Everything that you must find out about Intel’s 10th Gen Comet Lake desktop CPU line-up

Hot off the heels of unveiling their subsequent technology of Comet Lake laptop CPUs, Intel have lastly lifted the lid on their 10th Gen Comet Lake line-up of desktop CPUs, and man alive there are a whole lot of them. Leading the pack is Intel’s Core i9-10900Okay, which has a whopping 10 cores and a most clock velocity of 5.3GHz, making it the world’s new quickest gaming processor – a title beforehand held by its ninth Gen predecessor, the Core i9-9900K.

It’s not simply tremendous quick Core i9 CPUs Intel have unveiled immediately, although, as they’ve additionally revealed their full suite of Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors as effectively. Here’s every little thing that you must know, together with their specs, how a lot they price, and when (roughly) you’re going to have the ability to get your fingers on one.

There are 32 10th Gen Comet Lake desktop CPUs in whole that shall be changing Intel’s present lot of ninth Gen Coffee Lake CPUs, and I’ve listed the important thing gaming ones within the desk beneath. As you possibly can see, there’s a reasonably vast unfold starting from prime of the road Core i9 processors proper all the way down to entry-level Core i3 chips. There are additionally going to be six energy-efficient 35W T fashions obtainable throughout the 10th Gen Comet Lake household, in addition to eight Pentium and Celeron CPUs, however I’ve left these off the record as they’re probably not geared towards gaming.

There are additionally going to be six F fashions that don’t include Intel’s built-in UHD Graphics 630 chip like those appreciated above. These shall be a bit cheaper than their non-F counterparts, however are in any other case precisely the identical processor. The solely distinction is that they have to be paired with a graphics card as a consequence of their lack of built-in graphics. These embrace the $472 Core i9-10900KF, the $422 Core i9-10900F, the $349 Core i7-10700KF, the $298 Core i7-10700F, the $237 Core i5-10600KF and the $157 Core i5-10400F.

What is Intel Comet Lake?

Before we get into the nitty gritty of the processors listed above, let’s reply the all essential query of, “What the heck does Comet Lake actually mean?” Comet Lake is the code identify for Intel’s subsequent technology of desktop and cell processors. They’re nonetheless based mostly on the identical 14nm (nanometer) manufacturing course of as Intel’s ninth Gen Coffee Lake CPUs, however Comet Lake makes use of an much more refined model of this manufacturing course of – one thing Intel check with as 14nm++. Coffee Lake, then again, was the earlier refinement of this specific course of, referred to as 14nm+.

Of course, there’s much more to it than merely including an additional + to the equation. Comet Lake brings with it a number of new options, together with help for DDR4-2933 RAM, Intel’s hyper-threading expertise throughout their whole Core i3 to Core i9 household of processors, a brand new model of Intel’s Turbo Boost Max expertise (3.0, which was beforehand reserved for Intel’s server grade Xeon processors) and Intel’s Thermal Velocity Boost tech, which is able to assist their Core i9 CPUs attain these prime speeds listed above.

Intel are additionally releasing a brand new 400 collection motherboard chipset to go together with them, too. So far, they’ve introduced three of them: the high-end Z490, and the mid-range B460 and H410 chipsets. Intel haven’t but mentioned whether or not their current Coffee Lake CPUs shall be suitable with these boards as effectively but, however I’ll replace this text with extra info as quickly because it turns into obtainable.

Intel Comet Lake launch date

As for once you’ll have the ability to get your fingers on these new gaming CPUs, Intel haven’t launched any particular dates in the mean time because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, however they’ve advised me that the Okay collection CPUs (those unlocked for overclocking) would be the first to market in May. Alas, they weren’t in a position to be extra particular than that.

However, on condition that we’re going to start out seeing Z490 motherboards showing from May 20th, I’d think about that they’ll possible begin trickle in across the similar time, so we’re in all probability one thing nearer to the finish of May or early to mid June by the point they’re really that can be purchased worldwide and you may really get your fingers on them. I’ll maintain you up to date after I get a firmer, extra official launch date direct from Intel.

Intel Comet Lake specs – what’s modified?

