Intel finally announced the 10th Generation Comet Lake-H processors for mobile devices today. Notebookcheck has the scoop on what you can expect from the new 14nm processors in terms of performance.
These new chips rock the Comet Lake-H microarchitecture, which is on Intel's 14nm process node. AMD Ryzen 4000-series (codename Renoir), on the other hand, is based off AMD's Zen 2 microarchitecture and the 7nm process node from TSMC. From a technological standpoint, AMD's offerings are more modern.
Being H-series parts, Comet Lake-H and Renoir processors are mobile-friendly with TDP (thermal design power) ratings of 45W. In AMD's case, the chipmaker has a special HS-series branch that's optimized for 35W. Both chipmakers have processors that max out at eight cores and 16 threads. However, the Comet Lake-H portfolio starts at four cores, while the Ryzen 4000 lineup starts at six cores.
| Processor | Cores / Threads | Base Clock (GHz) | Boost Clock (GHz) | L3 Cache (MB) | Memory Support | TDP (W) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Core i9-10980HK | 8 / 16 | 2.4 | 5.3 | 16 | Dual DDR4-2933 | 45 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 4900H | 8 / 16 | 3.3 | 4.4 | 8 | Dual DDR4-3200 | 45 |
| Intel Core i7-10875H | 8 / 16 | 2.3 | 5.1 | 16 | Dual DDR4-2933 | 45 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 4800H | 8 / 16 | 2.9 | 4.2 | 8 | Dual DDR4-3200 | 45 |
| Intel Core i7-10850H | 6 / 12 | 2.7 | 5.1 | 12 | Dual DDR4-2933 | 45 |
| Intel Core i7-10750H | 6 / 12 | 2.6 | 5.0 | 12 | Dual DDR4-2933 | 45 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 4600H | 6 / 12 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 8 | Dual DDR4-3200 | 45 |
| Intel Core i5-10400H | 4 / 8 | 2.6 | 4.6 | 8 | Dual DDR4-2933 | 45 |
| Intel Core i5-10300H | 4 / 8 | 2.5 | 4.5 | 8 | Dual DDR4-2933 | 45 |
Intel 10th Gen Comet Lake-H Benchmarks
Notebookcheck compared the i9-10880H, i7-10750H and i5-10300H SKUs against the Ryzen 9 4900HS, (which we also tested in our Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 review ) and Ryzen 7 4800H. The site also pulled in the new chips' Coffee Lake-H counterparts, the i9-9880H, i7-9750H and i5-9300H. The Comet Lake-H laptops used for testing used dual-channel DDR4-2666 RAM.
The publication noted that the i9-10880H and i7-10750H results are from two different laptops. Consequently, the results will vary according to the laptop's design and cooling solution. Notebookcheck averaged the Ryzen 4000-series and Coffee Lake-H results scores across a different number of devices.
| Processor | Cinebench R20 (Single Core) | Cinebench R15 (Single Core) |
|---|---|---|
| Intel Core i9-10880H | 508 | 214 |
| Intel Core i7-10750H | 504 | 213 |
| Intel Core i9-10880H | 500 | 212 |
| Intel Core i7-10750H | 500 | 210 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS | 495 | 193 |
| Intel Core i9-9980HK | 472 | 198 |
| Intel Core i5-10300H | 470 | 194 |
| Intel Core i9-9880H | 457 | 190 |
| Intel Core i7-9750H | 440 | 183 |
| Intel Core i5-9300H | 415 | 173 |
Based on Notebookcheck's results, Intel is still the king of single-core performance, but AMD isn't too far behind. The Cinebench R15 results show the i9-10880H as being up to 10.9% faster than the Ryzen 9 4900HS. On the more recent Cinebench R20 benchmark, the i9-10880H's lead dropped to just 3%.
Generation-over-generation improvements will depend on which Comet Lake-H and Coffee Lake-H models you compare. For comparison, the i9-10880H delivers up to 7.6% and 11.2% more performance in Cinebench R20 than the Core i9-9980HK and Core i9-9880H, respectively, according to the benchmarks shared today.
| Processor | Cinebench R20 (Multi Core) | Cinebench R15 (Multi Core) | 3DMark Time Spy (CPU Score) | 3DMark Fire Strike (Physics) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Ryzen 9 4900HS | 4,288 | 1,863 | 8,966 | 21,873 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 4800H | 4,192 | 1,837 | 8,360 | 21,660 |
| Intel Core i9-9980HK | 3,544 | 1,637 | 8,519 | 19,640 |
| Intel Core i9-10880H | 3,380 | 1,797 | 9,015 | 21,658 |
| Intel Core i9-10880H | 3,366 | 1,785 | 8,680 | 21,113 |
| Intel Core i9-9880H | 3,277 | 1,503 | 7,206 | 17,743 |
| Intel Core i7-10750H | 2,968 | 1,418 | 7,419 | 18,769 |
| Intel Core i7-10750H | 2,943 | 1,404 | 5,474 | 17,703 |
| Intel Core i7-9750H | 2,556 | 1,178 | 6,366 | 16,305 |
| Intel Core i5-10300H | 2,154 | 921 | 5,043 | 12,998 |
| Intel Core i5-9300H | 1,727 | 784 | 4,074 | 11,376 |
The tides turned in AMD's favor when it came multi-core performance. The Ryzen 7 4800H outperformed the i9-10880H by 24% and 2.2% in Cinebench R20 and Cinebench R15, respectively, in Notebookcheck's testing.
Although the i9-10880H's results look bad compared to the Ryzen 7 4800H, the Comet Lake-H showed improved multi-core performance over the prior i9-9980H. According to Noteboocheck's results, the i9-10880H is up to 3.1% faster than the i9-9980H in Cinebench R20 and up to 19.6% quicker in Cinebench R15.
With Zen 2, AMD has almost caught up to Intel in regard to single-core performance. If Intel doesn't move to a new microarchitecture and process node soon, we suspect that AMD will pass Intel when it graduates to Zen 3, 7nm+ chips. Notebookcheck's numbers showed Comet Lake-H failing to compete with Renoir in the multi-core performance race and barely clinging to the single-core ribbon.
