You can find unexpected things in unexpected places. And when it comes to Intel's unannounced 10th Generation Comet Lake Xeon W workstation CPUs, that place is Dutch printer shop.
Intel revealed the latest 10th Generation Comet Lake-S processors a few days ago, and it seems that the chipmaker's workstation offerings aren't far behind either. A tweet from hardware detective @momomo_us tipped us off on alleged model names for seven unannounced Comet Lake Xeon chips. We've since spotted those same seven chips, including the Xeon W-1290, W-1290P and W-1290T, available for pre-order at PS Printer Supplies, a printer retailer in the Netherlands.
A couple of things stand out about the chips' naming. For starters, Intel uses the "W" designation for its enterprise-class chips that typically live on the the HEDT platform, such as the LGA2066 CPU socket. It's weird to see a Xeon W chip on a mainstream platform, which in this case is the latest LGA1200 socket.
Additionally, the Comet Lake Xeon parts reportedly belong to the W-1200 series. However, the Xeon W family debuted with the W-2000 series, and there was never a W-1000 series.
The Dutch retailer didn't expose the complete specifications for the Comet Lake Xeon W processors. However, we have some thoughts on the number of cores and threads for each model based on the amount of L3 cache, which we've detailed in the table below.
Intel Comet Lake Xeon W Specifications*
| Model | Part Number | Cores / Threads | Base Clock (GHz) | L3 Cache (MB) | Tray Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xeon W-1290 | CM8070104379111 | 10 / 20 | 3.2 | 20 | $568.91 |
| Xeon W-1290P | CM8070104378412 | 10 / 20 | 3.7 | 20 | $620.62 |
| Xeon W-1290T | CM8070104429007 | 10 / 20 | 1.9 | 20 | $568.80 |
| Xeon W-1270 | CM8070104380910 | 8 / 16 | 3.4 | 16 | $416.21 |
| Xeon W-1270P | CM8070104380809 | 8 / 16 | 3.8 | 16 | $492.57 |
| Xeon W-1250 | CM8070104379507 | 6 / 12 | 3.3 | 12 | $293.12 |
| Xeon W-1250P | CM8070104381006 | 6 / 12 | 4.1 | 12 | $358.41 |
*Specifications are not confirmed.
We suspect that the W-1290 could be the flagship model, which would mean it should have 10 cores and 20 threads. On the other hand, the W-1270 and W-1250 could sport up to eight and six cores, respectively.
As the product listings show, Intel will offer other variants of the main SKUs. The processors that carry the "T" suffix are obviously optimized for energy efficiency, and the lower base clock speeds reflect that.
In the old days, Intel used the "P" suffix to refer to processors without an iGPU. However, the chipmaker later redefined the suffix to denote processors with a slower iGPU, such as the Core i5-6402P. While other Skylake parts were using the HD Graphics 530 solution at the time, the Core i5-6402P came with the slower HD Graphics 510 iGPU.
Surprisingly, the "P" versions of the Comet Lake Xeon W processors check in with higher base clock speeds, suggesting that they have a higher TDP (thermal design power) to provide more performance. As the tray pricing shows, the "P" versions are priced significantly higher, supporting our theory.
Now that Comet Lake-S has finally been unveiled, it shouldn't be long before Intel starts announcing workstation-grade counterparts.
