What is Intel processor suffix and why we should care about it?

Preface of Intel processor suffix:

Suppose we make up our mind to buy/build a computer. Processor is the first thing that comes in our mind while choosing the same. As there are many processors out there in the market, therefore it becomes difficult for customers to choose. Processor manufacturers like Intel use different alphanumeric naming schemes to segregate among the processors. For customers, these naming patterns are quite messy. In this blog, we shall clear all the confusion about Intel processor suffix names.

Intel processor suffix alphabets:

As discussed in the above paragraph, we shall have a quick overlook of the alphabets that Intel uses to differentiate the purpose of each category processor. The processor number is one of the several aspects along with processor manufacturer, system configuration and system level benchmark. These factors helps customer to choose the right processor. A general rule of thumb is higher the number within the processor class then it indicated more features, but it may be one or more than others.

Suffix	Description	Example
K	Unlocked	Intel core i9 9900K
T	Power optimized	Intel core i9 9900T
F	Required discrete graphics	Intel core i9 9900KF
S	Special Edition	Intel core i9 9900KS
C	Unlocked , LGA 1150 socket with high performance graphics
R	BGA 1364 socket with high performance graphics
H	High performance graphics	Intel core i9 9880K
HK	High performance graphics , Unlocked	Intel core i9 9900HK
HQ	High performance graphics , quad core	Intel core i7 7290HQ
Q	Quad core with high performance	Intel core 2 Quad Processor Q6600
QX	Quad core with extreme high performance	Intel core 2 extreme QX9650
G	Include graphics on board	Intel Pentium G4620
U	Ultra-low power	Intel core i7 3667U
Y	Extremely low power	Intel core i7 3689Y
M	Mobile	Intel core i7 2677M
MQ	Mobile Quad Core	Intel core i7 4702MQ
MX	Mobile Extreme edition	Intel core i7 4940 MX extreme edition

 

More details about H and U suffixes :

Suffix reveals a ton of information about the subclass of a processor.Processors with suffix H and U are most widely used. U suffix processors are mainly used in consumer and business-class laptops. Whereas H suffix processors are used in desktop and gaming laptops. Apart from the number of core and number of threads, there is a term called “Thermal Design Power”,  widely known as TDP, plays an important role in determining the processing power of a processor.