Benchmark Shows Intel Comet Lake-S Running Insanely Hot!

Back in January, we reported on leaked rumors that the upcoming Intel 10th-gen Comet Lake-S platform was going to be very impressive in terms of specifications. The downside was that this seemingly came at the cost of it also being very hungry in terms of power consumption. With figures of up to (and even over) 300 watts being suggested (a figure that shouldn’t be confused with TDP) our initial reaction was that they were going to pack a heck of a punch. By proxy though, they were undoubtedly going to be running more than a little toasty.

Well, following a leak via DSOGaming, it seems that at least in regards to the Intel i9 10900F, this is almost certainly going to be the case!

Intel 10th-Gen Comet Lake-S

In the leaked benchmarks we can see what is reportedly an Intel i9 10900F processor. Specifically, being benched at 100% with all cores at 4.5GHz. So far so good, right? Well, when you take a look at the temperature results things get more than a little concerning.

Recording a maximum core temperature of 89C and a CPU package temperature of 94C, these are (and there are no other words for it) obscenely high numbers. They are, quite frankly, something you’d more associate with AMD’s “Vishera” days!

What Do We Think?

For the sake of balance, it isn’t known what cooler was used in these benchmark results. One can, however, only draw the conclusion that it wasn’t stock or something moderately crap. If you’re going to benchmark a processor like this, you’re going to use something fairly competent, right?

As such, if accurate, these figures only cement our suspicions that you’re going to require a properly serious cooling solution to handle Intel’s Comet Lake-S processors. This is, in addition, is perhaps not even limited to their ‘top-spec’ designs. It may apply to mid-tier models as well! Quite frankly, I can’t see any air cooler being able to sensibly handle these temperatures. Well, not without sounding like a Harrier jet engine attempting VTOL.

It does, however, tie into rumors as to why Comet Lake-S has been delayed. While it was initially expected to have already launched by now, if these figures are accurate, then Intel clearly has a huge elephant in the room with this 10th-gen design! More cores, higher clock speeds, and hot temperatures. At the risk of making the same joke twice, this really is starting to sound more and more like the bad old days at AMD!

Remember though, AMD Ryzen 3XXX is a 7nm platform while Intel’s Comet Lake-S is (yet another) revised 14nm design. As such, and judging by these results, it looks to us that they’re probably pushing that too far now! All going well though, we’ll find out on April 30th.

What do you think? Do these results concern you? Has Intel pushed 14nm too far? – Let us know in the comments!