Intel Skylake / Kaby Lake

[Roger Wilco]

I see lakes of coffee in my future. I'm hoping the i5 finally goes multithreaded.

 

[LTC8K6]

Intel must be skurred of X399.

Intel has shown little sign of being bothered by RyZen so far, imo.

 

[LTC8K6]

That may be true but hardly helps prove anything. If CFL is meant as a drop in upgrade, why have a 300 series launch alongside it given that, as you say, Z270 is only 4 months old.

I'm not saying it can't happen but you've only got wishful thinking at best at the moment.

Only the high end Z chipset is launching alongside. The rest will be in December.

 

[LTC8K6]

Start looking for BIOS upgrades that support the new chips. We should see those soon if the CL chips are going to work with the old chipsets.

 

[Ajay]

That may be true but hardly helps prove anything. If CFL is meant as a drop in upgrade, why have a 300 series launch alongside it given that, as you say, Z270 is only 4 months old.

I'm not saying it can't happen but you've only got wishful thinking at best at the moment.

I don't think it's just wishful thinking. It's just following recent behavior in the Intel ecosystem of support being offered for the previous generation of motherboards if the socket is physically and electrically compatible. We already know CFL is pin compatible and it seems likely to be electrically compatible (unless providing power to the hexacore CFL results in Intel changing the pin out map for all 'S' dies).

 

[Ajay]

This is some really great news, Sweepr.

I was originally planning to go with Skylake-X, but I think instead I'm going to replace my 7700Ks with 6 core Coffee Lake-S "K" models. No need to rip and replace mobos, great balance between MT perf and ST perf.

I agree. Saving a 200-300 hundred bucks over HEDT makes it much more likely that I'll have a nice new system in my stocking next Christmas . I hope, due to competition from AMD, that the CFL (6C/12T) model takes over $350 price point.

I do wonder what the L3$ size will be in the hexacore CFL (6C/12T) model (50% more for 12 MB would be excellent).

 

[lobz]

It's just my luck. I was just getting ready to get myself a 7700k in 5 days, lol.

you didn't lose much

 

[Ajay]

My expectations as well. I have little doubt they will increase the core/thread count in every Core segment. Now imagine if these 6C/12T babes overclock even higher than i7-7700K due to the new 14nm++ proccess. Exciting times ahead.

Well, that would be incredible (5.0 GHz seems pretty typical for Kabylake unless you get a dud). I don't think it's likely with 50% more cores and a larger L3$. I'd be pretty psyched over a solid 4.8 GHz on all cores. We'll see.

 

[cbn]

- H370, B360 and H310 chipsets motherboard at the end of 2017 or early 2018

Hopefully H310 finally gets M.2 3.0 x 4.

 

[LTC8K6]

What is the TDP of the 6 core chip likely to be?

Presumably we will get a little efficiency gain from 14nm++?

 

[PingSpike]

Are 6 core chips on the the mainstream platform actually confirmed? As in you buy z370 or maybe z270/z170 and you can put a coffee lake 6 core in there?

Because when I read that list, the 6 cores are confirmed for the x299 (I assume HEDT chipset) but I see nothing that confirms a 6 core for mainstream in that list.

 

[LTC8K6]

Are 6 core chips on the the mainstream platform actually confirmed? As in you buy z370 or maybe z270/z170 and you can put a coffee lake 6 core in there?

Because when I read that list, the 6 cores are confirmed for the x299 (I assume HEDT chipset) but I see nothing that confirms a 6 core for mainstream in that list.

Benchlife reported the 6C12T mainstream CL chip.
https://benchlife.info/intel-z370-q370-b350-h310-pch-for-coffe-lake-04162017/

In the earlier data, we have determined that the 300 Series chipset's Coffee Lake-S processor will provide 6 Cores 12 Threads products, which is Intel's first in the mainstream platform to enhance the number of processors and threads.

 

[StinkyPinky]

A 6c i7 would do nicely as a replacement for my 4790k. That would make a nice christmas present for myself.

 

[Roger Wilco]

What is the point of the 4-core KL-X? Isn't it going to compete with the 7700K and the 4-core CL?

