Intel 10th Gen Comet Lake-H CPU Specs Leaked

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A leaked PowerPoint presentation shows Intel Comet Lake-H CPUs with 4-8 cores.

(Image credit: Dmitriy Rybin/Shutterstock)

We've been waiting for Intel to launch its 10th Generation Comet Lake-H processors for mobile devices. This week, HD Tecnología, a hardware news outlet in Argentina, published PowerPoint slides that claim to reveal specifications for the looming chips.

The Intel Core i9-10980HK will be the crown jewel of the Comet Lake-H lineup. The leaked slides compare the chip to an enthusiast-level PC from three years ago, claiming that the Comet Lake-H chip delivers up to 54% higher frame rates in games and 44% better overall performance.  The slides also tout up to double the performance in rendering and exporting 4K resolution video.

According to the leaked information, Intel might just end up releasing up to six different Comet Lake-H processors, spanning from four cores up to eight cores. AMD has a more generous offering, as the AMD Ryzen 4000 H-series (codename Renoir) lineup starts at six cores.

Intel 10th Generation Comet Lake-H Specifications*

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Processor NumberBase Clock Speed (GHz)Maximum Single Core Turbo Frequency (GHz)Cores / ThreadsThermal Design PowerIntel Thermal Velocity BoostUnlockedIntel Smart CacheMemory SupportIntel Optane Memory Support
Intel Core i9-10980HK2.45.38 / 1645xz16 MBTwo channels DDR4-2933x
Intel Core i7-10875H2.35.18 / 1645xRow 1 - Cell 6 16 MBTwo channels DDR4-2933x
Intel Core i7-10850H2.75.16 / 1245xPartial12 MBTwo channels DDR4-2933x
Intel Core i7-10750H2.65.06 / 1245xRow 3 - Cell 6 12 MBTwo channels DDR4-2933x
Intel Core i5-10400H2.64.64 / 845Row 4 - Cell 5 Row 4 - Cell 6 8 MBTwo channels DDR4-2933x
Intel Core i5-10300H2.54.54 / 845Row 5 - Cell 5 Row 5 - Cell 6 8 MBTwo channels DDR4-2933x

*Specifications in the table are unconfirmed.

Comet Lake-H is practically another derivation of Skylake and is still trapped on Intel's 14nm process node. While Comet Lake-H will retain the core and cache counts as their Coffee Lake-H predecessors, the new chips flaunt higher operating clock speeds. The Core i9, i7 and i5 chips will reportedly boost up to 5.3 GHz, 5.1 GHz and 4.5 GHz, respectively.

According to the slide, the Core i9 and Core i7 models will also be the only ones that take advantage of Intel's Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) feature. The i7-10875H also looks like it'll be the only Core i7 Comet-Lake H part to arrive with eight cores and 16 threads, while the i7-10850H and i7-10750H are limited to six cores and 12 threads. If the slides are correct, it won't be a given that a Core i7 Comet Lake-H CPU will have eight cores, so buyers will have to be pay extra attention to specifications before purchasing.

Intel 10th Generation Comet Lake-H vs. AMD Ryzen 4000-Series

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Processor NumberBase Clock Speed (GHz)Maximum Single Core Turbo Frequency (GHz)Cores / ThreadsThermal Design PowerL3 CacheMemory Support
Intel Core i9-10980HK2.45.38 / 164516 MBDual DDR4-2933
AMD Ryzen 7 4900H3.34.48 / 1645 8 MBDual DDR4-3200
Intel Core i7-10875H2.35.18 / 164516 MBDual DDR4-2933
AMD Ryzen 7 4800H2.94.28 / 16458 MBDual DDR4-3200
Intel Core i7-10850H2.75.16 / 124512 MBDual DDR4-2933
Intel Core i7-10750H2.65.06 / 124512 MBDual DDR4-2933
AMD Ryzen 5 4600H3.04.06 / 12458 MBDual DDR4-3200
Intel Core i5-10400H2.64.64 / 8458 MBDual DDR4-2933
Intel Core i5-10300H2.54.54 / 8458 MBDual DDR4-2933

Among the new listed features, Comet Lake-H seemingly brings native support for dual-channel DDR4-2933 RAM, which is a notable improvement over Coffee Lake-H's DDR4-2666. 

