Intel "Coffee Lake" (2017/2018, 14 nm)

[iMacmatician]

From BenchLife: "14nm Coffee Lake platform, Intel 8th generation Core processor 2018 debut in the first quarter" (original).

 

[eastmen]

Intel has never released GT4e in a high end desktop part. Broadwell 5775c (GT3e) came close, but it had lower TDP and lower clocks than competing desktop products. Couldn't even beat previous gen in CPU performance. And that desktop Broadwell only had 48 EU GPU. Top end GT4e 72 EU models are only available as mobile CPUs with lower TDP. Socketed desktop chips with 72 EU GPU are not available. Who wants to buy a flagship CPU that is not the fastest in either CPU or GPU side.

It's hard to say anything about interest when the product is not there. Show me a desktop i7 with max clocks (4 GHz+) and high TDP + EDRAM + 72 EU GT4e. Enthusiasts would buy that CPU for the EDRAM alone, as it would be the fastest i7 quad core CPU available. 5775c trounced higher clocked Haswell in some benchmarks because of the EDRAM. Enthusiasts don't want to compromise. If you get EDRAM and faster iGPU with no reduction in CPU clocks, there will be market for it. And I am not talking about people that intend to use the iGPU as their sole GPU. People buying a CPUs like this already have a Geforce 1080 or Titan X.

Intel has to watch out however. AMD with zen will have a 4,8 and higher core count without needing EDRAM or the bloat of a gpu that a user will replace with a dedicated one anyway.

So intel may have dual core and quad core chips bigger than AMD's quad and octocores. Which can allow amd to price lower and appeal much better to the enthusiast market. If performance and price is close I will take an 8 core over a 4 core cpu any day of the week. Software is only going to continue to run better on multiple cores esp if the next xbox runs zen

 

[Kaarlisk]

Well, sadly for me and happily for others, that roadmap slide above does promise a six core mainstream CPU, and does not promise a GT4e GPU at all.

 

[sebbbi]

Well, sadly for me and happily for others, that roadmap slide above does promise a six core mainstream CPU, and does not promise a GT4e GPU at all.

It promises 6 cores + slow iGPU. At least it compiles code faster than 4 core i7 models and has iGPU to debug & profile on Intel GPU. I hate that I need a separate laptop for Intel GPU development. The remaining question is whether this consumer 6 core model has quad channel memory controller. Previous 6 core and 8 core consumer models had quad core memory controller. This would also speed up the GPU performance, as it would double the available bandwidth. But unlike to matter much with a entry level GT2 GPU. GT4 without eDRAM would have been interesting on quad channel memory controller.

 

[Kaarlisk]

The remaining question is whether this consumer 6 core model has quad channel memory controller.

Probably not. For one, too expensive. For two, platform shared with 4 core models. For three, no need – DDR4 is here.

 

[sebbbi]

For three, no need – DDR4 is here.

Both 6 and 8 core i7 Haswells had quad channel DDR4-2133 memory controllers. 6 core Kaby Lake is going to be close to 8 core Haswell in ALU performance -> it should also benefit from quad channel memory. If the memory is limited to dual channel, then six cores CPU is going be memory starved in some workloads.

But I tend to agree that the cost and platform might be limitating factors. You mostly see gains of the quad channel memory when you are running heavy AVX/AVX2 vector code. AVX/AVX2 is not used that widely yet in consumer applications.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

It promises 6 cores + slow iGPU.

Hopefully, this leaves an opening for AMD to come up without competition on APUs with powerful CPUs and iGPUs.

We're in desperate need for competition IMO.
It took Intel over 10 years to increase core count in their consumer offerings, and it's from 4 to 6 cores.

 

[Rodéric]

Hopefully, this leaves an opening for AMD to come up without competition on APUs with powerful CPUs and iGPUs.

We're in desperate need for competition IMO.
It took Intel over 10 years to increase core count in their consumer offerings, and it's from 4 to 6 cores.

Well don't forget that there's a lot of inertia on the software side making core increase not so appealing, especially when that area could be spent on a GPU which is more useful to most customers. (Not gamers obviously.)

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Well don't forget that there's a lot of inertia on the software side making core increase not so appealing, especially when that area could be spent on a GPU which is more useful to most customers. (Not gamers obviously.)

At least for games, that's where DX12 and Vulkan come in. Even the worst DX12 "ports" seem to show much lower dependence on CPU single-core performance than their DX11 version.

 

[eastmen]

Well don't forget that there's a lot of inertia on the software side making core increase not so appealing, especially when that area could be spent on a GPU which is more useful to most customers. (Not gamers obviously.)

I am sure AMD will have a gpu on their lower end APUs . I would think we would see 4 and 8 core ones with it. Its just for gamers they will have ones without it. Which for a gamer could be a money saver

 

[Blazkowicz]

Doesn't this [memory speed or bandwith] problem exist on Skylake? I have the understanding you need a Z-series chipset to "unlock" some missing performance by clocking the RAM higher, such as DDR4-2667, DDR4-2800 or higher.
Although maybe most of the benefit of it is lower memory latency.

That's a little rant I have against the Intel chips, your PC will be a bit slower if you use a low end motherboard, just because one setting is turned off. With the six core chip this gap ought to increase.

 

[-Sweeper_]

So according to the latest rumors Coffee Lake-S for desktops get an earlier than expected August 2017 launch. Several K SKUs and Z370 MBs coming first.

http://www.digitimes.com/pda/a20170419PD207.html

 

[iMacmatician]

From a user on AnandTech forums:

Let me guess, do the -62 and -42 refer to 6 + 2 and 4 + 2 configurations respectively?

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Meaning still no GT3/4e iGPUs for desktop products.
Unless severely dwarfed by lack of bandwidth, Raven Ridge will have a field day among the esports crowd.

 

[Kaarlisk]

https://www.anandtech.com/show/1186...ation-coffee-lake-hex-core-desktop-processors

For those who wanted 4 cores:
$170 for 3.0/3.5 (base/boost) becomes $117 for 3.6 (base, no boost) – very clear gain.
For those who need really high clocks, prices may have increased (but you also gain 2 cores):
$217 for 3.8/4.2 becomes $182 for 2.8/4.0 or $257 for 3.6/4.3.

 

[xEx]

A lunch without reviews is never a good sign, even more taking into account the ultra odd "metrics" is 25% more fps in doom...more fps no general performance so this is like the best case scenario and 25% more fps but at which settings? using with GPU? and what exactly is "mega tasking"??? I have a Vega FE feeling about this.

 

[Kaarlisk]

There is zero doubt that perf/price improved massively as long as the task concerned is parallelizable.

And unlike Ryzen, where the huge improvement was at high prices & high core counts, the most massive improvement with CoffeeLake is at low core counts & low price points.

 

[Grall]

the most massive improvement with CoffeeLake is at low core counts & low price points.

Could have been lower, had not Intel forced you to buy a new mobo for no other reason than wanting to sell you a chipset AND a CPU... Chipset is allegedly even the exact same kaby lake chipset that has been out for months already, just rebadged.

 

[Squilliam]

Could have been lower, had not Intel forced you to buy a new mobo for no other reason than wanting to sell you a chipset AND a CPU... Chipset is allegedly even the exact same kaby lake chipset that has been out for months already, just rebadged.

Isn't there a different pin configuration?

 

[xEx]

Isn't there a different pin configuration?

No. there is no proof of any technical limitation.