Rumor | Fear of AMD Renoir Ryzen 4000 could prompt Intel to launch Comet Lake-H and Comet Lake-S earlier than anticipated

Intel may launch its upcoming Comet Lake-H and Comet Lake-S desktops as early as March this year, according to sources who spoke to Wccftech. This early launch is being viewed as Intel's strategy to get a lead ahead of AMD's Renoir Ryzen 4000 H-series CPUs that are also slated to launch around a similar timeframe. 

Traditionally, be it Coffee Lake-H Refresh or the Coffee Lake-H before it, Intel has launched the 45W H-series chips sometime around April while the S-series had a Q3 launch window. However, this time around, we might see the 10th generation Comet Lake-S and Comet Lake-H being pushed for an early launch with the hope of denting AMD's momentum.

From what we've seen from AMD's preliminary benchmarks, the Ryzen 7 4800H looks to be quite capable of taking on the Core i7-9750H. A possible future Ryzen 9 variant may take the Core i9-9980HK head-on as well. Additionally, Renoir will include a pretty capable Vega iGPU for a holistic mobile solution. Intel plans to counter this by equipping the 10th gen H-series flagships with 8 cores and 16 threads, and allowing them to natively boost up to 5 GHz or higher, thanks to the Thermal Velocity Boost feature. 

Comet Lake-S, on the other hand, is touted to sport 10 cores and 20 threads, UHD Graphics 730, and hyperthreading across all SKUS. From what we know so far, the specs already pale in comparison to what Ryzen 3000 desktop CPUs offer, especially given the absence of PCIe Gen4 support in Comet Lake-S. This could be one reason why Intel would want to accelerate Comet Lake-S to market instead of waiting till Q3 as by then, we will already be seeing Zen 3 Ryzen 4000 desktop CPUs making headlines. 

Wccftech indicates a probability of a 10nm process for Comet Lake-S and H, but we know that is not happening anytime soon. In fact, Rocket Lake-S that is expected to come in 2021 will also be a 14nm part. Intel is still working to improve 10nm yields for Ice Lake and the upcoming Tiger Lake, and both the CPUs top out at four cores max.

So, if the rumor is true, will an early launch help Intel to counter AMD's renewed vigor in mobile? Honestly, it is too early to tell. Intel, no doubt, has the lion's share of the laptop market making things a bit difficult for AMD. Pricing plays an important factor, too. Intel could offer price cuts to lure customers and OEMs away from AMD, but we will have to see how that will play-out through the year.

However, with OEMs promising at least 100 different designs based on Renoir and recent performance leaks that look quite promising, we might see the playing field getting some much needed leveling.

And that is a good thing for us consumers.