Intel’s 10th Gen desktop CPUs might just launch in March itself, alongside AMD’s Ryzen 4000 Renoir mobile processors. Two leaks pertaining to the Comet Lake-S CPUs have surfaced. Firstly, a Dell video introducing the next line of XPS desktops includes mention of the 10th Gen Intel Core lineup and secondly, pictures of the top-end Core i7-10700K and the i9-10900K have been also shared on Chinese Weibo forum.
As you can see, the Dell XPS 2020 series will be powered by the 10th Gen Intel Comet Lake-S processors. It’s not certain when the new chips will hit the market, but it can’t be far now. My best bet would be late March or April. Interestingly, the video shows the LGA115x socket being utilized by the new processors, despite repeated confirmations that the 10th Gen lineup will leverage the new LGA1200 socket.
Next, up. The Core i7-10700K and the i9-10900K have also surfaced on the Weibo forums. Have a look:
These don’t look like any existing Intel processors. The pin layout seems to support the LGA1200 socket. You can see the Core i9-9900K below. The pins are clearly arranged differently. The capacitor blocks are also different. Comet Lake has two separate clusters while Coffee Lake has a single, less dense setup.
While the lower-end 10th Gen Core i3, i5 and i7 CPUs are mostly unchanged (other than increased boost clocks and hyperthreading support), the Core i9 parts get a makeover. With as many as 10 cores and 20 threads, these will be Intel’s first consumer processors to sport more than 8 physical cores (all thanks to Ryzen).
4.9GHz across all 10 cores is just crazy. However, it’ll be important to see how much power these chips will draw and what kind of cooling solutions will be needed for optimal performance. Cheers!
