The Chinese chipmaker Loongson has launched its newest desktop processors, the 4-core, 8-thread 3A6000 series, based on the company's LoongArch microarchitecture. We have previously reported that the company wants to match Intel's "Willow Cove" and AMD's Zen 3 instruction per clock (IPC) levels with its 3A6000 CPU series, and today we have the first preview of the performance. Powered by the LA664 cores, 3A6000 is built on a 14/12 nm manufacturing process, with clock speeds going from 2.0 to 2.5 GHz and power consumption of up to 50 Watts. It features 256 KB of L2 cache and 16 MB of L3 cache in total.

While several hardware partners are announcing new Loongson-powered solutions, ASUS China's "Uncle Tony" managed to get his hands on one of them and overclocker the CPU to 2.63 GHz on air cooling. In overclocking tests using liquid nitrogen cooling, a 3A6000 processor reached 3.0 GHz, though there are indications that there is still overhead. In standard out-of-the-box configuration, the 3A6000 performs similarly to Intel's Core i3-10100 four-core CPU, an achievement for Loongson but still behind Intel's latest offerings that clock nearly twice as high. This rapid development of Loongson IP has led to a massive performance increase, matching the IPC of modern CPUs. We are still left to see more information about these 3A6000 series SKUs; however, early benchmarks suggest a significant improvement. You can see the CPU benchmarks below, which include UnixBench and SPEC CPU 2006.

AMD's timely announcement of the Ryzen 3 "Matisse" processor series could stir things up in the entry-level as Intel kitted its 10th generation Core i3 processors as 4-core/8-thread. Last week, a head-to-head Cinebench comparison between the i3-10300 and 3300X ensued, and today we have a 3DMark Firestrike and Time Spy comparison between their smaller siblings, the i3-10100 and the 3100, courtesy of Thai PC enthusiast TUM_APISAK. The two were benchmarked on Time Spy and Fire Strike on otherwise constant hardware: an RTX 2060 graphics card, 16 GB of memory, and a 1 TB Samsung 970 EVO SSD.

With Fire Strike, the 3100-powered machine leads in overall 3DMark score (by 0.31%), CPU-dependent Physics score (by 13.7%), and the Physics test. The i3-10100 is ahead by 1.4% in the Graphics score thanks to a 1.6% lead in graphics test 1, and 1.4% lead in graphics test 2. Over to the more advanced Time Spy test, which uses the DirectX 12 API that better leverages multi-core CPUs, we see the Ryzen 3 3100 post a 0.63% higher overall score, 1.5% higher CPU score; while the i3-10100 powered machines post within 1% higher graphics score. These numbers may suggest that the i3-10100 and the 3100 are within striking distance of each other and that either is a good pick for gamers, until you look at pricing. Intel's official pricing for the i3-10100 is $122 (per chip in 1,000-unit tray), whereas AMD lists the SEP price of the Ryzen 3 3100 at $99 (the Intel chip is at least 22% pricier), giving AMD a vast price-performance advantage that's hard to ignore, more so when you take into account value additions such as an unlocked multiplier and PCIe gen 4.0.

Intel today launched its 10th generation Core desktop processor family and its companion Intel 400-series chipsets. Based on the 14 nm++ silicon fabrication process and built in the new LGA1200 package, the processors are based on the "Comet Lake" microarchitecture. The core design of "Comet Lake" and its IPC are identical to those of "Skylake," however Intel brought significant enhancements to the processor's clock-speed boosting algorithm, increased core- or thread counts across the board, and introduced new features that could interest enthusiasts and overclockers. The uncore component remains largely unchanged from the previous-generation, with support for DDR4 memory and PCI-Express gen 3.0. Use of these processors requires a new socket LGA1200 motherboard, they won't work on older LGA1151 motherboards. You can install any LGA115x-compatible cooler on LGA1200, provided it meets the thermal requirements of the processor you're using.

