By now, it’s no secret that Intel is planning to launch another generation of desktop CPUs based on the 14nm Skylake core. Codenamed Comet Lake, this will be the fifth rehash of the 14nm+ node with a rumored sixth one in the pipeline in the form of Rocket Lake. The mobile series Comet Lake U and Y chips are already out to make up for the short supply of the 10nm based Ice Lake parts. We expect the mainstream desktop lineup to be called the Comet Lake-S series, but as per rumors, there might be another V series in addition to the H, U, Y, T, and S lineups.
A little refresher on Intel’s naming:
Comet Lake-U: These are the laptop CPUs used in ultrabooks and lowpower devices.
Comet Lake-Y: These are even more power-efficient with a TDP of just around 15W. These are used in convertibles and tablet PCs.
Comet Lake-H: These are for gaming laptops, with a higher TDP of around 45-50W. They boost to 4GHz+ almost the same as the desktop variants.
Comet Lake-S: These are the mainstream desktop CPUs. With TDPs as high as 180W for the higher-end i9s, they have boost clocks of 5GHz+, quite impressive for a ten-core consumer part.
Comet Lake-T: The T series has existed over the last few years or so though we’re not sure whether it’ll continue with Comet Lake. These are the low-power desktop variants with half the TDPs at the cost of scaled-down clock speeds.
Comet Lake-V: This is the newest addition to Intel’s desktop processor lineup. We’re not sure how they’ll be different from the s series but looking at the leak, it seems like they will have a lower clock or perhaps a locked multiplier?
This is a 3DMark leak, showing three Comet lake CPUs. One of the i5 while the other two have to be the top-end i9 parts on account of the 10 core/20 thread configuration. One of them is the Comet Lake-S while the other is a Comet Lake-V variant. The only apparent difference seems to be with respect to the boost clock. I reckon that the latter will either have a slightly lower clock or a locked multiplier, putting it just below the Core i9-10900K in the price table. We’ll keep you posted as we hear more.
