Intel brought its 10th Generation Comet Lake-S processors to the mainstream desktop market in April. Nevertheless, the chipmaker is also working behind the scenes to produce custom-tailored chips for its bigger clients. The Intel Core i9-10910 seems to be one of those processors.
The Core i9-10910, (spotted via @_rogame), has surfaced on Geekbench inside an unreleased Apple iMac device, meaning it could be a SKU that will be exclusive to Apple. Being a member of the Core i9 family, the CPU comes with the same base specifications as the other variants. In this case, the processor sports 10 CPU cores, 20 threads and 20MB of L3 cache. Ultimately, the listed clock speeds are what differentiates the Core i9-10910 from its siblings.
According to the Geekbench submission, the Core i9-10910 runs with a 3.6 GHz base clock and 4.7 GHz boost clock. The clock speeds suggest that the Core i9-10910 is fundamentally a higher clocked Core i9-10900. Doing the math, the Core i9-10910 reportedly boasts a 28.6% higher base clock than the Core i9-10900.
Intel Core i9 Comet Lake-S Specifications
| Processor | Cores / Threads | Base / Boost Clocks (GHz) | L3 Cache (MB) | TDP (W) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core i9-10900K | 10 / 20 | 3.7 / 5.3 | 20 | 125 |
| Core i9-10910* | 10 / 20 | 3.6 / 4.7 | 20 | 95 |
| Core i9-10900 | 10 / 20 | 2.8 / 5.2 | 20 | 65 |
| Core i9-10900T | 10 / 20 | 1.9 / 4.6 | 20 | 35 |
*specifications are not confirmed.
Sadly, Geekbench doesn't report the TDP (thermal design power) value for the processors that run the benchmark. However, a little bit of guess work helps us speculate on the Core i9-10910's position in the Core i9 hierarchy.
Given the shared specifications, the Core i9-10910 should slot right in between the Core i9-10900K and Core i9-10910. The first is a 125W part, while the latter is a 65W chip. This means that the Core i9-10910 is likely a 95W processor.
The Core i9 flagships of the previous generations of Intel processors were locked at 95W. As you would recall, Comet Lake-S ushered in Intel's first 10-core mainstream processor, which pushed the TDP limit up to 125W. Currently, Intel doesn't have a true Core i9 95W processor in its Comet Lake-S portfolio and that would explains why the chipmaker could have cooked up a special part for Apple.
Although the Core i9-10900K is rated for 125W, it looks like it can operate within a lower thermal envelope. Apple could limit the 10-processor to 95W, which then throttles the base clock from 3.7 GHz down to 3.3 GHz.
Why exactly would Apple would put in a custom order? It's hard to say for sure. Cost could be a factor. The Core i9-10910 is probably using recycled silicon that doesn't meet the requirements for the Core i9-10900K. That wouold make the unannounced CPU cheaper to produce.
It would also be more profitable for Apple to use a Core i9-10910 instead of a downclocked Core i9-10900K in its upcoming iMac. Furthermore, slapping a locked processor into the iMac would prevent users from overclocking.
AMD Radeon Pro 5300
Interestingly, an unannounced AMD Radeon Pro 5300 graphics card also showed up in the leaked iMac benchmark.
The graphics card appears to be the desktop variant of the Radeon Pro 5300M that AMD announced last year. Therefore, the Radeon Pro 5300 should be based on the Navi 14 silicon and bring 1,280 Stream Processors (SPs).
Geekbench reported a maximum clock speed of 1,650 MHz for the Radeon Pro 5300 and 4GB of onboard memory. It didn't specificy memory, but the Radeon Pro 5300M debuted with 12 Gbps GDDR6 memory so the Radeon Pro 5300 should come with the same.
