{"id":259384,"date":"2025-09-16T19:59:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T17:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hwcooling.net\/?p=259384\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T19:59:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T17:59:14","slug":"14nm-forever-jokes-coming-true-intel-goes-back-to-decade-old-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hwcooling.net\/en\/14nm-forever-jokes-coming-true-intel-goes-back-to-decade-old-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"“14nm forever” jokes coming true: Intel goes back to decade old tech"},"content":{"rendered":"

A short while ago we reported on new budget Intel processor that appeared in the company’s lineup as Core 5 120<\/a>. Behind this new name, however, hides a 7nm Alder Lake chip from 2021, which Intel is calling back into service simply because it doesn’t have much choice. But that was nothing compared to the oddity coming now. Intel has now put the new Core series 100 branding on an almost ancient Comet Lake generation (10th Gen Core) chip.<\/p>\n

Last year Intel started branding its CPUs as Core Ultra<\/a> (a similar shift to what AMD later did with Ryzen AI), which broadly signals modern features like a chiplet design, an NPU for AI workloads, and the use of cutting-edge process nodes. The downside to those is higher costs though. That\u2019s why Intel still needs to pad out its lineup with \u201cnon-Ultra\u201d models based on older technologies, like the Core 5 120, without which it would struggle to cover the lower market segments while preserving margins.<\/p>\n

Intel Core 5 110 is in fact Comet Lake for LGA 1200<\/h3>\n

Now another such processor has shown up in Intel\u2019s lineup: the Core 5 110<\/strong>. Since both belong to the Core (non-Ultra) 100 series, you might be fooled to expect it to share the same architecture as the Core 5 120. That one is a rebadged Core i5-12400 from the Alder Lake generation, still based on quite modern Golden Cove<\/a> cores. But the 110 is built on much older foundations\u2014it\u2019s essentially a rebranded Core i5-10400. That chip launched in spring 2020 as part of the Comet Lake lineup, and Intel\u2019s own spec sheets confirm this\u2014the Core 5 110 is listed as Comet Lake family member. Amusingly, Intel\u2019s database is inconsistently listing the model as \u201cCore i5-110,\u201d a strange hybrid of the old and new naming (most likely a typo, since the \u201ci\u201d shouldn\u2019t be there).<\/p>\n

Intel says the processor has already launched (quietly, sometime in Q3 this year). It\u2019s a six-core, 12-thread chip with 12 MB of L3 cache, a 2.9 GHz base clock, and up to 4.3 GHz boost, rated at 65 W TDP. As with all non-K 65W Intel CPUs, overclocking is not supported.<\/p>\n

These clock speeds are identical to the Core i5-10400<\/strong>, so other parameters that Intel doesn\u2019t list for the rebadged new part are also likely unchanged\u2014such as PL2, also known as the maximum power. For the i5-10400, the value was 134 W. Under all-core load, its maximum boost was 4.0 GHz, which probably applies to the Core 5 110 as well.<\/p>\n

The processor also keeps all its original features and connectivity. For example, the integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 runs at 350 MHz to 1.1 GHz, but it can\u2019t handle HDMI 2.0\u2014so a 4K monitor over HDMI is limited to 30 Hz (DisplayPort 1.2 output does support 4K at 60 Hz). The GPU also lacks AV1 decode support. The PCI Express controller only supports PCIe 3.0 (16 lanes for discrete GPU), and the memory controller tops out at DDR4-2666 (no DDR5, which is a drawback given current pricing trends<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Another important point: Comet Lake for desktops used a different socket than newer Core 12th, 13th, and 14th Gen CPUs (and the Core 5 120). The same goes for the Core 5 110\u2014it requires a 400- or 500-series chipset motherboard with the LGA 1200<\/strong> socket, which shipped in 2020 and 2021. Intel is clearly intending for this platform to stay in production, along with CPUs to match.<\/p>\n

\"Intel<\/a>
Intel Core i5-110 in Intel\u2019s database (Author: Intel)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Core 5 110 hasn\u2019t appeared in local retail yet. Where the Core i5-10400 still continues being sold, it usually costs around 135 EUR, which isn\u2019t a great deal\u2014modern Alder Lake\/Raptor Lake chips like the Core i5-12400 or i5-13400 are often only slightly more expensive. We\u2019ll see if Intel decides to cut prices to make the rebadged part more worthwhile. Unfortunately, rebranding often serves as an excuse to charge more, instead. It\u2019s also possible this CPU will mainly be sold in prebuilt PCs. Either way, other newer processors should usually be a better choice.<\/p>\n

Decade-old technology and cores<\/h3>\n

That the chip is a rebrand of a product from 2020 doesn\u2019t sound so bad on its own\u2014AMD still sells AM4 processors based on the Zen 3 architecture from that same year, too. The problem is that in 2020 Intel was at the peak of its long stagnation period, caused by disastrous multi-year delays to its 10nm technology. Because of that, the company kept stretching the production on its 14nm node, gradually pushing clocks from 4.2 GHz up to 5.3 GHz in the flagship Comet Lake (Core i9-10900K). The infamous \u201cpluses\u201d being added to the designation of the 14nm node (Comet Lake was on 14nm+++, and it was actually followed by yet another<\/em> generation called\u00a0Rocket Lake) became a running joke.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Tip: <\/strong>Intel Rocket Lake processor models, specs and prices revealed<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Intel also raised core counts, from four up to ten. But every desktop generation from 6th Gen (Skylake) through 10th Gen (Comet Lake) was in the end still made on the same 14nm family of technologies, first introduced in late 2014, and worse, all of them used essentially the same CPU core architecture. That microarchitecture is mostly unchanged CPU core from Skylake processors, which launched in August 2015. Since then, Intel has introduced three major architectural upgrades\u2014none of which the Core 5 110 benefits from.<\/p>\n

    \"Core<\/a>
    Core i5-10400F from the Comet Lake generation: same model, just without the iGPU. It\u2019s possible an iGPU-less Core 5 110F will appear later as well (Author: \u013dubom\u00edr Sam\u00e1k)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    So if you buy the Core 5 110, you\u2019re getting a CPU with more than a decade-old architecture and silicon process. That doesn\u2019t make it unusable\u2014older hardware can still run fine today, and performance is adequate for most everyday tasks (though, to be fair, Core i5-10400 alias Core 5 110 is no longer a great choice for gaming). As a late offshoot of the Skylake design, Comet Lake also has official Windows 11 support.<\/p>\n

    What\u2019s remarkable is just how long this architecture has lingered in Intel\u2019s lineup. The company is clearly reaching for ways to improve margins and profitability. Manufacturing old 14nm chips is likely still cheaper than Intel\u2019s own 7nm process\u2014not to mention the cost of producing modern designs at TSMC, which Intel must do for its Core Ultra 200 desktop parts. Five years ago, lots of jokes circulated that proposed Intel will still shipping new Skylake refreshes on 14nm node in 2025\u2014and despite the eventual, successful transition to 10nm and 7nm, here we are again. The jokes were spot on, kind of.<\/p>\n

    It would be far more transparent if Intel kept selling these CPUs under their original names. Rebranding isn\u2019t a complete no-no, but there should be some consistency to it. Instead, Intel lumped everything into the \u201cCore 100\u201d lineup, selling both a solid CPU that Alder Lake is and a near-antique Skylake derivative under almost the same name. That\u2019s not exactly a great idea.<\/p>\n

    Sources: VideoCardz<\/a>, Intel<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

    English translation and edit by Jozef Dud\u00e1\u0161<\/em><\/p>\n