As you possibly can see, there’s not a lot change on the core quantity entrance – the Comet Lake Core i7s nonetheless have eight cores apiece, the Core i5s have six and the Core i3s have 4. Instead, the massive distinction right here is that the variety of threads (or digital cores) have all doubled, giving every CPU extra hyper-threading efficiency in relation to multi-tasking. The solely CPUs that now have extra cores than earlier than are the Core i9s, which have jumped from 8-core / 16-thread CPUs to 10-core / 20-thread jobs.

AMD’s Ryzen 9 3900X and Ryzen 9 3950X nonetheless have the sting when it comes to total numbers right here, boasting 12 cores and 24 threads, however Intel are hoping their greater clock speeds would be the defining issue right here to assist make them the best gaming CPUs on the planet.

Indeed, with the Core i9-10900Okay in a position to attain an enormous 5.3GHz utilizing Intel’s thermal velocity increase tech, that’s fairly a step up from the Ryzen 9 3950X’s prime velocity of 4.7GHz. They are, nevertheless, very power-hungry chips, with TDPs (or thermal design factors) of 125W, whereas AMD’s lot solely have TDPs of 105W. Heck, even Intel’s Core i5-10600Okay is listed as a 125W chip right here, which is a giant bounce from the Core i5-9600K‘s 95W TDP. As a result, I wouldn’t be stunned if all of the unlocked Okay chips required some severe cooling equipment to assist them attain these sorts of speeds, however happily Intel have outlined a variety of enhancements to their manufacturing course of to assist with this.

Indeed, of their press briefing earlier this week, Intel mentioned they’ve decreased the quantity of silicon used of their CPU dies this time, making manner for a thicker layer of copper as a substitute. This ought to assist dissipate warmth extra quickly than their earlier technology of desktop gaming CPUs, serving to them to keep up these excessive clock speeds for longer and extra efficiency in consequence.

They’ve additionally introduced their Turbo Boost Max 3.Zero tech to their Core line-up for the primary time right here, too, which as I discussed above was beforehand solely obtainable on their server-grade Xeon processors. This helps to establish the 2 finest performing cores in a CPU with a view to ensure you’re at all times getting the absolute best efficiency from no matter you’re doing – all with out a rise in voltage in addition. You’ll additionally have the ability to allow and disable hyper-threading on every core as effectively, supplying you with one more device to assist maintain their total temperature in examine. Admittedly, Intel haven’t specified whether or not these types of options shall be obtainable on each 10th Gen Comet Lake CPU but, or whether or not you’ll solely discover them on the Core i9s, however I’ll replace this as quickly as I get affirmation.

Intel Comet Lake worth

The excellent news is that among the top-end Comet Lake CPUs are a bit cheaper than their speedy predecessors have been at launch, which ought to hopefully make them extra aggressive in opposition to AMD’s present Ryzen 3000 CPUs. Indeed, the Core i9-9900Okay price $530 when it first got here out, which makes the Core i9-10900Okay’s worth of $488 a relatively good shock. Sure, it’s nonetheless a heck of some huge cash (an excessive amount of, actually, for those who’re simply in search of an important gaming CPU and don’t do any high-flying streaming or video modifying and the like), however when the Ryzen 9 3900X nonetheless prices $435 at time of writing, the Core i9-10900Okay turns into so much simpler to justify than its ninth Gen predecessor.

The $374 Core i7-10700Okay can be round $35 cheaper than the Core i7-9700K‘s preliminary worth of $410 as effectively, which as soon as once more makes it extra aggressive with the presently $299 Ryzen 7 3700X and $340 Ryzen 7 3800X. The AMD chips nonetheless have the additional benefit of coming with their very own coolers, in fact, however hey, I’ll take any type of worth discount I can get at this level.

Alas, the Core i5-10600Okay has remained at a static $260-odd this time spherical, as have the remainder of its Core i5 and Core i3 siblings, lowering any type of financial savings to a flat zero. Still, at the least their costs have remained the identical because the ninth Gen Coffee Lake refresh launch, and haven’t gone up alongside inflation.

Naturally, I’ll be testing a few of these CPUs very shortly, so watch this house to see how a lot they’ve improved on their Coffee Lake predecessors, and whether or not they deserve a spot inside your subsequent gaming PC.