Intel launches new 8th Gen desktop processors and H370, H310 and B360 chipsets

We've already covered Intel's Coffee Lake-H laptop launch today, but now we are turning out attention to announcements on the desktop side of things. Coffee Lake first launched for desktops back in October, but the lineup has been somewhat barebones, with just the Z370 chipset and a handful of CPUs available. Today, that is changing, with Intel launching the H370, H310 and B360 chipsets alongside some extra processors to fill out the price brackets.

We'll start off with the new CPUs. There are two more Core i5 Coffee Lake processors hitting the market- the i5-8600 and the i5-8400, both packing six cores and hyper threading. The Core i3 8th Gen lineup is also getting a new addition with the Core i3-8300, which has a 100MHz boost over the i3-8100 while retaining the same 65W TDP.

Intel is also rolling out a low-power T-series version for Coffee Lake. These processors run at just 35W and will likely be used by OEMs looking to make small, low TDP systems for offices.

Now lets talk about the new 300-series chipsets. Up to this point, consumers have only had Z370 options for 8th Gen processors, but today, H370, H310 and B360 boards will be joining the lineup. These chipsets offer lower-end options with a few sacrifices in place. For instance, the H370 platform has a maximum of 30 high speed I/O lanes, a maximum of 6 SATA 3.0 6Gb/s ports and a maximum of 20 PCI-E 3.0 lanes.

H310 on the other hand has a maximum of 14 high speed I/O lanes, 4 SATA 3.0 6Gb/s ports and 6 Gen 2 PCI-E 3.0 lanes. The H310 chipset also sacrifices Intel Optane Memory support.

B360 sits somewhere in between, with support for 24 I/O lanes, 12 PCI-E 3.0 lanes and 6 SATA 3.0 6Gb/s ports.

We'll have more coverage on different 300-series motherboards coming from different vendors shortly. We've already seen Biostar's new B360 series, but we also have details on boards from Asus and MSI.

KitGuru Says: There are finally 300-series options for PC builders on a tighter budget. Are any of you thinking about upgrading to Coffee Lake this year?

Become a Patron!