Intel 10th Gen H-series CPU benchmarks leak: Is 11% upgrade enough to top AMD?

(Image credit: Raisaliya/Shutterstock)

Intel's 10th Gen mobile H-series processors aren't expected to arrive for several weeks, but leaked benchmarks show us what to expect out of these flagship CPUs. 

The entry-level Core i5-10300H, a Comet Lake chip with four cores and eight threads, will provide an 11% boost in performance over its predecessors, according to a LaptopMedia report. In the Cinebench R20 benchmark test, the Core i5-10300H scored a 1,924 while the current-gen chip, Intel's Core i5-9300H, landed at 1,730.  

That's a solid, if unremarkable generation-over-generation improvement, although we weren't expecting anything groundbreaking. After all, if the leak is accurate, then the 10th Gen Core i5-10300H has the same makeup as its 9th Gen equivalent (4-core, 16-thread). 

Furthermore, it uses the same 14-nanometer node and not the 10nm used on Ice Lake chips. This means the 45-watt 10th Gen H-series processors won't receive much of a performance upgrade beyond a small improvement in frequency. 

Intel will need to squeeze all the performance out of the 14nm node if these flagship H-series CPUs are going to compete against AMD's 4000-series chips. Based on its Zen 2 architecture, AMD's upcoming 7nm processors promise "desktop-caliber performance."

Intel hasn't officially released specs or performance benchmarks for its 45 W chips but the processors were teased at CES 2020 with a bold claim that Core i7 and Core i9 chips would hit 5.0 GHz

We already know the Acer ConceptD 7 Ezel and Ezel Pro laptops, as well as Lenovo's Y740S, will pack the new chips. We'll be sure to put Intel's H-series processors up against AMD's 4000-series chips once we get our hands on both. 

Phillip Tracy

Phillip Tracy is the assistant managing editor at Laptop Mag where he reviews laptops, phones and other gadgets while covering the latest industry news. After graduating with a journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin, Phillip became a tech reporter at the Daily Dot. There, he wrote reviews for a range of gadgets and covered everything from social media trends to cybersecurity. Prior to that, he wrote for RCR Wireless News covering 5G and IoT. When he's not tinkering with devices, you can find Phillip playing video games, reading, traveling or watching soccer.