Launch of Intel Coffee Lake-S and Basin Falls X299 pushed forward to tackle AMD Ryzen
New information about Intel’s upcoming desktop processors, code-named Coffee Lake-S, as well as their related 300-series chipsets, has surfaced on the web. The report comes via the generally reliable Chinese news site BenchLife.info, according to which Intel could launch its Coffee Lake architecture ahead of schedule to cope with increasing competition from AMD’s Ryzen CPUs.
Intel could launch 6-core Coffee Lake-S in Q4 2017
Reportedly, Chipzilla will bring forward the launch of the Coffee Lake desktop chips from the first quarter of 2018 originally to the fourth quarter of this year. The chips will be paired with Intel’s new 300-series platform. The next-gen chipsets will offer enhanced functionality, such as support for USB 3.1 Gen2 and Wi-Fi connectivity, compared to current 200-series chipsets.
Read More: Intel’s Core i7 7740K struggles against Ryzen 5 1600 in SiSoft benchmark
The Coffee Lake chips would be based on the same basic CPU and graphics architectures as the current-gen Kaby Lake processor family. However, they will use a more refined 14nm++ process technology than the 14nm+ process used for the existing chips. This should help increase performance up to 15 percent over Kaby Lake though we won’t see any IPC improvements.
Another main difference will be the introduction of first mainstream 6-core chips by Intel. The Coffee Lake-S processors will be available in two configurations: 4+2 (Quad Core + GT2 Graphics) and 6+2 (Hexa Core + GT2 Graphics).
Intel’s new 6-core desktop chips will offer a significant gain in performance than their predecessors in multi-threaded applications. This will mark the biggest single-gen jump in multi-core performance for the company in a long time.
Along with desktop parts, Intel will also launch 6-core Coffee Lake-H for notebook users who have been stuck with dual and quad core chips for years. The enthusiast PC builders will receive an update in the form of high-end Coffee Lake-X processors with a 6+2 die configuration.
Basin Falls X299 Platform scheduled for Computex 2017 Unveil
Another report from DigiTimes suggests that Intel is planning to unveil its brand new Basin Falls-based products at Computex 2017 in Taipei during May 30 to June 3, with the official release at the end of the month.
The Basin Falls X299 platform includes the 14nm based Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X chips. The Skylake-X series has three 140W SKUs featuring 6-, 8- and 10-core architectures, while the Kaby Lake-X series includes a quad-core processor rated at 112W. The chips will be branded as the Core i7-7000 series processors and utilize the LGA 2066 socket.
Later in August, Intel will release several Coffee Lake K-series Core i7/i5/i3 processors and its Z370 chipsets. Reports are also coming in that the firm could release a high-end 12C/24T Skylake-X processor in the same month to tackle AMD’s alleged 16-core Ryzen processor and X399 platform in the third quarter.
Read More: AMD’s rumored 16-core Ryzen CPU may run at 3.1GHz base and 3.6GHz boost clock
Intel has reportedly paid over $100 million to buy five EUV machine sets from ASML, in order to accelerate the pace of its lithography manufacturing operations.