Intel’s New 8th Generation Coffee Lake Processors

Intel’s New 8th Generation Coffee Lake Processors

On August, 21, most of us are going to have a hard time choosing which way to look. Intel timed the introduction of the 8th generation of its CPUs to correspond with the full solar eclipse that will be seen across the USA. The Intel event, by the way- will also be broadcasted on Facebook Live.

When we last mentioned the new Coffee Lake CPUs, some major changes have been revealed since then.

The top 8th Gen CPUs are going to include: Intel Core i7-8700K, Intel Core i5-8600K, and i3-8350K.

Every CPU will feature 6 cores except for the i3 model. Only the top i7 models will feature hyper-threading, which is no surprise. The engineers promise a 30% boost in clock speed, and the i7 processors showed a 50% boost in synthetic tests. The socket LGA 1151 will remain the same.

Let’s start with the top dog. The clock speed is going to be 0.10 higher than expected but the overclock speed per core is going to be 0.10 lower.

Intel Core i7-8700K

Family: Coffee Lake-S.
Process: 14 nm.
Cores: 6.
Hyper-Threading Support: Yes.
Threads: 12 (2 threads per core).
Clock Speed: 3.80 GHz.
Overclocking support: Yes.
Boost Speed: 4.30 / 4.40 / 4.50 GHz.
Boost Speed per Core: 4.30.
Native Memory Type: DDR4-2666 MHz.
OC Native Memory Type: up to 4400 MHz+.
Socket: LGA 1151.
TDP: 95W.
Price: $349.

The CPU got a ‘younger’ iteration with locked overclocking supporting Intel Core i7-8700. The chip is slower and cooler as well. If you don’t know how to overclock your system or just don’t see the necessity, this chip will be a good choice for your workstation.

Intel Core i7-8700

Family: Coffee Lake-S.
Process: 14 nm.
Cores: 6.
Hyper-Threading Support: Yes.
Threads: 12 (2 threads per core).
Clock Speed: 3.70 GHz.
Overclocking support: Yes.
Boost Speed: 4.40 GHz.
Boost Speed per Core: 4.20.
Native Memory Type: N/A.
OC Native Memory Type: N/A.
Socket: LGA 1151.
TDP: 65W.

Then comes the runner-up – Intel Core i5-8600K. The chip is unlocked but features no hyper-threading. Obviously, the boosted CPU will use too much energy and radiate too much heat to support double thread per core. If you don’t need to multitask, this will be great choice for you for the next two or three years for smooth gaming.

Intel Core i5-8600K

Family: Coffee Lake-S.
Process: 14 nm.
Cores: 6.
Hyper-Threading Support: No.
Threads: 6.
Clock Speed: 3.50 GHz.
Overclocking support: Yes.
Boost Speed: 4.40 GHz.
Boost Speed per Core: 4.20.
Socket: LGA 1151.
TDP: 95W.
Price: $245.

The i5 chip also has a slower iteration of an Intel Core i5-8400. The clock speed is ridiculous for the second decade of the 21st century – less than three GHz. No hyper-threading, the only difference from the previous generation is the number of cores. This is a compromising budget solution.

Intel Core i5-8400

Family: Coffee Lake-S.
Process: 14 nm.
Cores: 6.
Hyper-Threading Support: No.
Threads: 6.
Clock Speed: 2.80 GHz.
Overclocking support: Yes.
Boost Speed: 3.50 GHz.
Boost Speed per Core: 3.40.
Socket: LGA 1151.
TDP: 65W.

There will be an i3 in the Coffee Lake family after all – the quad-core Intel Core i3-8350K, Intel Core i3-8300 and Intel Core i3-8100. Intel decided it’s too generous to give six cores for the cheapest CPUs in the line. The top model of the three stands out since it is the first unlocked i3 chip of Intel. They’ll go to office systems, with no particular demands.

The top i3 is an unlocked chip with quite a high clock speed, but this advantage is compromised by the lower number of cores.

Intel Core i3-8350K

Family: Coffee Lake-S.
Process: 14 nm.
Cores: 4.
Hyper-Threading Support: No.
Threads: 4.
Clock Speed: 4.0 GHz.
Overclocking support: Yes.
Boost Speed: N/A.
Boost Speed per Core: N/A.
Socket: LGA 1151.
TDP: 95W.

The next two CPUs show a very small difference from their predecessors. They are locked and don’t support hyper-threading, but they are also cooler. This feature may be critical for mobile systems, laptops and ultrabooks.

Intel Core i3-8300

Family: Coffee Lake-S.
Process: 14 nm.
Cores: 4.
Hyper-Threading Support: No.
Threads: 4.
Clock Speed: 4.0 GHz.
Overclocking support: No.
Boost Speed: N/A.
Boost Speed per Core: N/A.
Socket: LGA 1151.
TDP: 65W.

And lastly, comes the slowest of all cores- the i3 with just 3.60 GHz of clock speed.

Intel Core i3-8100

Family: Coffee Lake-S.
Process: 14 nm.
Cores: 4.
Hyper-Threading Support: No.
Threads: 4.
Clock Speed: 3.60 GHz.
Overclocking support: No.
Boost Speed: N/A.
Boost Speed per Core: N/A.
Socket: LGA 1151.
TDP: 65W.

As you see, the family is an umbrella term for different CPUs from top to entry level ones, meant for desktops, mobile systems and utilitarian devices. The Coffee Lake is also to include three Pentium series: the Pentium G4660, the Pentium G4700 and the Pentium G4720. These are dual-cores supporting two threads per core with clock speeds up to 3.90 GHz.

The Coffee Lake generation will be the last 14 nm family of Intel processors. This generation is yet to come and already labeled that the Icy Lake will feature 10 nm chips. Their specifications or any detail thereof are still a secret but one thing is for sure: Icy Lake will be a great departure in design and chipset. For now, though, Coffee Lake is a great upgrade choice since it fits LGA 1151 motherboard.