Intel's Comet Lake processor line-up leaked

Intel Comet Lake processors are expected to be produced using the company's 14nm manufacturing process

New details about Intel ' s upcoming Comet Lake-S laptop and desktop processors have been leaked, indicating that Intel ' s next-generation top-of-the-line processors may feature up to 10 cores.

The new decacore processor will succeed the popular Intel Core i9-9900K, which comes with eight cores and 16 threads and is used in many high-end PCs.

According to reports, Comet Lake-S will be based on the Skylake micro-architecture, and will be created using Intel's 14nm manufacturing process.

"The drivers list CML processors, which is the abbreviation for Comet Lake in Intel ' s nomenclature," Guru3D reported after noticing the leaked code from Intel ' Linux drivers.

The leaked support list indicates that Comet Lake will provide options on both PC and for mobile applications, including Comet Lake-S (for desktop PCs), Comet Lake-U (for ultra low power devices) and Comet Lake-H series (for laptops).

The list shows two parts of the Comet Lake-S processor: 10+2 and 8+2 SKU. The 10+2 configuration suggests that there would be 10 cores and GT2 graphics in the chipset. The list also includes processors with eight and six cores.

It ' s worth noting here that Intel ' s new processor - if it comes with 10 cores at higher frequencies (around 5GHz) - could be extremely power hungry.

And, while desktop processors are expected to feature 10 core parts, Intel-powered notebooks will likely come with a maximum of six cores.

Other Comet Lake entries in the list are the Comet Lake-U parts. This series includes six, four and two core parts, all featuring GT2 graphics.

Intel is expected to launch its Comet Lake-S chips sometime this year. Analysts expect Intel to position the line-up to compete against AMD ' s Zen 2 architecture, which will be used in Ryzen 3000 series chips. These are expected to arrive in June or July.

AMD exhibited Ryzen 3000 series chips at the CES trade show in January. In the demo, the company showed off its 7nm architecture consuming less power than Intel ' s Core i9-9900K, while delivering greater performance.

The company also claimed that its processor will support the PCIe 4.0 standard to deliver more bandwidth between chip and PC components, such as WiFi cards and storage devices.