Intel may not have officially shown its desktop aimed 10th Gen Comet Lake-S desktop CPU lineup at CES 2020 but benchmarks for the Core i9 10 core and the Core i5 6 core processors have leaked out online. The latest leak comes from a Taobao DIY market reporter (via Momomo) who has posted a video of the two ES (Engineering Sample) chips and tested them on an OEM motherboard, featuring the new LGA 1200 socket.

Intel 10th Gen Comet Lake-S 10 Core & 6 Core Desktop CPU Engineering Samples Leaked & Benchmarked, New Socket Layout Confirmed

The two processors tested might be compared to the Core i9-10900K and the Core i5-10600K that leaked out last week but are in fact entirely different chips that are in ES (Engineering Sample) state which means that they aren't based on the final die/revision/specs. This is made clear with the CPU-z screenshots which shows that the Core i9 10 core chip has a base clock of just 2.50 GHz, which is much lower than the expected base clock of 3.7 GHz on the Core i9-10900K. Even the 65W, Core i9-10900 has a higher base frequency of 2.8 GHz. The same is true for the Core i5 6 core chip which has a base clock of 3.0 GHz, and that too is lower than both the 'K' 125W and the standard 65W variants.

Furthermore, the leaker mentioned that both chips weren't yet optimized with the Dell B460 OEM motherboard that they used to test the processors. One interesting thing is to note is that both ES chips feature their socket alignment notches at the bottom which is a design revision for the new LGA 1200 socket. The existing 9th Gen processors feature the same notch on the upper side. It can also be seen that the 10 core SKU features an IHS similar to the Intel Core i9-9900KS (Coffee Lake refresh) while the 6 core SKU features an IHS similar to the Core i7-8700K (Coffee Lake).

The BIOS for the B460 OEM motherboard also had various issues and the 10 core chip was only reaching boost clocks of 3.3 GHz as opposed to the final 4.8-4.9 GHz clock speeds. This was an issue with both chips so the performance is pretty lackluster in all of the benchmarks that were run.

In Cinebench R20, the 10 core scored 4215 points and the 6 core scored 2928 points. In Cinebench R15, the 10 core scored 1957 points and the 6 core scored 1199 points. You can see how well they compared to other processors in the following charts:

Cinebench R20

Multi-Thread

0

4000

8000

12000

16000

20000

24000

0

4000

8000

12000

16000

20000

24000

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990X 11.8k

Intel Core i9-10980XE OC 10.5k

AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 9.1k

Intel Core i9-10980XE 8.7k

Intel Core i9-7980XE 7.7k

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 7.1k

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X 6.7k

Intel Core i9-9900KS 5.3k

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 5.1k

Intel Comet Lake-S 10 Core / 20 Thread ES @ 2.50 GHz 4.2k

Intel Comet Lake-S 6 Core / 12 Thread ES @ 3.00 GHz 2.9k

Cinebench R15

Multi-Thread

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990X 5.1k

Intel Core i9-10980XE OC 4.3k

AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 4.1k

Intel Core i9-10980XE 4k

Intel Core i9-7980XE 3.7k

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.2k

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X 3k

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 2.1k

Intel Core i9-9900KS 2.1k

Intel Comet Lake-S 10 Core / 20 Thread ES @ 2.50 GHz 2k

Intel Comet Lake-S 6 Core / 12 Thread ES @ 3.00 GHz 1.2k

2 of 9

There's also a section that showcases the temperatures of both chips at full load. The 10 core maxed out at 51C while the 6 core maxed out at 53C. Since these aren't running at the final clock speeds, expect the retail variants to be much hotter and more power-hungry. A selection of games was also run, showcasing the 10 core lead in multi-thread optimized titles but the two chips were mostly similar in the majority of the gaming tests which were run. A leaked Intel slide already gave us a glimpse of what to expect from the flagship Core i9-10900K CPU.

The Intel Core i9-10900K was compared against the Core i9-9900K that has 8 cores and 16 threads. Since these are not public slides but internal performance projections, Intel also listed down the PL2 power states for each chip, which shows the maximum TDP when all cores are hitting the turbo frequency. The Core i9-9900K is a 95W and 210W (PL2) chip while the i9-10900K is a 125W and 250W (PL2) chip.