Apparently, Intel will introduce the a new feature called Speed Optimizer that overclocks the processor with a single click. The description sounds similar to the Intel Performance Maximizer (IPM) tool. In any case, Speed Optimizer will only work on unlocked chips, like the i9-10980HK. It's uncertain if the software would work with the i7-10850H, since the chip will reportedly be only partially unlocked. 

Lastly, the slides claim Comet Lake-H will feature integrated Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 support to provide a high-speed wireless performance with low latency.

Comet Lake-H is rumored to launch on April 2. Whenever they come out, it'll be exciting to see how the 14nm chips compare to AMD's 7nm army.

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Zhiye Liu
Zhiye Liu
News Editor and Memory Reviewer

Zhiye Liu is a news editor and memory reviewer at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • chaz_music
    I could not find any information if Intel is finally adding ECC RAM functionality to these HEDT processors. There is no reason to have CPUs in that high of a price range without native ECC support. Memory is the only main CPU subsystem that Intel desktops do not have some kind of error correction built in. And don't say price: the cost is parity (:p). But really: the cost is truly negligible. With the new memory interfaces being developed, it could be just part of the memory standard.

    For example of the other subsystems with protection: error correction is built in to your SSD and on some models there are two layers of protection (ECC and RAID). Some more examples are: the HDD platter reading system, the SATA protocol, even the PCIe bus has error correction. The design costs for these are just part of the basic CPU platform.

    There will be many who are gamers or overclockers who won't care, but for most people, having a reliable computer is necessary. I prefer not having my computer get corrupted anymore because of high sunspot activity or from other gamma ray sources. There is a Google study that shows a direct correlation.

    The current AMD Pro CPUs support ECC, and many AMD desktop CPUs from the past 15 years supported it. Intel needs to get away from the ECC price market model from the 1990's and come into the 21st century. Come on, Intel and stop being heavy handed with your customers. I used to be a big Intel fan, but I have not purchased an Intel CPU in nearly 8 years because of practices just like this, and have steered my family away from buying Intel products.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    chaz_music said:
    I could not find any information if Intel is finally adding ECC RAM functionality to these HEDT processors.
    Intel always used this as market segmentation between the high-end gaming and professional markets. If you want ECC, you'll have to go Xeon. Complain all you want. I'll still up-vote you, but Intel doesn't care.

    Or, switch to AMD and use one of their non-APU systems + a motherboard with ECC support. If enough HEDT users did that, Intel could start to change their tune.

    chaz_music said:
    For example of the other subsystems with protection: error correction is built in to your SSD and on some models there are two layers of protection (ECC and RAID).
    Intel still reserves a full implementation of this for their enterprise-oriented SSDs:

    https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/search/featurefilter.html?productType=35125&0_EndToEndDataProtection=True
    BTW, at the low-end, most of Intel's i3's support ECC. I'm using one in a home server.
    Reply
  • nofanneeded
    chaz_music said:
    I could not find any information if Intel is finally adding ECC RAM functionality to these HEDT processors. There is no reason to have CPUs in that high of a price range without native ECC support. Memory is the only main CPU subsystem that Intel desktops do not have some kind of error correction built in. And don't say price: the cost is parity :)p). But really: the cost is truly negligible. With the new memory interfaces being developed, it could be just part of the memory standard.

    For example of the other subsystems with protection: error correction is built in to your SSD and on some models there are two layers of protection (ECC and RAID). Some more examples are: the HDD platter reading system, the SATA protocol, even the PCIe bus has error correction. The design costs for these are just part of the basic CPU platform.

    There will be many who are gamers or overclockers who won't care, but for most people, having a reliable computer is necessary. I prefer not having my computer get corrupted anymore because of high sunspot activity or from other gamma ray sources. There is a Google study that shows a direct correlation.

    The current AMD Pro CPUs support ECC, and many AMD desktop CPUs from the past 15 years supported it. Intel needs to get away from the ECC price market model from the 1990's and come into the 21st century. Come on, Intel and stop being heavy handed with your customers. I used to be a big Intel fan, but I have not purchased an Intel CPU in nearly 8 years because of practices just like this, and have steered my family away from buying Intel products.


