Coffee Lake -- Yea or Nay?

[Arachnotronic]

I am curious as to this board's reaction to the idea of Coffee Lake -- a chip that basically delivers the Kaby Lake architecture, but with six cores rather than four.

Is this product more compelling to you than a hypothetical Cannon Lake-based quad core would have been (in other words, higher IPC/single-thread performance, but fewer cores), or is a hex-Skylake core mainstream chip more interesting to you?

All thoughts welcome.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Lets wait and see what (or if) intel actually delivers. TBH, I will believe a mainstream hex core from Intel when I actually see it. And what will happen to the HEDT platform? I have a feeling the "mainstream" chip may be a lower TDP, relatively low clocked chip so as not to compete with the HEDT platform.

 

[whm1974]

As of now I'm planning on building a new system in 2019 replacing my current 2013 rig. If the 8 core Zen is highly successful, then it isn't hard to imagine Intel releasing mainstream 6 and 8 core CPUs.

I would consider getting a higher core count CPU if the price is right and it doesn't have major heat issues

 

[Arachnotronic]

Lets wait and see what (or if) intel actually delivers. TBH, I will believe a mainstream hex core from Intel when I actually see it. And what will happen to the HEDT platform? I have a feeling the "mainstream" chip may be a lower TDP, relatively low clocked chip so as not to compete with the HEDT platform.

I don't think it will be a relatively low clocked chip. Kaby Lake 7700K will set the bar high and falling short of that would be a disaster.

 

[whm1974]

I don't think it will be a relatively low clocked chip. Kaby Lake 7700K will set the bar high and falling short of that would be a disaster.

The HEDT will have a higher core count and quad channel memory.

 

[Shivansps]

It mostly depends on the execution...

I7- 6C/HT
I5-6C
I3-4C/HT
Pentium-4C

thats OK... anything else, nay.

 

[whm1974]

I wonder how big a game changer the extra cores will be?

 

[beginner99]

Sounds interesting but will probably be too late as I plan to upgrade soon. 7700k or Zen. But given AMDs track record I'm betting it will be the 7700k.

 

[arandomguy]

It's compelling in terms of the implications for the mainstream platform going forward. Well assuming actually upgrades per segment at similar prices. Also that they do not restrict or more restrictive OCing/clockspeeds by trying to move those users to HEDT.

But as currently rumored largely the same architecture, technology and platform as Kaby Lake, and by extension Sky Lake, doesn't really make me want to buy or wait for it per say. If you really need the extra cores you those would have already been available. If you just want the extra cores the extra wait for Ice Lake isn't really going to mean much.


It does shift up expectations and excitement for what comes next with Ice Lake mainstream and potential 6c/12t at current, or slightly higher, mainstream i7 prices. On paper at the moment Ice Lake is looking likely to then include a new architecture for the both the CPU and GPU. New process. At least one major platform update with PCIe 4.0. There is also the possibility given timing of Intel implementing adaptive sync support, full HDR, and AV1 decode which I'm not sure how likely these would be for Coffee Lake.

 

[FIVR]

I think intel will have to do a lot more than just jam 2 more cores into the same chip on the same lithography with the same bus and the same I/O to compete with Zen, but I'm sure you'll buy it anyway OP.

And make a terribly uninformative and boring post about it too! Oh wait...


Trolling is not allowed
Markfw900

 

[NostaSeronx]

imho, yea only if priced low and used LarrabeeX(Itanium-like vs x86-like Larrabee) for iGPU.

 

[whm1974]

If AMD's 8 core Zen sells well then I wouldn't be surprised if Intel releases a 6 core Kaby Lake CPU for socket 1151 in response.

 

[arandomguy]

If AMD's 8 core Zen sells well then I wouldn't be surprised if Intel releases a 6 core Kaby Lake CPU for socket 1151 in response.

At the moment that is what the rumors suggest Coffee Lake is, Kaby Lake with higher core/thread counts.

 

[Borealis7]

for gaming, i think 4C/8T or 8C is enough. the GigarHutrz matter more, so overclockability is more interesting than more cores.

 

[cytg111]

The presence of a hex core skylake could indicate that intel is taking the rumored zen offerings seriously and is positioning their product line accordingly. Id say CoffeeLake Yay, cause, options.

 

[cytg111]

If AMD's 8 core Zen sells well then I wouldn't be surprised if Intel releases a 6 core Kaby Lake CPU for socket 1151 in response.

Naw, they got HEDT for that .. if Zen turns out to sell well Intel HEDT will problary just come down in price.

It seems like AMD is missing the 2C/4T market though (or knows it cannot compete in it anyway.)

 

[Dribble]

Still happily using my i2500K waiting for something worth upgrading too, an affordable 6 core is probably it.

 

[jpiniero]

The presence of a hex core skylake could indicate that intel is taking the rumored zen offerings seriously and is positioning their product line accordingly. Id say CoffeeLake Yay, cause, options.

I don't think Zen plays a part in it... I think it's more about mobile gaming/Xeon workstations, and the extra cores would be helpful. Intel's had some success there.

OTOH, Cynically you could say they are adding the cores because they don't have much else to add at this point.

 

[NTMBK]

Naw, they got HEDT for that .. if Zen turns out to sell well Intel HEDT will problary just come down in price.

HEDT has a price floor. It's a big expensive platform with quad channel memory, tons of PCIe lanes, and support for multi-socket systems (even if this is disabled in consumer parts). All of this adds transistors on the CPU, and complexity to the motherboard. They can't get the price as low as if they made a dedicated 6 core consumer chip.

Anyway, the big win will be in laptops. 6 core Macbook Pro, anyone?

 

[Arachnotronic]

HEDT has a price floor. It's a big expensive platform with quad channel memory, tons of PCIe lanes, and support for multi-socket systems (even if this is disabled in consumer parts). All of this adds transistors on the CPU, and complexity to the motherboard. They can't get the price as low as if they made a dedicated 6 core consumer chip.

Anyway, the big win will be in laptops. 6 core Macbook Pro, anyone?

Don't forget gaming laptops and mobile workstations.

Performance increases in the H-series chips has been glacial compared to the performance increases seen in in the U/Y/N chips. Two more cores stuffed in a 45W TDP would be really impressive.

 

[Rifter]

I am curious as to this board's reaction to the idea of Coffee Lake -- a chip that basically delivers the Kaby Lake architecture, but with six cores rather than four.

Is this product more compelling to you than a hypothetical Cannon Lake-based quad core would have been (in other words, higher IPC/single-thread performance, but fewer cores), or is a hex-Skylake core mainstream chip more interesting to you?

All thoughts welcome.

Im pretty excited. Im not upgrading til i can get 6+ cores on a mainstream platform. So that will either be Zen or CL. I however do have fears like frozentundra123456 that intel will screw this up somehow, especially if zen flops.

 

[moonbogg]

Its not very exciting since I've had 6 cores for almost 5 years now.

 

[CHADBOGA]

Pricing and clockspeeds are the big unknown and so very important.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Pricing and clockspeeds are the big unknown and so very important.

My guess is that they will not regress in clocks in 1-4 core modes and that pricing will be similar to 6700k/7700k.

 

[jpiniero]

My guess is that they will not regress in clocks in 1-4 core modes

It probably won't be any better though. Also seems like it will still only have 8 MB L3 too.