, the letter 'T' is a series with reduced power consumption up to 35 W (potentially mobile CPUs).

New features in brief:

  • Clock frequency up to 5.3 GHz in turbo (Thermal Velocity Boost)
  • New Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0 Overclocking Technology
  • Intel Hyperthreading Technology Multithreading Enabled for All Processors
  • Up to 10 cores per processor with 20 MB cache (Intel Smart Cache)
  • DDR4-2933 ( , Ryzen 3000 DDR4-3200 3400-3600 )
  • CPU
  • Intel 400 Series
  • Intel Ethernet I225 (Foxville).
  • AX201 Wi-Fi 6

All Comet Lake-S processors support Thunderbolt 3, Intel Optane technology and the same 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes (AMD has been manufacturing processors with PCIe 4.0 support for almost a year).

In Comet Lake-S, Intel again introduces the new LGA1200 socket, the third socket for Skylake-based processors. Now the need for new boards is understandable, because you need to bring much more power to the CPU and dramatically increase cooling. On new motherboards with Z490 chipset, massive heatsinks above the processor power zone are striking. The LGA1200 mount is the same as the LGA115x, so compatibility with older coolers will remain.


MSI Z390-A Pro and Z490-A Pro motherboards

Overclocking


In a published presentation, Intel explains why the high clock speed is still an important factor when choosing a CPU, one of the slides is called: “Why does the clock speed matter”. Intel claims that games and most applications are still sensitive to high frequencies, and "about 60% of games are optimized to work with one high-performance core."

Intel has updated branded programs for overclocking Extreme Tuning Utility and Intel Perfomance Maximizer.


Utility for overclocking processors Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel XTU)

Hypertreading in the Intel XTU program can now be turned on / off by the core, improved voltage and clock settings, increasing the PEG / DMI multiplier.



To increase the clock speed and better overclocking of the CPU, changes were made to the STIM (solder based thermal interface material) thermal interface, as shown in the next slide. In particular, the thickness of the cover for the heat sink (integrated heat spreader, IHS) has been increased with a decrease in the thickness of the silicon crystal itself.



Graphic arts


All Core processors, except F models, are equipped with integrated Intel UHD Graphics 630 graphics.

Celeron processors also use Intel UHD Graphics 610 graphics.

Characteristics and prices


The following tables list specifications and recommended retail prices for all new Intel processors.


Intel 10th Gen Core-S Comet Lake S Series
SKUCores / threadsBaseTurbo 2.0Turbo 3.0Turbo of all coresAcceleration Therm. Velocity / all coresTDPPrice
i9-10900K10C / 20T 3.7 GHz 5.1 GHz 5.2 GHz 4.8 GHz 5.3 / 4.9 GHz 125 watts $ 488
i9-10900KF 10C/20T 3.7  5.1  5.2  4.8  5.3/4.9  125  $472
i9-10900 10C/20T 2.8  5.0  5.1  4.5  5.2/4.6  65  $439
i9-10900F 10C/20T 2.8  5.0  5.1  4.5  5.2/4.6  65  $422
i7-10700K 8C/16T 3.8  5.0  5.1  4.7 NA 125  $374
i7-10700KF 8C/16T 3.8  5.0  5.1  4.7 NA 125  $349
i7-10700 8C/16T 2.9  4.7  4.8  4.6 NA 65  $323
i7-10700F 8C/16T 2.9  4.7  4.8  4.6 NA 65  $298
i5-10600K 6C/12T 4.1  4.8 NA 4.5 NA 125  $262
i5-10600KF 6C/12T 4.1  4.8 NA 4.5 NA 125  $237
i5-10600 6C/12T 3.3  4.8 NA 4.4 NA 65  $213
i5-10500 6C/12T 3.1  4.5 NA 4.2 NA 65  $192
i5-10400 6C/12T 2.9  4.3 NA 4.0 NA 65  $182
i5-10400F 6C/12T 2.9  4.3 NA 4.0 NA 65  $157
i3-10320 4C/8T 3.8  4.6 NA 4.4 NA 65  $154
i3-10300 4C/8T 3.7  4.4 NA 4.2 NA 65  $143
i3-10100 4C/8T 3.6  4.3 NA 4.1 NA 65  $122
G-6600* 2C/4T 4.2 NANANANA 58  $86
G-6500* 2C/4T 4.1 NANANANA 58  $75
G-6400* 2C/4T 4.0 NANANANA 58  $64
G-5920** 2C/2T 3.5 NANANANA 58  $52
G-5900** 2C/2T 3.4 NANANANA 58  $42
“K Series” – , “F Series” – iGPU, “KF Series” – GPU, * Pentium Gold, ** Celeron

T (35 )


