Some Intel Comet Lake Core i5 processors differ from others in that the silicon under the heatspreader may vary slightly from chip to chip. The Intel Core i5 10400 and Core i5 10400F have two steppings, Q0 and G1, indicating whether these chips are native 6-core or 10-core chips. [The Core i5 10600K, however, runs on the same Q0 10-core die as the flagship Core i9 10900K CPU, but with four cores shut down, so no need to worry about this. However, it is not something to worry about with a CPU that is not overclocked.

We first heard about multiple steppings at TechPowerUp and immediately contacted Intel to double check. We were told that "Core i5-10400 and Core i5-10400F use two manufacturing processes" and that they are all listed in the Ordering and Compliance section of Intel ARK for each chip.

Lo and behold, it's all there. Since nearly every detail is identical between the two chips, including clock speeds and prices, there seems to be no furious rush to get one or the other. Reportedly, the thermal solution used for the Q0 stepping will likely be a 10-core chip with a thinner die and soldered interface material, similar to the enthusiast-grade 10th generation processors, i.e., four cores disabled.

This may allow for better thermal performance and perhaps benefit the power-limited semi-overclocking of recent mobo makers. However, any semi-overclocked cooler would not have much of an impact in stock conditions.

However, G1 stepping is said to be a native 6-core chip. It reportedly uses thermal paste rather than the new STIM solution. Nevertheless, as long as we are talking about a non-K, non-overclocked processor, the performance of the G1 processor should not be hindered.

The easiest way to tell the two steppings apart is to look at the back of the chip, if you have it handy; the Q0 stepping has two clearly separated capacitor groups, while the G1 is more or less a single block. The two also have different spec codes.

Ultimately, there is not much to see here. However, it is fascinating to get a glimpse of the chip manufacturing process and how Intel is trying to bin 14nm processors now that they are reaching such high core counts as the 10-core i9 10900K. [The Intel Core i5 10400, with six cores, looks to be a solid buy for affordable gaming performance.