Intel 10th Gen Comet Lake Processor as Fast as AMD Ryzen 7 3800X? Early Benchmarks Point to Twice the Power Draw

There are already leaked benchmarks for Intel's upcoming Core i7-10700K and Core i7-10700F Comet Lake desktop CPUs, so it's only fair that the unreleased Core i7-10700 and Core i7-10700KF Comet Lake chips get some of the spotlight too.

The Core 10000-series (codename Comet Lake) isn't out yet, so these specifications should be taken with a grain of salt. While based on the Comet Lake microarchitecture, these new chips are still fabricated on Intel's 14nm process node.

• Based on our own testing, these are the best gaming CPUs
• Workhorse? These are the best desktop CPUs for work 
• Intel 10th Gen Comet Lake processor benchmarked: i9-10900 Engineering Sample

The i7 models are believed to come with eight cores, 16 threads and 16MB of L3 cache. If the rumors are true, Intel will likely market Comet Lake at three different tiers: Enthusiast (125W), Mainstream (65W) and Low Power (35W). As usual, we expect different variants of the same SKUs.

The i7-10700KF is rumored to feature a 3.8 GHz base clock and 5.1 GHz boost clock. However, well-known hardware leaker @TUM_APISAK's findings this week showed the octa-core chip allegedly boosting as high as 5.3 GHz. If true, this would probably be due to Intel's Thermal Velocity Boost (TVB) feature that basically acts as a turbo on top of the turbo. The boost clock comes as a surprise as an earlier leak of an alleged Intel PowerPoint slide for the F-series suggested that the Core i7 wouldn't benefit from TVB.

Intel 10th Gen Comet Lake Desktop CPU Specs*

Specifications are unconfirmed.

The i7-10700KF is expected to be an i7-10700K without the integrated graphics. In terms of TDP (thermal design power), the two chips are probably rated for 125W, which is slightly below the current-gen Core i9-9900KS's 127W TDP.

The Ryzen 7 3800X has a 105W TDP and complies with the rating, according to our testing from our Ryzen 7 3800X review. However, Intel's TDP criteria is a bit different. Intel might market the i7-10700KF with a 125W TDP even if it only adheres to that when running at base clock speeds (PL1). In reality, the chip's peak power consumption would probably be far greater when operating at the boost clock speed (PL2). 

Image 1 of 3

If the posted benchmarks are anything to go by, the i7-10700KF's performance will be on the same level as the Ryzen 7 3800X. Intel's chip reportedly put up a score of 294.33 GOPS, while the Ryzen 7 3800X scores up to 308.90 GOPS. However, the i7-10700KF allegedly draws considerably more power.

The Ryzen 7 3800X delivers an efficiency of 2.74 GOPS/W while the i7-10700KF seemingly offers a disappointing 1.18 GOPS/W. The i7-10700KF's peak power consumption would work out to around 250W in this specific benchmark, which draws considerably more power than most standard applications. Although this would be on par with the Ryzen 7 3800X, the i7-10700KF would pull more than twice the power of its competitor.

Meanwhile, the i7-10700 and the i7-10700F should be the 65W variants of the i7-10700K and i7-10700KF, respectively. @TUM_APISAK recently discovered the i7-10700 listed with a 2.9 GHz base clock and 4.7 GHz boost clock. 

The i7-10700T should be the only octa-core Comet Lake chip to compete in the 35W category. Last year's big Comet Lake leak claims that i7-10700T rolls with a 2 GHz base clock and 4.4 GHz boost clock.