Intel has rebranded the dusty old Core i5 10400 as the Core i5 110, presumably because it found a bunch of them tucked down the back of the couch

2025-09-12 10:52:00
www.pcgamer.com

Ah, you know how it is. You start looking for a pen, or a sticky note, or maybe some spare change, and suddenly you start finding things you lost years ago. In Intel’s case, that appears to be a load of Comet Lake-era Core i5 10400 CPUs, but not to worry—it’s simply rebranded them as Core i5 110 CPUs, to sync up with its relentlessly-confusing modern chip naming schemes. Oh, and under code name, it’s listed as “products formerly known as Comet Lake.” How very Prince.

Yes, you too could be the proud owner of a five-year-old six-core, 12-thread CPU with a max boost clock of 4.3 GHz and 12 whole MB of L3 cache—albeit with a fancy new name (via Tom’s Hardware). To be honest, it’s probably still a reasonably decent CPU in many scenarios, but you can’t deny that this sort of rebranding makes things even more complicated for your average user trying to decide on their next upgrade.

That’s not to mention that the Core i5 110 is an LGA 1200 socket chip, which is a whole two generations behind. You can still pick up the odd LGA 1200 motherboard if you trawl the listings, but if you ask me it’s a pretty damning indictment of both how old this chip seems in 2025, and how Intel hasn’t exactly made it easy for would-be upgraders with its socket-switching since 2020, when this chip was first released.

You’ll be pairing it with DDR4, of course, as that’s the fastest memory it supports, and you’ll be paying $200 according to the MSRP—although the original Core i5 10400 is currently retailing for $130 at Amazon.

Yep, that sure is a significant amount of cash for a chip that’s been thoroughly outclassed by more recent (and sometimes cheaper) offerings, like the Core i5 13400F. I suppose those of you looking for an upgrade on the LGA 1200 socket might be interested, but for that sort of cash I’d seriously suggest saving up for a more recent motherboard and CPU bundle instead.

A photo of an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K processor surrounded by DDR5 memory sticks from Corsair, Kingston, and Lexar

(Image credit: Future)

Or taking a look at the used market, for that matter, where Comet Lake-era chips are often found for very sensible cash. Regardless, Intel’s naming scheme these days is confusing enough that even we on the PC Gamer hardware team find ourselves occasionally stumped as to which chip architecture falls under which brand.

Say you buy one of Intel’s Series 2 chips, what does that get you? It could be Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, a desktop chip forged out of the Arrow Lake architecture. Or the Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX, an Arrow Lake mobile chip. Or the entirely different Intel Core Ultra 288V, a Lunar Lake mobile chip. Or even an Intel Core 210H, a Raptor Lake rehash for laptops. And you still have some Series 1 chips hanging around, as this latest Comet Lake drop shows, though Series 1 could also mean Meteor Lake or even Raptor Lake chips. The differences in age/ability/power/price between all of these chips is potentially huge.

I think. I’ll be honest, I still consult Jacob’s chart in this article from time to time when I get confused, and I still have to look up individual chips to figure out which architecture they’re using on the regular. And I do this for a living. As a consumer? All I’ll say is check, double check, and check again to make sure you’re buying the correct chip for your setup.

Honestly, I need a lie down. To be fair to Intel, it’s biggest competitor, AMD, also has very confusing naming schemes and the odd bit of dodgy branding, ala the debacle with the Ryzen 5000 XT-series. Anyone got a decoder wheel I could use? All this is giving me a serious headache.

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