Coffee Lake Thread

[SteelCrysis]

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-...37819.html

We've confirmed through multiple sources that Intel is fabbing its new H310C chipset on its 22nm process, which means the chip-making giant has taken a step back to an older process as it struggles with its ongoing shortage of 14nm processors. Contrary to recent reports, our sources confirmed Intel manufactures these chips and not TSMC (which has been reported in recent weeks), though that could be subject to change in the future.
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Word of a new H310C chipset surfaced last month. Leaked images of the new H310C on mydrivers.com revealed that the new H310C, which measures 10 x 7mm, is much larger than the 14nm H310, which measures 8.5 x 6.5mm.

However, the increased physical size alone doesn't confirm that Intel is fabbing the new chipset on a larger process, so we reached out to several contacts and confirmed the change.

Our sources indicate that vanilla H310 motherboards will continue to be offered at retail locations, but they fully expect the H310C motherboards, which will be branded with either an H310C or H310 R2.0 branding, to replace the existing SKUs eventually. The new chipsets will also support Windows 7, as reported by our sister site AnandTech, which may signal that Intel will restore compatibility with the older OS on its newer motherboards, such as the forthcoming Z390 lineup. That's an abrupt about-face from the decision to stop supporting older versions of Windows with the Kaby Lake processors.

Currently, the 14nm chipsets are clogging Intel's 14nm foundries. In most cases, the company has to create one chipset for each processor, so easing that production load would free Intel up to produce more 14nm Coffee Lake processors. For Intel, it makes a lot of sense to move back to the 22nm process for its chipsets: performance and power consumption also isn't as much of a concern with the low-end chipsets, and, most importantly, the tiny chips generate very little margin. That means Intel stands to lose little from going back to an older node that may cost slightly more to produce.

We don't expect Intel to move its desktop or server processors back to the 22nm node, but it is possible that it may migrate other chipsets back to 22nm. It's also possible for Intel to move other low-margin parts back to an older process, or to explore outsourcing some of its production in the future.