Intel recently announced its Comet Lake-S series of processors for the Desktop in i9, i7, i5 and i3 flavors. It has come to our attention (via TechPowerUp) that some of the Intel Comet Lake Core i5 processors are not exactly the same as other SKUs, meaning the “silicon” beneath the heat spreader can be different based on the chip it is manufactured.
There are actually two “steppings” of the 10th generation Intel Core i5 desktop processors which are Q0 and G1. Some of the Core i5 SKUs are based on a different stepping, either Q0 or G1, which gives us a hint that these might be native six-core or a cut-down 10-core chip variants. The specs seems to be identical but there are physical differences.
According to INTEL, “The Core i5-10400 and Core i5-10400F use two manufacturing processes,” and this particular info is posted over at Intel ARK within the “Ordering and Compliance” section for each chip. As an example. TechPowerUp has also detailed these two processors, which are Core i5 10400 and Core i5 10400F respectively.
Almost every detail is identical between the two steppings though, including the clock speed and pricing. Some reports are hinting that the thermal solution used on the Q0 stepping matches that of the flagship 10th Gen SKUs, i.e. thinner die and a soldered interface material, since it based on a 10-core chip with four cores disabled. The Q0 stepping of Core i5 seems to be based on the 10-core variant of the “Comet Lake-S” silicon.
The G1 stepping, on the other hand, seems to be based on a native six-core chip, a 6-core variant of “Comet Lake-S. This is using a “thermal paste”, instead of the new STIM solution. Nevertheless, this shouldn’t affect the performance of the G1 processor, since we are talking about non-K CPUs which can’t be overclocked.
If we take a look at the back of the Chip, we can clearly see that the Q0 stepping has two separated groups of “capacitors”, while G1 is more or less a single big block. These two even have different SPEC codes, as evident from the ARK. According to TechPowerUp, for the Core i5-10400F, the Q0 stepping variant’s SPEC code is “SRH79” and the G1 stepping variant’s code is “SRH3D.”
The SPEC code is also printed on the IHS though. Only the “non-K” Comet Lake SKUs have 2 steppings, but there shouldn’t be any performance difference between them, except for the “Thermals“, or heat output ! As a consumer, gamer, or end user you shouldn’t have to worry much about this change in the manufacturing process though.
Hello, my name is NICK Richardson. I’m an avid PC and tech fan since the good old days of RIVA TNT2, and 3DFX interactive “Voodoo” gaming cards. I love playing mostly First-person shooters, and I’m a die-hard fan of this FPS genre, since the good ‘old Doom and Wolfenstein days.
MUSIC has always been my passion/roots, but I started gaming “casually” when I was young on Nvidia’s GeForce3 series of cards. I’m by no means an avid or a hardcore gamer though, but I just love stuff related to the PC, Games, and technology in general. I’ve been involved with many indie Metal bands worldwide, and have helped them promote their albums in record labels. I’m a very broad-minded down to earth guy. MUSIC is my inner expression, and soul.
Contact: Email
Intel has been using cut down chips from the high-end silicon. I think even AMD does it.
From the back there is lot of physical difference tho. what’s a stepping actually ??
Think of it as a silicon revision. A new stepping can signify anything from a fabrication process tweak to a number of errata (bug) fixes, to new features (e.g. Trusted Execution Technology, which debuted with the G0 stepping of the Core 2 Duo processors), to a new process fabrication technology (e.g. the Pentium 4 N0 stepping was 90 nm Prescott-2M, while the next stepping, R0, was 65 nm Cedar Mill, a straight fabrication process shrink).
Sometimes newly-released steppings have had the fabrication process tweaked such that they tend to reach high clock speeds, as was the case with the Core 2 Quad G0 stepping when it was initially launched, which is why it was coveted by overclockers, and so retailers indicated which processors were G0 stepping so those could be sold to overclockers at a premium (otherwise it is the luck of the draw with regard to which stepping you end up with).
Stepping is simply a number used by Intel to identify what level of design change a microprocessor was built to. Typically, the first version of a microprocessor comes out with a stepping of A0. As design improvements occur, later versions are identified by a change in the number (for example, A3) for minor design changes and by a change to the letter and number for more extensive design changes (for example, B2).
Stepping allows the consumer and servicers to identify a microprocessor’s version.
This sound interesting to be honest. Pretty nice find. What about other processors in i7 and i3 range ? Even they use a diff manufacturing process ?
I was wondering what kind of thermal diff is going to be evident from this slight change..
As of now, INTEL only followed this move for the i5 lineup. The core i7 and even the i3 lineup has not been altered. This makes sense based on the Core count, as some of the i5 SKUs use a cut-down variant of the full chip.
those are non K processors, so I don’t think any major thermal difference might eb there.
Metal messiah congratulations you finally made it i was too late to notice this 😉
Thanks m8 !