Intel 10th Gen Core-S Comet Lake S Series
SKU/2.03.0Therm. Velocity/TDP
i9-10900T 10C/20T 1.9  4.5  4.6  3.7 NA 35  $439
i7-10700T 8C/16T 2.0  4.4  4.5  3.7 NA 35  $325
i5-10600T 6C/12T 2.4  4.0 NA 3.7 NA 35  $213
i5-10500T 6C/12T 2.3  3.8 NA 3.5 NA 35  $192
i5-10400T 6C/12T 2.0 3.6 NA 3.2 NA 35  $182
i3-10300T 4C/8T 3.0  3.9 NA 3.7 NA 35  $143
i3-10100T 4C/8T 3.0  3.8 NA 3.5 NA 35  $122
G-6500T* 2C/4T 3.5 NANANANA 35  $75
G-6400T* 2C/4T 3.4 NANANANA 35  $64
G-5900T** 2C/2T 3.2 NANANANA 35  $42
* Pentium Gold, ** Celeron

Intel 400-Series


Intel Z490Intel W480Intel Q470Intel H410
HSIO46 (16 CPU + 30 )30 (16 CPU+ 14 )
PCIe 3.0 (CPU + )40 (16 CPU + 24 )22 (16 CPU + 6 PCIe 2.0)
PCIe 3.0

24)

6 (PCIe 2.0)
SATA 3.0864
USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 /) / Gen 1 (5 /)8/106/100/4
USB ( USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 /))14 (10)10 (4)
Intel RST Technology PCIe 3.03 PCH0
eSPI21
PCIe Express 3.01Ă—16 2Ă—8 1Ă—8 + 2Ă—41Ă—16
(/)3/33/2
DMI 3.044 (DMI 2.0)
/ DPC2/2 (DDR4-2666)2/1 (DDR4-2666)

Ryzen?


According to some commentators, Intel’s actions are explained solely by the competitor’s activity - AMD with Ryzen processors pushed the market, accelerated scientific and technological progress in the industry and collapsed prices. The new Core i3 from Intel is not inferior in performance to the Core i7 processors up to the 7th generation (7000).

If you look at the table, then the Core i3-10100, 4 cores, 8 threads, the frequency up to 4.3 GHz, does not differ from Core i7-7700.

Core i5-10600K, 6 cores and 12 threads, frequency up to 4.8 GHz, with an unlocked multiplier, is very similar to the reincarnation of Core i7-8700K.

The same is confirmed by tests. The table below shows the results of the Cinebench R20 test for old and new Intel and AMD processors (benchmarks from the CPU-Monkey website ).


Cm.comparison of Intel Core i3-10300 and i3-10100 with Ryzen 3 3300X and 3100

The only really new processors in this line are the 10-core Core i9-10900 and Core i9-10900K. All the rest are essentially analogues of the top or pre-top solutions of previous generations, which will now be sold at discounted prices.

On the other hand, despite the large presentation of dozens of new models, everyone perfectly sees Intel's technological lag. The new processors are still manufactured using the outdated 14 nm process technology on the same old Skylake architecture of 2015, which for its time was an excellent achievement, but has not been improved since then: Kaby Lake (7th generation) and Coffee Lake (8 2nd and 9th generations) are almost no different from Skylake.

At the same time, AMD has been releasing 7nm processors for a year now, and in the fall of 2020 we should see the Apple A14 chip at 5nm. AMD introduced the new Zen 2 architecture and desktop processors with up to 16 cores. Thus, the new Intel processors will not be able to compare in performance with the 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X. Intel has not released a competitor for this top processor.

Although Intel in the official specifications indicates a maximum heat dissipation of 125 W, the first independent tests indicate a much higher TDP. For example, the Core i9-10900 at a frequency of 4.6 GHz heats up to 93 ° C and consumes 220 W, as can be seen in the screenshot:



For comparison, a heat output of 280 W has a 64-core Ryzen Threadripper 3990X operating at a frequency of about 3 GHz.

According to some experts, due to excessive heat generation, the 10th generation Intel Core processors are unlikely to overclock much, except with a cryogenic installation.

New Intel processors are more expensive than AMD models of similar performance, although the difference is not very large. Surely many potential buyers will prefer to wait a bit: at the end of this year or the beginning of the next, Intel will release the 11th generation processors (Rocket Lake). Despite the same 14nm process technology, they are based on a truly new architecture with IPC increase, PCI Express 4.0 support, new integrated graphics, DMI 3.0 x8 chipset connection (doubling bandwidth), Thunderbolt 4 and USB 3.2 support at speeds up to 20 Gbps / c.

The first Intel desktop processors with a 7-nanometer topology, support for DDR5 memory and PCI-Express 4.0 interface will be released no earlier than 2022. According to rumors, processors codenamed Meteor Lake will receive x86 cores based on Golden Cove architecture, the development of which was attended by Jim Keller (Jim Keller), one of the creators of the AMD Zen architecture, who has been working at Intel since 2018.

AMD itself is going to release 5 nm processors, also with DDR5 support, on the new Zen 4 architecture by 2022. The transition to 5 nanometers and DDR5 in the server segment for AMD will take place even earlier - in 2021, with the release of the new Genoa Epyc processors.



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