We’ve been talking about them for well over a month now, but today is the day that Intel has made their 10th generation Core desktop processor family official along with the accompanying 400-series chipsets. These new chips are built on the 14nm+++ silicon fabrication process, in the new LGA1200 package, and are based on the “Comet Lake” architecture. The core design of “Comet Lake” is actually identical to “Skylake”, but Intel has brought improvements to the clock-speed boosting algorithm, increased core/thread counts across the board, and new features for enthusiasts and overclockers. With the new LGA1200 socket you’ll need a new 400-series motherboard, although you can install any LGA115x-compatible cooler on LGA1200.
The flagship processor in the series is the 10-core, 20-thread Core i9-10900K. It has a base clock of 3.7 GHz and can boost all the way up to 5.3 GHz. Intel claims this processor is the “fastest processor for gaming.”
All Core i9 parts are 10-core / 20-thread. The Core i9-10900K is unlocked and features an iGPU. The Core i9-10900KF is unlocked, but lacks integrated graphics. The Core i9-10900 has an iGPU but isn’t unlocked and finally the Core i9-10900F is multiplier-locked and lacks the iGPU. These chips are priced between $488 and $422 (1000 unit tray quantities).
The 10th generation Core i7 series is made up of 8-core / 16-thread parts with 16 MB of shared L3 cache. The top-end processor of this series is the Core i7-10700K which boosts up to 5.1 GHz. These chips are priced from $374 to $298.
Moving down to the Core i5 series, which we feel is most improved from the previous generation. These are all 6-core / 12-thread parts with 12 MB of shared L3 cache. Leading this series is the Core i5-10600K, then you have the i5-10600KF, and i5-10600, i5-10500, i5-10400, and the i5-10400F. At the top-end you have the i5-10600K at $262 and at the bottom is the i5-10400F for $157.
The Core i3 parts are now 4-core / 8-thread parts with up to 8 MB of shared L3 cache. The i3-10300 and i3-10320 feature 8 MB of L3 cache, while the entry-level i3-10100 features just 6 MB. The i3-10100 is priced at $122, the i3-10300 at $143, and the i3-10320 at $154. There are no unlocked Core i3 parts.
At the bottom of the stack is the Pentium Gold socket LGA1200 G6000-series 2-core/4-thread processors with 4 MB of L3 cache, and Celeron G5900 series 2-core/2-thread parts with 3 MB L3 cache.
What do you guys think of the new 10th Generation Comet Lake Desktop Processors?
