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Rumour: Intel’s Coffee Lake CPUs to bring six cores to i7, i5 and laptops

Before Intel ushers in 10nm with the launch of Cannon Lake, we still have one more round of 14nm CPUs to get through in the form of Coffee Lake. We are expecting to see Coffee Lake make its way to the desktop in 2018 but it looks like some details are hitting the web ahead of time, with reports indicating that Intel will be shifting to six core chips for Core i7, Core i5 and even laptop processors.

The latest information on Coffee Lake comes from CPCHardware, whose report details several upcoming six core SKUs. We'll start at the top with the  high-end i7 8700K CPU. which will supposedly feature six cores and 12 threads with hyper threading enabled. The report claims a 3.7GHz base clock speed and a 95W TDP. From there, we should also get a locked non-K i7 8700, with a slightly lower base frequency, coming in at 3.2GHz.

Some i5s were also detailed, the rumour is that these CPUs will also feature six cores but as usual, hyper threading will be removed to help differentiate it from the Core i7. The Core i5 8600K is said to feature a 3.6GHz base clock speed and a 95W TDP. There is also said to be a lower end Core i5 8400.

The final talking point from the report is that Intel may produce pure mobile six-core CPUs for the first time. Of course, these will also be lower power parts with 45W TDPs and lower clock speeds but it should be an interesting shift, especially with AMD's Ryzen mobile launch on the horizon.

KitGuru Says: While X299 seems to have done very little to slow down AMD's momentum with Ryzen so far, it looks like the true challenge may come with Coffee Lake early next year. What do you guys think of Intel's plans so far? Would mainstream six cores tempt you? 

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15 comments

  1. Only if I can flash my Z170 Maximus Gene. Honestly this feels like a brand new board too me, where has the time gone? I cant believe its almost 2 years old already. I skipped Z270 as I didn’t need the 4 extra PCIE lanes and that was the only benefit.
    I’m guessing Z370 isn’t going to bring much more to the party, I run a single GPU and one 512gb Samsung NVMe SSD 960 PRO so Z170 is perfectly adequate for my needs. 6c/6t would be a worthy upgrade on my i5 6600k but if I need to swap boards too I might as well go Ryzen.

  2. Omg this isn’t a rumor. Intel confirmed this in their roadmaps back in 2015/16 for crying out loud.

  3. Intel you are wasting your time. You can’t beat an 8-core with a 6-core. I am right now with a i7 5820K which I bought 2 and half years ago, and in just after 2 and a half years later, I’d want another 2 cores on top…I don’t see you giving me these, so I will go ahead and buy a 3rd gen Ryzen/Threadripper.

  4. Better IMC was another benefit of Z270, as well as with Kaby Lake chips, mind.

    Just saying on that part.

  5. I’m in the same boat, and am waiting to see what Zen+ brings to the table 🙂

  6. Lionel Alanguilan

    Roadmaps are subject to change

  7. And AMD strikes back with Zen+, hope it can be OC’ed to at least 4.5GHz.

  8. Doesn’t make it a rumor. It’s a leak. Some people are capable of discerning between rumors and leaks, some aren’t. We don’t need to bring everyone’s level to the latter though.

  9. Yes, they can beat an 8 core with 6 core

    i7 7800X beats Ryzen 1700 in majority of benchmarks

  10. Which benchmarks are you talking about? DX11? This is old crap and DX12 games usually support higher core count. That’s why I considered more cores > IPC from the moment the new APIs got released. In productivity, 1700 cleans the floor with i7 7800X. It’s why I bought my 6-core back in 2015 (when NOTHING was using all the cores).

  11. 1700 cleans the floor with i7 7800X ?! Is this a joke ?!

    Here is the reviews for example
    http://www.anandtech.com/show/11550/the-intel-skylakex-review-core-i9-7900x-i7-7820x-and-i7-7800x-tested

    In some productivity task, i7 7800X even beat 1700X and even 1800X (like in handbrake). The low clocked 1700 loses in a lot of benchmarks, and even the few cases that it win, the gap is too small, and yet you claim that it “cleans the floor? LOL !! Sorry but all review out their prove you wrong. Even higher clocked 1800X does not “clean the floor”

  12. And now look at the price of the CPU, the X299 platform, the temps and efficiency and you would know what I’m talking about… i7 7800X and Ryzen 7 1700 are equal on some benchmarks, trade blows in others, and the overall winner is the i7 7800X in performance…with the cost of efficiency and $$$. Id rather go with Ryzen 7.

  13. Lionel Alanguilan

    I think it’s possible but unlikely that a 6 core Coffee Lake would beat an 8 core Ryzen. Ex.: 7700k abd 1800x are very close in some benchmarks

  14. Of course you can! It’s not just about core count you now. The IPC on Intel has always been higher and will continue to be so which is important for many gamers and even 3D modelling apps, DAW (music) software etc. Obviously more cores is better too if you can get it but not always at the expense of core speed and efficiency itself.

    Skylake X is a mess, for sure, but the mainstream chips are ahead of AMD even now (on speed not cores). A new 6 core standard is a good move, esp if they don’t jump to 8 and can sell it cheaper while beating AMD on IPC. Perfect for most gamers and some mild productivity like the ADOBE suite.

    Think you need to move to HEDT if you are looking at proper cores and the support that goes with it (ram, PCI lanes etc), for mainstream chips with lower prices, coffee should be ‘decent’ and cannon should be pretty good. Of course none of them will be quite the leap we got with Sandy Bridge just yet.

  15. You may be right in terms of them beating this Ryzen 1st gen. My upgrade of my 6-core 5820K lines up for upgrade to cannonlake or Zen 3 (7nm+). AMD won’t just sit back with Ryzen, they will improve IPC with their upcoming Zen cores. So looking at coffee-lake, if the rumors are true, then we are getting a better a lot better IPC, which will be enough to justify buying a 6-core Intel over 8-core AMD Ryzen…until next summer…