Intel may be ready to offer a Core i3 Comet Lake CPU featuring Hyper-Threading after a benchmark submission is spotted listing a Core i3-10100 processor sporting four cores and eight threads, marking a big step up from previous generations.

A SiSoftsoftare benchmark submission revealed on Twitter by @TUM_APISAK has shown that Intel’s new 10^th generation Core i3 Comet Lake processors are set to feature Hyper-Threading – something we have not seen for a while. The SiSoftware submission lists the Core i3-10100 as having four physical cores with eight threads and a clock frequency of 3.6GHz.

Intel’s Comet Lake processors are due to be the 10th generation of Core CPUs manufactured from the 14nm node. If these Hyper-Threading rumours turn out to be correct, the new Core i3 could effectively offer the same threaded accommodations as the 2017 Core i7, meaning Intel could offer a four core eight thread CPU for under £150.

It’s no big surprise that Intel is planning such a move since the company has lost a large share of the market in this area recently, with AMD Ryzen offering a higher core/thread count at entry-level. This could be the response Intel is adapting in an attempt to win some of that market share back since AMD offers system builders more cores/threads for the money currently.

It will be interesting to see if this core/thread trend continues to the rest of Intel’s Comet Lake line up. We have already seen evidence that the flagship 10^th generation Core i9 will boast 10 cores and 20 threads, giving it a solid boost from the current 9th generation 8 core 16 threads. If the trend does continue, it may mean we are looking at a 6 core 12 thread Core i5 and an 8 core 16 thread Core i7.

We expect Intel’s 10^th generation Comet Lake processors to be coming early in 2020 in an attempt to steal back some of that market share from AMD quickly. If this does happen, it will be that AMD’s 3950X 16 core 32 thread beast due in November may have less uncontested time as the top desktop performer.

KitGuru says: If these rumours turn out to be true, a four-core eight-thread Core i3 for under £150 would be a mouth-watering prospect which may offer gamers an excellent low budget CPU from Intel.

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