Comet Lake Discussion Thread

[SteelCrysis]

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-...cking-asus

Asus has introduced its Asus Performance Enhancement (APE) feature for a selected bunch of Intel 400-series, non-Z motherboards. As reported by BenchLife, the feature is available through a new firmware.

Asus Performance Enhancement is comparable to ASRock's Base Frequency Boost (BFB) that basically overrides a 10th Generation Comet Lake CPUs' PL1 (power level 1) to a higher figure than Intel's predefined value. However, the feature shouldn't be confused with BCLK overclocking, since Intel still locks down the multiplier in non-K chips.

With APE, a locked Comet Lake processor will flaunt higher sustained clock speeds but still run within Intel's parameters, which is likely the reason why Intel has no problem with it. The similarity between APE and BFB is evident; however, ASRock is more generous in terms of support. Asus enables its solution on the B460 and H470 motherboards, whereas ASRock brings support back to Z390 and B365 offerings as well.

https://www.techpowerup.com/267757/psa-t...-with-stim

There are apparently two steppings of the 10th generation Intel Core i5 desktop processor in circulation, and the two have major physical differences, even if their specifications are identical per SKU. These are Q0 and G1. The Q0 stepping of the 10th gen Core i5 is based on the 10-core variant of "Comet Lake-S" silicon, the 200-odd mm² die, which comes with Intel's die-thinning innovation, and more importantly, soldered thermal interface material (STIM). For these chips, four cores on the 10-core die are disabled by Intel to carve out the 6-core/12-thread Core i5 SKU. The G1 stepping, on the other hand, is based on the 6-core variant of "Comet Lake-S," which is similar in design to the 6-core "Coffee Lake" die. The G1-stepping chips lack STIM, and use a thermal paste.

What's more, Q0 and G1 steppings have different SPEC codes. For the Core i5-10400F, the Q0 stepping variant's SPEC code is "SRH79" and the G1 stepping variant's code is "SRH3D." The underside of the processor's package looks different between the two steppings (pictured below). You won't be able to tell the underside of the package through the little window in your processor's retail package, but the SPEC code is printed on the IHS. There's no geographic marker as to which stepping is found in what particular market. Both steppings appear to be distributed uniformly, wherever available. Since Intel is using this stepping-level differentiation only among non-K SKUs, we don't expect the two to have any different performance, but possibly different thermals.