Intel Launches Low-End Comet Lake CPUs: Pentium Gold 6405U & Celeron 5205U
by Anton Shilov on October 31, 2019 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- Celeron
- U-Series
- Pentium Gold
- 10th Gen Core
- Comet Lake
Intel has quietly added two new inexpensive processors into its Comet Lake-U lineup. The Pentium Gold 6405U and Celeron 5205U CPUs will be used for entry-level thin-and-light laptops that need one of the latest-generation processors, but are not designed for performance-demanding workloads.
Intel’s Pentium Gold 6405U and Celeron 5205U are dual-core processors that run at 2.4 GHz and 1.9 GHz, respectively. Both CPUs have TDPs of 15 Watts – the same as the rest of the Comet Lake-U family – and include 2 MB of L3 cache, Intel UHD Graphics, a dual-channel DDR4/LPDDR3 memory controller, and feature 12 PCIe 2.0 lanes for expansion. Both SKUs are considerably cheaper than the rest models in the Comet Lake series (which start at $281): the Pentium Gold 6405U processor carries a $161 recommended customer price, whereas the Celeron 5205U costs $107 when purchased in 1000-units quantities.
| Intel Comet Lake-U SKUs | |||||||||||
| AnandTech | Cores |
Base GHz | 1C Turbo GHz |
AC Turbo GHz |
L3 Cache |
TDP PL1 |
IGP UHD |
IGP MHz |
DDR4 | LPDDR3 | Cost |
| i7-10710U | 6C/12T | 1.1 | 4.7 | 3.9 | 12 MB | 15W | 620 | 1150 | 2666 | 2933 | $443 |
| i7-10510U | 4C/8T | 1.8 | 4.9 | 4.3 | 8 MB | 15W | 620 | 1150 | 2666 | 2933 | $409 |
| i5-10210U | 4C/8T | 1.6 | 4.2 | 3.9 | 6 MB | 15W | 620 | 1100 | 2666 | 2933 | $297 |
| i3-10110U | 2C/4T | 2.1 | 4.1 | 3.7 | 4 MB | 15W | 620 | 1000 | 2666 | 2933 | $281 |
| Pentium 6405U | 2C/4T | 2.4 | - | - | 2 MB | 15W | 610? | 950 | 2400 | ? | $161 |
| Celeron 5205U | 2C/2C | 1.9 | - | - | 2 MB | 15W | 610? | 900 | 2400 | ? | $107 |
Up until now, Intel’s Comet Lake-U family included only four CPUs, three of which were aimed at premium laptops. The addition of considerably cheaper processors allows Intel to address more market segments with its Comet Lake products by equipping its partners to build cheaper systems using the latest motherboard designs.
Otherwise, as is almost always the case for low-end Core SKUs, these are presumably salvage chips from Intel's operations. The new Pentium and Celeron chips are clocked lower than the Core i3-10110U, allowing Intel to put to work silicon that otherwise wouldn't have been usable as a Core i3. Which for Intel is particularly important at a time where demand for inexpensive U-series mobile CPUs is running high, helping the company please its partners who have suffered from tight supply of Intel’s 14 nm processors in the recent quarters.
Related Reading:
- Intel Launches Comet Lake-U and Comet Lake-Y: Up To 6 Cores for Thin & Light Laptops
- Intel Boosts 14nm Capacity 25% in 2019, But Shortages Will Persist in Q4
- Lenovo Launches ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 7: Thinner, Lighter, Comet Lake Inside
- Lenovo’s 2019 ThinkPad X1 Yoga: An Ultralight Convertible with Comet Lake
Source: Intel ARK (via SH SOTN)
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digitalgriffin - Wednesday, November 6, 2019 - link
It's all about supply/demand/marginIf Intel has a shortage of i3 chips and a shortage of Pentium/Celeron chips, they are going to sell the stock as i3 chips first because there is a higher margin.
As stated by multiple articles and news sites, as well as intel press releases, "There are supply issues at 14nm" So intel will concentrate sales on high margin parts. It would be illogical to assume intel is taking in a lower margin to a market that is strapped across the board. Therefore, these are more likely lower rated chips that take more power to operate @ a given MHz, or have defective features that are disabled.
EliteRetard - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
Am I the only one who thinks the pricing is disgusting?That Celeron should be like $60 tops, the Pentium $75.
A mobile i3 should start at a maximum of $150, the i5 like $225 and the i7 around $300.
That would be pricing in line with full desktop chips, these small chips should be even cheaper.
You can buy a full laptop with 8GB RAM and SSD under $350 using recent gen CPUs (AMD and Intel).
Example:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lenovo-Ideapad-330s-15-...
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lenovo-ideapad-S340-15-...
CharonPDX - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
It's not that laptop chips are "small" therefore cheap to make - it's that they're power-optimized, meaning they're more expensive to make.yannigr2 - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
Those are prices for me and you. OEMs will pay much much less. I have seen motherboards with integrated Atoms selling in retail at prices lower that the price of the processor alone, based on Intel's site.cygnus1 - Thursday, October 31, 2019 - link
I believe these are deterrent prices. Their are probably OEMs that demanded parts this low end and Intel is pricing them this way because it uses a piece of silicon that's probably capable of a lot more and so a much higher margin. OR given the PCIe 2.0 lanes, this may be its own separate spin of silicon which means it's actually made in fairly low volume and thus justifying the price.AshlayW - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
Yes, it's disgusting. In fact I was going to comment about "throwing up in my mouth" at the prospect of a 2/2 over 100 bucks.taisingera - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
The prices are a bit disgusting but mobile parts do cost more because of the power optimization. What I can't understand is that the Pentium is $161 but for a slightly higher clocked, a bit better graphics and 2MB more L3 cache, the Core i3 model is $281. Then the next up is a 4 core i5 for only $16 more?All this doesn't matter for anyone but OEM because these cpus are soldered to motherboards and can't be purchased alone like desktop CPUs.
Samus - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
It's fair to say that Celeron will be close to half the performance of the i3, making it on-par with Intel's current $70 parts, so I agree this is pretty ridiculous pricing. A 3 year old A6-series will probably outperform it at a fraction of the price.AshlayW - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
7nm AMD Mobile, we need you. This price gouging is appalling.Samus - Friday, November 1, 2019 - link
Considering how dependant their current IPC is on cache and clockspeed...damn those are going to be some f'ing slow chips...