In a move sure to please the value-seekers among us, Intel has released several new Coffee Lake Pentium Gold and Celeron models, but with little aplomb. Hat tip to Dr. Ian Cutress from our sister site AnandTech for the heads-up.
The new Pentium Gold models are replacing the outgoing Kaby Lake Pentium G4560, G4600, and G4620. Intel's Kaby Lake lineup marked the debut of Hyperthreading for the Pentium models as Intel shored up its defenses in preparation for the then-looming AMD Ryzen processors. We found the G4560 and G4620 to deliver exceptional performance for their price point in a range of games and applications, but the new Coffee Lake Pentiums come with higher clock speeds and the advantages of the new 300-series chipset, but at the same price.
| Intel Pentium Gold | Base Frequency (GHz) | Cores/Threads | TDP | Cache | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CFL Pentium Gold G5600 | 3.9 | 2/4 | 54W | 4MB | $86 |
| CFL Pentium Gold G5500 | 3.8 | 2/4 | 54W | 4MB | $75 |
| CFL Pentium Gold G5400 | 3.7 | 2/4 | 54W | 4MB | $64 |
| KBL Pentium Gold G4620 | 3.7 | 2/4 | 51W | 3MB | $86 |
| KBL Pentium Gold G4600 | 3.6 | 2/4 | 51W | 3MB | $75 |
| KBL Pentium Gold G4560 | 3.5 | 2/4 | 54W | 3MB | $64 |
| LP CFL Pentium Gold G5500T | 3.2 | 2/4 | 35W | 4MB | $75 |
| LP CFL Pentium Gold G5400T | 3.1 | 2/4 | 35W | 4MB | $64 |
The new Coffee Lake (CFL) Pentium models are fabbed on the 14nm++ process, which is a step forward from the 14nm process found on the Kaby Lake (KBL) models. The new dual-core models also feature Hyperthreading and two channels of DDR4-2400. The key differentiator between the two series, aside from the step forward to the Coffee Lake 14nm++ architecture, comes down to slight improvements in base clock frequencies and 1MB of extra L3 cache. As with all Pentium models, they don't feature TurboBoost. They also come with Intel's Gen9 graphics architecture.
Intel also introduced two T-Series "power-optimized lifestyle" Pentium models (listed as LP CFL) that come with lower TDP ranges. As such, those processors are designed for low power applications and feature reduced clock speeds and overall performance. As you can see, that reduced performance doesn't come with a reduced price tag.
| Intel Celeron | Base Frequency (GHz) | Cores/Threads | TDP | Cache | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CFL Celeron 4920 | 3.2 | 2/2 | 54W | 2MB | $52 |
| CFL Celeron 4900 | 3.1 | 2/2 | 54W | 2MB | $42 |
| LP CFL Celeron 4900T | 2.9 | 2/2 | 35W | 2MB | $42 |
Intel also introduced three new Celeron processors. These dual-core processors come without Hyperthreading and eschew the TurboBoost feature. They also support two channels of DDR4-2400 memory and take a step back to 2MB of L3 cache.
AMD's Ryzen processors never dipped down to the Pentium price range, although the new $99.99 Ryzen 3 2200G does come close to challenging the G4620. Of course, the Ryzen 3 2200G comes with four physical cores, unlocked multipliers, and the Vega graphics engine, making it the hands-down winner for gaming. We don't think the new Coffee Lake Pentium Gold G5600 will change the calculus, which might explain Intel's silent launch. Hopefully the Pentium G5600 isn't plagued by the poor availability we've found with the Kaby Lake Pentium G4620, but in either case, the much lower-cost G5500 looks like a better value and falls far below Ryzen's price range. We hope to have these processors in the lab soon. Stay tuned.