 

[Ajay]

What is the point of the 4-core KL-X? Isn't it going to compete with the 7700K and the 4-core CL?

I supposed it was a sort of way to get into HEDT at a lower price and upgrade later. I was thinking about that, but this has become completely pointless, IMHO, with 6 core CFL and Ryzen.

 

[Ajay]

What is the TDP of the 6 core chip likely to be?

Presumably we will get a little efficiency gain from 14nm++?

IDK if there is a limit for socket H4, otherwise I'd guess @ ~125W (assuming the same efficiency gain that 14+ gave Intel).

 

[Sweepr]

Well, that would be incredible (5.0 GHz seems pretty typical for Kabylake unless you get a dud). I don't think it's likely with 50% more cores and a larger L3$. I'd be pretty psyched over a solid 4.8 GHz on all cores. We'll see.

Regardless of the stock clocks and TDP, if this CPU maintains and/or improves upon Kaby Lake overclocking potential with 6C/12T (14nm++) it will become the default choice for many gaming builds and also a very competitive alternative to Ryzen in productivity. Quad-core i7-7700K and i5-7600K remain the best selling chips in Amazon (US).

 

[rainy]

Being a bit on sarcastic side, it's nice to see Intel pushing releases of Skylake-X by two months and Coffee Lake by a couple months, despite that Ryzen is not a serious competitor to them.

 

[Sweepr]

Intel must be skurred of X399.

It's been known since January (before any X399 leak) that Skylake-X wouldn't top out at 10C - thanks to BenchLife. They could easily offer more than 12C if they wanted as well, the Skylake-X MCC die they are using has 18C as well as much more cache than Skylake-X LCC, but they're probably confident it will be enough to maintain the performance lead.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Isn't competition grand? I bet if Ryzen was a complete dud, then Coffee Lake et al would have been "delayed" by a few months instead.

 

[Edrick]

Isn't competition grand? I bet if Ryzen was a complete dud, then Coffee Lake et al would have been "delayed" by a few months instead.

Exactly. I am not an AMD fan, but I am cheering them on for this simple reason.

 

[LTC8K6]

What is the point of the 4-core KL-X? Isn't it going to compete with the 7700K and the 4-core CL?

It has to be the entry level to the X299 / LGA2066 HEDT, I guess.

It may have a high base clock, given it's relatively high TDP.

 

[LTC8K6]

Isn't competition grand? I bet if Ryzen was a complete dud, then Coffee Lake et al would have been "delayed" by a few months instead.

If a 6 core chip cleans it's clock in June, then RyZen may well look like an 8 core dud.

EDIT: assuming we get reliable leaks by June.

 

[JoeRambo]

First time since original Nehalem hit, things are real interesting! Being able to choose between HEDT Skylake-X with reworked cache structure and quad channel on 14nm+ or "mainstream" six core with hopefully 12MB of L3 on 14nm++?

If both clock 4.5Ghz+ and i don't see why they shouldn't, gonna be interesting to see what wins: larger (but somewhat slower?) L2 on HEDT or 12MB of that sweet Intel L3 ( assuming uncore can hit 4.5Ghz as on Kabys). Fun comparisons ahead, both will improve gaming perf for sure.

P.S. i am personally leaning towards HEDT, as 256kb of L2 is anemic in 2017 and could boost IPC 10-15% in gaming and those pesky web tests.

 

[mikk]

IDK if there is a limit for socket H4, otherwise I'd guess @ ~125W (assuming the same efficiency gain that 14+ gave Intel).

Platform TDP options are 65W and 95W for CFL-S according to the slide I have from a manufacturer, although the CPU TDP might differ from earlier Roadmaps (7700k TDP is 91W, platform/cooler TDP is 95W). We obviously shouldn't expect 4.4 Ghz on default when 6C are loaded, but even with something like 3.8 Ghz it should give us a nice multithread boost over 4C Kabylake. It's a different question with OC of course. It will be interesting to see how it compares regarding temperatures, I mean the Die is bigger and I wonder what Intel did compared to Kabylake.