    True AMD supports ECC non registered RAM but the problem is : non registered ECC ram is hard to find at higher capacities , if found at all in any non server grade Motherboard even for AMD .. they dont even test ECC RAM for their motherboards not in their QVL list at all.
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    chaz_music said:
    I could not find any information if Intel is finally adding ECC RAM functionality to these HEDT processors. There is no reason to have CPUs in that high of a price range without native ECC support. Memory is the only main CPU subsystem that Intel desktops do not have some kind of error correction built in. And don't say price: the cost is parity :)p). But really: the cost is truly negligible. With the new memory interfaces being developed, it could be just part of the memory standard.

    For example of the other subsystems with protection: error correction is built in to your SSD and on some models there are two layers of protection (ECC and RAID). Some more examples are: the HDD platter reading system, the SATA protocol, even the PCIe bus has error correction. The design costs for these are just part of the basic CPU platform.

    There will be many who are gamers or overclockers who won't care, but for most people, having a reliable computer is necessary. I prefer not having my computer get corrupted anymore because of high sunspot activity or from other gamma ray sources. There is a Google study that shows a direct correlation.

    The current AMD Pro CPUs support ECC, and many AMD desktop CPUs from the past 15 years supported it. Intel needs to get away from the ECC price market model from the 1990's and come into the 21st century. Come on, Intel and stop being heavy handed with your customers. I used to be a big Intel fan, but I have not purchased an Intel CPU in nearly 8 years because of practices just like this, and have steered my family away from buying Intel products.

    This is not a HEDT CPU. This is a mobile CPU. No need for ECC for a CPU that is being marketed towards high end gaming laptops.
    Reply
  • chaz_music
    jimmysmitty said:
    This is not a HEDT CPU. This is a mobile CPU. No need for ECC for a CPU that is being marketed towards high end gaming laptops.

    I would have agree with you 10 years ago, and even now, I agree for gamers. For those people who just want speed and overclocking, turn off the ECC in the bios. It will save you one RAM clock tic per random access, but no savings with sequential reads.

    My main question to you is this: Why would you accept that a mobile computer is ok to have memory errors? The idea of only using ECC memory in servers only is a 1990's concept. This is 2020. Quit following 1990s marketing dogma. And I admit, I've followed dogma before also. It is what marketing psychology is all about, to get us to spend money.

    I contend that even a laptop should have ECC, just as it * ALREADY* has error correction in the HDD/SSDs, USB, and and the PCI subsystems. Even the old ethernet and WiFi systems have error correction. If this is was a big cost adder for the PCI/HDD/SSD, they would have segmented those markets also. But it isn't, so they included it as necessary logic wanted by the consumers.

    And note: Even some embedded CPUs have ECC or other memory protection schemes now like CRC checking. One area is in automotive. As the voltage for memory ICs goes down, this is going to become acute.

    As a hard-core technologist and entrepreneur, I always question why we should accept mediocre quality. This was what made Steve Jobs so awesome as a designer AND a hell of a marketing guy. One of his best quotes is "It is not the customer's responsibility to know what they want". As that, you think that you don't want ECC (you've been taught that it costs too much) but Steve Jobs would be saying that you don't want your PC to crash.

    I studied IC design in college, and to me, this truly is a no-brainer. The logic real estate needed to implement ECC is amazingly simple. Shoot, the XOR logic used in SSDs is more complex!

    It does not make sense to me why people allow themselves to get locked into thinking it is ok to pay for something that has been clearly used as a marketing tool for raking in profits. As Bit_user said above, he would expect to buy a Xeon. We are trained by marketing dogma to follow market traditions.

    The CPU vendors want you to continue drinking that koolaid so they can continue to upcharge for what should be basic feature now. Think of your car. Does your car manufacture charge extra for air bags. No. It is built-in now. But ... 20 years ago it was an upcharge.

    My $0.02 worth.
    Reply
  • chaz_music
    BTW, at the low-end, most of Intel's i3's support ECC. I'm using one in a home server.
    Yep, a friend has an i3 with ECC in his FreeNAS system. Note that FreeNAS has ZFS file system for error correction at the filesystem level. I had to do that. Just to stay on topic.

