Intel’s 10th Gen Comet Lake-S Core i7-10700, Core i5-10600K, Core i5-10500 & Core i5-10400 Desktop CPUs Benchmarks Leaked

Intel's 10th Generation Comet Lake-S Desktop CPUs are expected to be announced by the end of this month but we are getting an early performance preview of four Core i7 & Core i5 models that will be tackling AMD's mainstream Ryzen 3000 performance lineup. The latest benchmarks which are the most detailed ones we have seen so far come from Chinese tech site Sohu (via HKEPC and Videocardz).

The leaked 10th Gen Intel Comet Lake-S include three 65W and a single 125W unlocked SKU. We have already talked much about the specifications and core configurations of these chips in other articles but just to quickly round them up again, the details are below.

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's 65W Core i7-10700 8 Core, Core i5-10500 6 Core, Core i5-10400 6 Core CPUs

Starting with the Intel Core i7-10700, we will be looking at 8 cores and 16 threads clocked at a base frequency of 2.9 GHz and a boost frequency of 4.7 GHz along with 16 MB cache at 65W (PL1). Then we have the Core i5-10500 which would feature 6 cores and 12 threads with clock speeds of 3.1GHz base and 4.5 GHz boost along with 12 MB cache at 65W (PL1). Lastly, we have the Core i5-10400 which would also feature 6 cores and 12 threads with a base frequency of 2.9 GHz and a boost of 4.3 GHz along with 12 MB cache and 65W TDP. The following are the full specifications of the entire lineup.

Before we get to the benchmarks, there are some interesting things to talk about these CPUs such as their heat spreaders and PCB. While these are all engineering samples, they are pretty close to the final retail models considering they feature the same specifications. The Core i7-10700 and the Core i5-10400 come with the same heat spreader design as the 9th Gen Coffee Lake Refresh 'K/KF' series while the Core i5-10500 and the Core i5-10600K feature the same heat spreader design as the older 8th Gen Coffee Lake parts. The slot cutouts have also been moved upwards which acts as a design change for the new LGA 1200 socket as detailed by us here.

It looks like the Core i5-10-10600K and the Core i5-10500 are more of early engineering samples with thinner PCBs and are based more on the 8th Generation Coffee Lake chips than the recent 9th Gen ones. This is evident from the fact that the QS models, the Core i7-10700 and the Core i5-10400 come with a better heat spreader seen on the previous 9th Gen lineup and have a thicker PCB. The capacitors on the back of the CPUs are also different on the QS & ES variants with the QS variants having a dual-sided design while the ES models look similar but not the same as the 9th & 8th gen chips.

As far as the test platform goes, the four CPUs were tested on an OEM B460 motherboard from DELL which comes with a 4+1 phase VRM design. This is not the best-case scenario for testing an unlocked CPU but the 65W CPUs sound ideal for this specific motherboard. The B460 OEM board only allows for 2666 MHz memory and hence 16 GB (dual channel) sticks were used, a 1000W PSU and an RX 5700 XT reference model was included in the test setup too.

The Benchmarks - Intel's 10th Gen Comet Lake vs 9th Gen, 8th Gen & AMD Ryzen 3000 CPUs

Finally coming to the benchmarks, first up we have Cinebench R15 and here, we can see that the Core i7-10700 competes against the Ryzen 7 3700X with a similar single-core score and a multi-core score of 1974 points. The only thing is that this 65W chip features a locked multiplier whereas the Ryzen 7 3700X has an unlocked design at 65W base TDP. This would mean that while the Core i7-10700K would end up being almost as fast if not faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X, it will do so while having a much higher base TDP of 125W.

The Core i5-10600K despite having the same cores and threads as the AMD Ryzen 5 3600X and the Core i5-10600K is still slower than them. This is largely due to its lower frequency compared to the Core i7-8700K and the outdated architecture compared to AMD's Ryzen 5 3600X. However, the CPU does end up a good bit ahead of the previous generation Core i5-9600K which is due to support for hyper-threading and the same is true for the Core i5-10400 and the Core i5-10500 6 core CPUs. The same results can be seen in Cinebench R20 for the Core i5 CPUs but here, the Core i7-10700 ends up being faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X in multi-threaded performance while being slightly slower in the single-core test. The Core i9-9900K leads the chart but a 65W chip coming close to the 95W model with lower clock speeds is quite a sight.

In CPU-z, the Core i7-10700 leads the chart in both single and multi-core tests against the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X while the Core i9-9900K falls short in the multi-core test but comes slightly ahead in the single-core test. One more thing in these benchmarks is that the ES Core i5 models have lower performance than the QS variants which indicate somewhat poor boost clocks in early samples but that would be fixed in the retail samples so expect performance to be slightly higher for the ES chips, the Core i5-10600K and the Core i5-10500, then what we are seeing here. In 3DMark Time Spy and Firestrike, the Ryzen 7 3700X is outpaced by the Core i7-10700.

10th Gen IPC Performance Tests

Who doesn't love some IPC performance tests? The 10th Gen Comet Lake-S Core i7-10700 was compared to the Ryzen 9 3900X, the Core i9-9900K and the Core i7-8700K with 4 cores, 4 threads and 4 GHz clock speeds for this benchmark. You can already tell who would win the IPC tests. Its AMD with its enhanced 7nm Zen 2 core architecture, delivering much better performance than the Intel parts while consuming less power. The Core i7-10700, on the other hand, does manage to deliver better multi-core performance than its 9th & 8th Gen predecessors but the single-core perf is almost similar.

Thermals and Power Consumption Tests

In terms of power consumption, we already know that the AMD Ryzen 3000 series would deliver a major win due to higher efficiency and lower power consumption from the 7nm process node. Just for comparison, the 65W Core i7-10700 consumes 176W at full load while the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (65W) consumes 91W. The Core i5-10600K consumes 115W while the AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 95W CPU consumes 84W of power.

In thermals, Intel manages to lead the charts with the Core i7-10700 hitting 84C while the Ryzen 7 3700X hits 90C. The Ryzen 5 3600X hits 92C while the Core i5-10600K only hits 66C at full load.

With all of these benchmarks and the ones that leaked previously, we can conclude that conclude some pros for Intel's and AMD's current generation lineup which are listed below:

Intel's 10th Gen Core Desktop CPU Pros:

AMD's 3rd Gen Ryzen Desktop CPU Pros:

Intel is definitely taking its time to release the 10th Gen Comet Lake-S desktop CPU family but things could get a little too hard for Intel as not only 3rd Gen Ryzen CPUs are getting insane deals over at major retail outlets but AMD reaffirmed that Zen 3 based Ryzen 4000 desktop processors would be arriving by the end of 2020. This gives Intel just two-quarters worth of head-room before AMD comes in full guns blazing with its brand new architecture based CPU family & while Intel has a new architecture planned out, it won't see the light of day till mid or even late 2021.