At the heart of the 10th generation Core processor family is a new 10-core monolithic processor die, which retains the same basic structure as the previous-generation 8-core "Coffee Lake Refresh" die, and 4-core "Skylake." The cores are arranged in two rows, sandwiched by the processor's uncore and iGPU blocks. A ring-bus interconnect binds the various components. The cache hierarchy is unchanged from previous generations as well, with 32 KB each of L1I and L1D caches; 256 KB of dedicated L2 cache per core, and 20 MB of shared L3 cache. The iGPU is the same Gen 9.5 based UHD 630 graphics. As we mentioned earlier, much of Intel's innovation for the 10th generation is with the processor's microcode (boosting algorithms).

Intel is giving finishing touches to its 10th generation Core i3 desktop processors based on the "Comet Lake" microarchitecture. These upcoming socket LGA1200 processors are 4-core/8-thread, and see the debut of HyperThreading and Turbo Boost technologies to the Core i3 desktop processor brand extension. The i3-10100 is an entry-level part clocked at 3.60 GHz with 4.30 GHz boost; while the i3-10300 is clocked higher with 3.70 GHz nominal and 4.40 GHz boost frequency. The TDP of both parts is rated at 65 W. Besides clock speeds, the two parts are differentiated with L3 cache amount, with the i3-10100 featuring 6 MB, and the i3-10300 featuring 8 MB. Cinebench R20 scores of the two chips were leaked to the web by CPU-Monkey.

The i3-10100 reportedly scores 448 points in the single-thread, and 2284 points in the multi-threaded test. The i3-10300, on the other hand, scores 457 points in the single-threaded test, and 2330 points in the multi-threaded test. The same source also claims to have tested the upcoming 3rd generation AMD Ryzen 3 "Matisse" 4-core/8-thread processor series, with the Ryzen 3 3100 scoring 444 points single-thread and 2154 points multi-threaded; and the Ryzen 3 3300X scoring 491 points single-thread, and 2341 points multi-threaded. If these scores hold true, it's game on between the two companies' entry-level chips.

Ahead of their rumored April 2020 availability product codes of Intel's upcoming 10th generation Core "Comet Lake-S" desktop processors leaked to the web, courtesy momomo_us. The lineup includes 22 individual SKUs, although it's unknown if all of these will be available in April. There are four 10-core/20-thread SKUs: the i9-10900K, the i9-10900KF, the i9-10900, and the i9-10900F. The "K" extension denotes unlocked multiplier, while the "F" extension indicates lack of integrated graphics. "KF" indicates a SKU that's both unlocked and lacking an iGPU. Similarly, there are four 8-core/16-thread Core i7 SKUs, the i7-10700K, the i7-10700KF, the i7-10700, and the i7-10700F.

The 6-core/12-thread Core i5 family has several SKUs besides the range-topping i5-10600K and its siblings, i5-10600KF and i5-10600. These include the i5-10500, i5-10400, and i5-10400F. The quad-core Core i3 lineup includes the i3-10320, i3-10300, and i3-10100. The former two have 8 MB L3 cache, while the i3-10100 has 6 MB. Among the entry-level Pentium SKUs are the G6600, G6500, G6400, G5920, and G5900.

Intel's 10th generation Core desktop processor lineup, based on the 14 nm "Comet Lake" silicon, will begin with the Core i3-10100 succeeding the Core i3-9100 and i3-8100. To squeeze the most out of the microarchitecture that's essentially identical to "Skylake," Intel has decided to enable HyperThreading across the Core processor family, which means the i3-10100 is a 4-core/8-thread chip. Interestingly, Intel has given it just 6 MB of shared L3 cache. It's likely that the slightly beefed up i3-103xx will be differentiated with 8 MB of L3 cache. The chip has the same 3.60 GHz nominal frequency, and an unknown degree of Turbo Boost. The current-gen i3-9100 features Turbo Boost, so it's likely that its successor will also get the feature.

A SiSoft SANDRA online database entry for the i3-10100 surfaced, where it has an overall score of 382.61 MPix/s using multimedia tests, a significal step up from the roughly 290 MPix/s of the i3-9100 (a 31 percent performance increase). This increase in performance can be attributed to HyperThreading, as SANDRA's multimedia tests leverage it efficiently. Intel is expected to launch the Core i3-10100 around the $120 mark, competing with AMD's Ryzen 3 3200G.