    :)
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    chaz_music said:
    I would have agree with you 10 years ago, and even now, I agree for gamers. For those people who just want speed and overclocking, turn off the ECC in the bios. It will save you one RAM clock tic per random access, but no savings with sequential reads.

    My main question to you is this: Why would you accept that a mobile computer is ok to have memory errors? The idea of only using ECC memory in servers only is a 1990's concept. This is 2020. Quit following 1990s marketing dogma. And I admit, I've followed dogma before also. It is what marketing psychology is all about, to get us to spend money.

    I contend that even a laptop should have ECC, just as it ALREADY has error correction in the HDD/SSDs, USB, and and the PCI subsystems. Even the old ethernet and WiFi systems have error correction. If this is was a big cost adder for the PCI/HDD/SSD, they would have segmented those markets also. But it isn't, so they included it as necessary logic wanted by the consumers.

    And note: Even some embedded CPUs have ECC or other memory protection schemes now like CRC checking. One area is in automotive. As the voltage for memory ICs goes down, this is going to become acute.

    As a hard-core technologist and entrepreneur, I always question why we should accept mediocre quality. This was what made Steve Jobs so awesome as a designer AND a hell of a marketing guy. One of his best quotes is "It is not the customer's responsibility to know what they want". As that, you think that you don't want ECC (you've been taught that it costs too much) but Steve Jobs would be saying that you don't want your PC to crash.

    I studied IC design in college, and to me, this truly is a no-brainer. The logic real estate needed to implement ECC is amazingly simple. Shoot, the XOR logic used in SSDs is more complex!

    It does not make sense to me why people allow themselves to get locked into thinking it is ok to pay for something that has been clearly used as a marketing tool for raking in profits. As Bit_user said above, he would expect to buy a Xeon. We are trained by marketing dogma to follow market traditions.

    The CPU vendors want you to continue drinking that koolaid so they can continue to upcharge for what should be basic feature now. Think of your car. Does your car manufacture charge extra for air bags. No. It is built-in now. But ... 20 years ago it was an upcharge.

    My $0.02 worth.

    Because the errors are inconsequential to normal use. Having built and used PCs for more than half my life I can say that the odds that using non ECC memory would actually cause full on corruption of all of your data is slim to none.

    While it may be simple, you also have added cost to the RAM, CPU and motherboard which always gets passed on to the end user.

    PS. Steve Jobs was more marketing than design but he was OK with using cheaper labor to produce these non mediocre designs.
    Reply
  • chaz_music
    jimmysmitty said:
    Because the errors are inconsequential to normal use. Having built and used PCs for more than half my life I can say that the odds that using non ECC memory would actually cause full on corruption of all of your data is slim to none.

    Having worked in aerospace for several years, I would tell you that DRAM errors are quite frequent. And it does not have to "kill" your system to have an effect. Unless you have had laptops with 2 foot thick aluminum, you have had soft errors in your hand built PCs. I am guessing that you have had BSOD screens that you could not find a fault? Ever had a Windows file that showed up corrupt? How did that happen?

    Turns out this is already fixed. ECC is builtin to DDR5 at the die level.

    Tom's Hardware DDR5 Article 2020.0403
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    chaz_music said:
    Having worked in aerospace for several years, I would tell you that DRAM errors are quite frequent. And it does not have to "kill" your system to have an effect. Unless you have had laptops with 2 foot thick aluminum, you have had soft errors in your hand built PCs. I am guessing that you have had BSOD screens that you could not find a fault? Ever had a Windows file that showed up corrupt? How did that happen?

    Turns out this is already fixed. ECC is builtin to DDR5 at the die level.

    Tom's Hardware DDR5 Article 2020.0403

    On my personal machines? Never. But I have been lucky and I tend to do clean installs of Windows every 1-2 years to keep it clean.

    As I said the chances are very slim. Where you worked is vastly different to a normal user. A normal user isn't going to be pushing tons of data a day through a system. There is no need to add cost to a normal user.

    Does a normal user need a feature like vPro which allows for remote support? Not really.

    Its great if they decide to add it in as part of the basic spec but its just not something that is neccessary for the vast majority of consumer end users.
    Reply