More Intel Comet Lake-S leaks give us a hint of Intel's upcoming processors

Is Comet Lake-S coming soon?
Is Comet Lake-S coming soon? (Image credit: Intel)

At this point, everything we know about Comet Lake-S – the upcoming desktop processors from Intel’s Comet Lake line – is all speculation and rumors. Still, thanks to solid leads from eagle-eyed hardware leakers, many of them are pretty much confirmed. 

Take the Intel Core i9-10900 and Core i5-10500 processors as examples. Leaked slides from Intel, which appeared on Informatica Cero in late December 2019, show these upcoming Comet Lake-S processor with 10 cores, 20 threads and a 5.1GHz single-core boost clock speed, and 6 cores, 12 threads and a 4.5GHz boost clock speed, respectively.

Thanks to Twitter user @_rogame, who recently spotted the CPUs make an appearance in the 3DMark database, some of the specs on these two chips are now confirmed, giving us another sneak peek at the long-anticipated Comet Lake-S range.

Intel Core i9-10900 and Core i5-10500 specs

According to the screenshots tweeted by the hardware investigator, the Core i5-10500 will definitely boast 6 cores, 12 threads and a base clock speed of 3.1GHz – although it looks like 3DMark failed to detect its boost clock correctly.

The Core i9-10900, on the other hand, will definitely impress with its 10 cores and 20 threads. However, it’s looking to only deliver 2.8GHz base and 4.9GHz boost clock speeds, a tad lower than what was shown on the aforementioned leaked slides.

Though it might be premature to worry about the lower numbers – as Tom’s Hardware reports, these could be engineering samples whose specs are subject to change. We might still get the 5.1GHz boost clock when the Core i9-10900 finally rolls out.

Although no other information is available in the shared screenshots, the fact that we’re seeing more and more signs of these rumored Comet Lake-S chips – a UserBenchmark entry for an Intel Core i3-10300 was also recently leaked – is already great news. It means that the Comet Lake-S chips are well on their way and will be launching very soon, possibly in Q2 or early spring.

TOPICS
Michelle Rae Uy
Contributor

Michelle Rae Uy is the former Computing Reviews and Buying Guides Editor at TechRadar. She's a Los Angeles-based tech, travel and lifestyle writer covering a wide range of topics, from computing to the latest in green commutes to the best hiking trails. She's an ambivert who enjoys communing with nature and traveling for months at a time just as much as watching movies and playing sim games at home. That also means that she has a lot more avenues to explore in terms of understanding how tech can improve the different aspects of our lives. 

Latest in CPU
AMD Ryzen 9000 3D chips
AMD officially announces price and release date for Ryzen 9 9900X3D and 9950X3D processors
A chip wafer manufactured at Intel Foundry
Can 18A save Intel from being devoured by its rivals – and Wall Street?
A stock photo of a man saying 'no thank you' to a gift box bearing the AMD Ryzen logo.
I'm tired of waiting for AMD's entry-level Ryzen 9000 series chips
Water cooling acrylic tube system with Barrow cpu block
What is a normal temperature for a CPU?
Render of AMD Ryzen chip
AMD’s powerful Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D CPUs rumored to arrive on March 12 – but gamers will still be better off with the 9800X3D
AMD
One Redditor spotted an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D for $99 in the wildest price drop I've ever seen
Latest in News
MacBook Air mute key
The new M4 MacBook Air finally fixes an Apple keyboard annoyance that's been around for decades
A collage of Ellie and Joel in The Last of Us season 2
The Last of Us season 2's new trailer teases a huge showdown between Bella Ramsey's Ellie and Pedro Pascal's Joel, but the big moment I'm waiting for is still being held back
Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max REVIEW
New iPhone 17 Air leak may have revealed some key specs – and how it compares to the iPhone 17 Pro Max
Gaming with AI
I asked Gemini to play a text-based adventure game with me and the AI whisked me away to a word-based fantasy
Apple iPhone 16 Review
Three iPhone 17 model dummy units appear in a hands-on video leak
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge on display the January 22, 2025 Galaxy Unpacked event.
New Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge may have revealed some key details – including its price