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

There are three SKUs in the unlocked lineup which is one less than what we were told. There's the flagship Core i9-10900K which is followed by the Core i7-10700K and the Core i5-10600K. The Core i3 variant is missing but it's such a crucial SKU that would be targetting a very competitive market and it would be a bad decision for Intel to not launch an unlocked quad-core part in the budget tier segment.

Intel Core i9-10900K - 10 Cores, Up To 5.3 GHz Single-Core, 4.9 GHz All-Core

The Intel Core i9-10900K will be the flagship part of the 10th Generation Desktop CPU family. Intel has a few tricks up their sleeves to offer even better performance than the Core i9-9900KS. The i9-10900K features 10 cores, 20 threads a total cache of 20 MB and a 125W TDP. The chip has a base frequency of 3.7 GHz and a boost frequency of 5.1 GHz. However, using Intel's Turbo Boost Max 3.0 technology, the chip can boost up to 5.2 GHz on a single-core and what's even better is the 4.9 GHz all-core boost. Some of the features of this particular chip, as detailed by Videocardz, include:

Up to 4.8 GHz All-Core TurboUp to 5.3 / 4.0 GHz Thermal Velocity Boost Singe / All-core TurboUp to 5.2 GHz Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0Up to 10C and 20TUp to DDR4-2933 MHz dual-channelEnhanced Core & Memory OverclockingActive Core Group Tuning

Here's the interesting part, the chip would also get Thermal Velocity Boost, similar to the current flagship parts. CPUs that support this algorithm, like the Core i9-10900K, would feature even faster boost frequencies of 5.3 GHz (single-core) and 4.9 GHz (all-core). However, as the name suggests, only top-tier cooling solutions would be able to allow full utilization of the Thermal Velocity Boost feature. So unless you rock a high-end AIO liquid cooler or a closed-loop setup, don't expect a sustained velocity boost but rather short bursts until the threshold is hit. It will be interesting to know the full extent of the features that this function has to offer and what kind of cooling would the Core i9-10900K requires in general.

Intel Core i7-10700K - 8 Cores, Up To 5.1 GHz Single-Core, 4.7 GHz All-Core

The Intel Core i7-10700K would be featuring 8 cores and 16 threads. The chip would house 16 MB of total cache and a TDP of 125W. The chip would feature a base clock of 3.8 GHz, a boost clock of 5.0 GHz (single-core) and 5.1 GHz (single-core) with Turbo Boost Max 3.0. The chip will be 100 MHz faster in single-core but slower across all-cores by 100 MHz than the Core i9-9900K which retails for over $500 US. Since this is an i7 part, expect pricing to fall around $350-$400 US.

Intel Core i5-10600K - 6 Cores, Up To 4.8 GHz Single-Core, 4.5 GHz All-Core

The Intel Core i7-10600K would be featuring 6 cores and 12 threads. The chip would house 12 MB of total cache and a TDP of 125W. The chip would feature a base clock of 4.1 GHz, a boost clock of 4.8 GHz (single-core) and 4.5 GHz (all-core). The chip would be faster than the 8th Gen flagship, the Core i7-8700K, featuring a higher base and boost clock across a single and all-cores. The Core i5 should be retailing in the $220-$270 US segment which is a decent price for a fast 6 core and multi-threaded chip.

Intel 10th Gen Comet Lake-S 65W Desktop CPU Family

The rest of the lineup is made up of the 65W SKUs which come in Core i9, Core i7, Core i5, and Core i3 flavors. Having a 65W Core i9-10900 with 10 cores and 20 threads, which still boosts up to 4.5GHz across all cores and 4.6 GHz if you include the Thermal Velocity boost is pretty good plus 5.2 GHz on a single-core doesn't sound that bad at all, considering this is a 65W chip (at its base frequency).

The Intel Core i3 lineup is also worth pointing out as it is made up of 3 SKUs which seem to be part of the initial launch family. The Core i3-10320 would be leading with 4 cores, 8 threads at 65W. 8MB of cache, clocks of up to 4.6 GHz in single and 4.4 GHz on all-cores sounds decent enough for what is supposed to be a budget chip retailing under $200 US. The full list of SKUs along with their specs can be seen in the table below.

Intel 10th Gen Core Comet Lake Desktop CPU Family: