Benchmark shows possible Intel Core i5 processor with hyperthreading

The Intel Core i5 processors in the upcoming Comet Lake series may get six cores with support for hyperthreading. This can be concluded from a leaked benchmark, in which an as-yet unnamed CPU with six cores and twelve threads appeared.

The benchmark appeared in the SiSoft Sandra database and shows an Intel hexacore CPU with twelve threads. Intel’s current i7 processors contain eight cores, although that is without hyperthreading. The CPU of the SiSoft page is expected to be a Core i5 chip, since the current i5-9600k also has six cores, but without hyperthreading. The mentioned CPU runs at a clock speed of 2GHz, which suggests that this is an early engineering sample. Such test versions of CPUs often have low clock speeds compared to the processors that eventually appear in the store.

The as yet unknown CPU has 256KB of L2 cache per core and has a total of 12MB of L3 cache. The current Core i5-9600k has the same amount of L2 cache, but has 9MB of L3 cache. The CPU was tested in a motherboard from ECS, which appears to contain an H470 chipset. This chipset does not yet exist, but motherboards with H370 chipsets are already in the shops. The chip appears to be a Comet Lake CPU. This series will replace the current Coffee Lake processors in 2020, with new chipsets expected.

Earlier this month, benchmarks of an Intel Core i3 processor with four cores and eight threads appeared on SiSoft Sandra. This information is in line with that of the now-released alleged Core i5. If this trend continues, the Core i7 CPUs in the Comet Lake series could have eight cores and 16 threads. This is again in line with the current rumors surrounding Comet Lake. According to multiple rumors, Intel will also release an i9 processor for consumers next year with 10 cores and 20 threads. The processors must be made on an improved 14nm process.