Intel Comet Lake Refresh processors were not much faster than their predecessors

Intel unveiled the new Rocket Lake series processors last week. It includes the Core i9, i7, and i5 models. Along with this, the manufacturer announced the updated Core i3 and Pentium models. They are the same Comet Lake chips that came out last year, but with slightly increased clock speeds. According to Tom’s Hardware, some Chinese enthusiasts managed to get their hands on the updated Core i3 models and conduct a series of tests with them.

The main difference between the Comet Lake Refresh series Core i3 models and the original Comet Lake series Core i3 models is the clock speeds increased by 100 MHz. For example, the new Core i3-10325 runs in the 3.9 to 4.7 GHz range, while the original Core i3-10320 offers frequencies from 3.8 to 4.6 GHz, respectively.

Last February, it was reported that one of the models of the updated series, Core i3-10105F, has already gone on sale in Malaysia. However, Intel has not yet announced an official launch date for both the new Rocket Lake processors and the Comet Lake Refresh. According to rumors, the implementation of the chips will begin no earlier than March 30th.

Considering that Comet Lake Refresh offers only a slight increase in clock frequency, they have a corresponding increase in the level of performance. According to Chinese enthusiasts, in the synthetic test Cinebench R23, the Core i3-10325 is only 1.4-2.5% faster than its predecessor, the Core i3-10320, and only 1.3% faster in 3DMark Time Spy Extreme. In other benchmarks, the difference in performance was even less noticeable.