Core i5-10600 Pops Up In 3DMark: Small Clock Bump and Hyper-Threading

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Tweeter Momomo_US has posted a screenshot of a 3DMark listing showing an Intel Core i5-10600 CPU in use, which tells us a few things about the specifications we can expect. Do note, of course, the information here is still likely from pre-production silicon, meaning the specifications could change before launch, so take it with a pinch of salt.

The chip wasn’t properly recognized by 3DMark, though that’s no surprise given that it isn’t out yet. What was visible is that it will have six CPU cores and 12 threads, meaning that the Core i5 is getting Hyper-Threading. Of course, give that it’s going to be a refreshed chip on an older, almost antiquated architecture, adding Hyper-Threading is the least we can expect at this point given the strong competition in the segment from AMD.

(Image credit: Momomo_US)

(Image credit: APISAK)

The base clock is listed as 3300 MHz, with a boost clock of 3314 MHz. Of course, that can’t be right, and the tweet was also followed up by user APISAK showing a screenshot with a turbo clock of 4689 MHz – a much more believable figure.

All things considered, though, these aren’t tremendous jumps from the last-gen product. Comparing it with the Intel Core i5-9600, it’s a 200 MHz jump in base frequency and a 100 MHz jump under boost, along with the addition of Hyper-Threading. The latter will probably make the biggest difference, though even then, this chip will in all likeliness merely be a mild bump so that Intel can say it has a new 10th-Gen Core i5, rather than a whole new product.

Only time will tell though, so before we judge too hard in anticipation, it's best to wait and see what’s really coming.

Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

  • PrinceTexasLoaf
    lol how many i5 processers will there be
    Reply
  • cryoburner
    All things considered, though, these aren’t tremendous jumps from the last-gen product.
    Sure they are. SMT should make these a lot more competitive with Ryzen compared to the current i5's that lack it. With the next-generation consoles apparently having 8-core, 16-thread Zen 2 processors with a substantial increase in clock rates and IPC compared to existing consoles, a six-core processor without SMT like the current i5s might end up struggling to maintain stable performance in many of the AAA titles getting released in the coming years. Already, they're showing framerate instability in some heavily-threaded titles, so I wouldn't consider anything less than a 6-core, 12-thread or 8-core processor for an upper-mid-range gaming build at this point, considering Ryzen is already offering that for under $200.

    At least if the 4.7GHz single-core boost clock turns out to be accurate, then this is pretty much an i7-8700 at an i5-price point, or probably close to a $100 price drop over what that processor has been selling for. Performance should be pretty close to the i7-9700 as well, and I suspect the unlocked K parts will also perform similar to their i7 counterparts, much like what we saw with Coffee Lake compared to Kaby Lake. So yeah, making a similar product available for around $100 less seems like a pretty substantial jump, even if Ryzen is pretty much already there with the 3600. The new i5s will likely manage to be slightly faster in games, but they'll also undoubtedly be more power hungry and in turn put out more heat, and if they don't update their stock coolers, we might see throttling issues again.
    Reply
  • bobalazs
    what socket is planned?
    Reply
  • Wanderingm00se
    My concern would be the security risk that HT has imposed on previous intel chips, with decent mitigations I'm sure it will be fine, but previously the solution for security fixes was to disable hyperthreading. Glad to see the 10 series i5 is as capable as 8 series i7 boost for consumers for sure.
    Reply
  • Lucky_SLS
    The main question is this - is it still the skylake uarch or the new sunny cove cores inside?
    Reply