Coffee Lake Thread

[SteelCrysis]

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/27...ation-cpus

There is one interesting implication of the fact that no new Core i7 CPUs were listed under the 6+2 moniker, while a number of Core i5s are. There’s been a rumor in the industry that Intel might be preparing to release eight-core Core i7 CPUs later this year. Intel obviously knew for quite some time that its 10nm process wasn’t yielding up to desired specifications and could have planned an eight-core 14nm CPU for desktop as a potential response.

There are several reasons why the company might take this step. First, it puts them on an even core-for-core footing with AMD. Right now, AMD’s Ryzen 7 2700X has ExtremeTech’s nod over the Core i7-8700K, precisely because two more cores give the CPU the headroom it needs to take the multi-processing lead over Intel. Second, bumping up core counts lets Intel keep talking up the efficiency of its 14nm process. If you’ve paid any attention to the company’s messaging around 14nm in the wake of the 10nm delay, it’s talked up how it delivered a 70 percent performance improvement over the life of 14nm to date. Most of that improvement arrived in mobile, courtesy of a shift from high-clock dual-core parts to lower-clocked quad-cores. We think there’s basically no chance of 15W six-core CPUs in mobile, but Intel could drop an eight-core desktop chip into the same TDP brackets it uses now and claim a performance and efficiency improvement as a result.

Third, bumping up core counts in mainstream desktop gives Intel reason to trim prices overall and talk up its own improved value as opposed to looking weak by cutting prices in response to AMD. We’ve already talked about how AMD’s 32-core Threadripper is virtually certain to force Intel to slash its own core counts. If it doesn’t, it’ll be putting an 18-core chip at $2000 up against a 32-core CPU at a presumed MSRP of $2000 – $2500. That’s not going to end well for Intel. But if eight-core CPUs go mainstream, the company can trim the entire rest of its stack accordingly.

All of this is speculation based on what was clearly information Intel didn’t intend to include in this presentation, combined with some rumors from earlier in the year, so I wouldn’t hang much weight on it — and it’s my theory. But given the competitive pressure on Intel this year, this kind of shift would make sense.