Intel teases mystery 8th-gen processors – and confuses everybody

Intel has revealed that it plans to launch yet another series of processors this year, further muddying the waters of how this year’s CPU market will shake out – and adding a new layer of confusion to your potential 2017 laptop buying plans. Here's what we know about Intel's mystery 8th-gen processors so far.

The juicy information was revealed during Intel’s annual investor meeting, with Intel execs teasing plenty of interesting information about where they’re expecting the company to go in the next 12 months.

WHAT IS INTEL UP TO?
Let’s take a step back: why does this matter to you and the laptop or PC purchase you’re thinking of making this year?

You may have heard of “7th-gen Intel Core”, otherwise known as Kaby Lake. This is the marketing name for the latest generation of Intel Core i processors you’ll find in new PCs and laptops, and represents the followup to 6th-gen Skylake.

This new 8th-gen chip? It's previously unknown to us and fits into a gap we didn’t know existed.

This unnamed 8th-gen chip uses a 14-nanometre (nm) “process”. At its most basic, the smaller the process the more efficient the processor is, allowing you to squeeze more transistors onto the same-sized piece of silicon.

Silicon is expensive, so fitting more of the ultra-important transistors onto them means you can make more efficient use of each little piece. The process of making smaller transistors is also expensive, so Intel has used this 14nm architecture for its 5th-gen Broadwell, 6th-gen Skylake and 7th-gen Kaby Lake products.

This new product will use the same 14nm size and, like with all previous advancements, will take advantage of new technology to make the process even more efficient.

INTEL'S STRATEGY SO FAR
Here’s what we thought we knew about Intel’s processor road map:

• Early 2017: 14nm Kaby Lake
• 2017: 14nm Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X (Extreme, enthusiast chips)
• Late 2017: 10nm Cannonlake
• 2018: 14nm Coffee Lake

Yesterday’s announcement seems to have turned that on its head. Barring the 'X' series enthusiast updates to Skylake and Kaby Lake, we weren’t expecting another 14nm chip in 2017, so to see one suddenly appear in the second half of this year is surprising.

Intel says the new 8th-gen chips will be 15% more powerful than Kaby Lake, which in turn it claims are 15% more powerful than Skylake. That’s a decent boost, especially when you consider many people will own PCs and laptops with much older Intel processors on board.

So is this the Coffee Lake mentioned above? We don’t know. Coffee Lake was rumoured to be a set of six-core processors. If this announcement was indeed Coffee Lake, you’d expect the gains to be somewhat more than 15% versus Kaby Lake.

It also isn't "Cannonlake", because that architecture is based on a 10nm process while this new mystery one is, as we mentioned, still 14nm.

Frankly, and we’re sure you’ll agree, this is all getting a bit ridiculous as – among other things – Intel has thrown a massive spanner in the works for people waiting for AMD’s hotly anticipated Ryzen architecture.

How will it all stack up in the end? We just don’t know, but keep your eyes and ears open for more 8th-gen Intel news in the near future. If you're buying a new laptop or PC in the second half of this year, be sure to bookmark this page as we'll be adding all the details as we get them.

We've reached out to Intel for clarification on its strategy and will update this piece if the company responds.


Source at: http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/intel-8th-gen-core-specs-technology-explained

 

For anyone reading note that while Kaby Lake is technically an improvement over Skylake it's only because it is clocked higher. If you don't need super maximum overclocking, a 6700k performs identical to a 7700k at the same clockspeed. So I would honestly recommend Skylake over Kaby Lake for most gamers since it runs cooler and is within a few percent of performance.

This new 8th gen of cpus should finally be an actual architecture change, which would mean real IPC improvements.

However, I'm skeptical of some of these timeline plans, it seems like a lot to release this year (Skylake and Kaby Lake extreme??). It also makes no sense to me that they would jump back up to 14nm. That seems unprecedented to me though I could be wrong.

@D2 Ultima what do you know of Intel's plans?

 

Here's what I find very telling about their update.

When a companies talks about going 10nm and then goes back to 14nm means they have some technology glitches they can't overcome and must revert back to 14nm as oppose to going 10nm as their "late 2017" claims make it out to be or alot of bluster against Ryzen coming out. If they were going smaller would stand to reason they would stay at 10nm Coffee Lake not go back 14nm. Such reverse move gives more insight then it shows. They can't do 10nm as they like to say they can and or they are doing this to stay off AMD Ryzen from raining on their market share. So this is all gimmick and not any real "Tech" leap as they want to make it. I call this "VaporWare".......

You don't go backwards if your going forward in "Tech" upgrade. If Ryzen does as what AMD says it can do that will take a bite from iNtel and I myself will take a 2nd look at AMD again and avoid the price "HIKE" of iNtel - that is what iNtel is afraid of most being at the Top of the Hill for so long now someone will take it from them and be less expensive and affordable.

 

I remember reading news that Coffee Lake would be released still this year and at 14nm and thus 8th generation.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/02/intel-coffee-lake-14nm-release-date/

 

I don't know what all the fuss is about in this thread?

I don't buy or make a business decision on what may or may not come out (and on what it may offer, performance-wise, at that time). I buy real, available products (only) that are actually better than what I have (now).

I can also easily see that Coffee Lake in 2018 at 14nm could be classified as '8th gen'... Any processor of the same gen I've bought at a later date is almost always better (more efficient, less heat, etc.) than any first release model I've compared them to.

The insight here is not that Intel has stagnated (or not; time will tell of course).

The only thing happening here is big business doing as little as it can to retain current customers while also impeding competitor's sales at the same time. Yawn. BAU.

Sure it is (trying) to throw a spanner unto AMD's Ryzen parade. Would be more suspicious if it didn't.

The actual nm process used (or other theoretical musings...) isn't what is important to me; actual performance increases (i.e. productivity) for my workflows is.

Nice read (thank you Dr. AMK), but this is filed into the 'read and forget' part of my brain.

When the 8th gen products actually come out (and with an indicated ~20% increase over Skylake...) that's when things will get real.

 

I am sure Ryzen has struck more than a few nerves over in the Intel camp. In the end this is good for us but inevitably this brings back the old vaporware tricks. As mentioned before you can only buy what is available.

 

I hope it has!

(Bold mine in quote below).

btw; BAU=Business As Usual in my post above.

 

Nothing. There is a convoluted mess of "lakes" as BGAtel confuses itself and the whole world. Nobody knows what's next or after and this article is straight proof. So far I have heard of:
Tiger lake
Cannon Lake
Coffee Lake
Ice Lake

with Tiger Lake and Cannon Lake being known about since Broadwell's launch... since then it has gone from Sky --> Cannon to Sky --> Kaby --> (mystery) --> Coffee --> Cannon? --> Tiger/Ice/Unknown?

No sense beating up about it, and won't get me to recommend them after about a month when Ryzen stabilizes and Ryzen 5 is all any average gamer will need and Ryzen 7 1700 is all any average productivity/prosumer user will need (1700 OCs just as far, supports just as fast RAM, has the same BIOS OC to 4GHz, and same specs other than clockspeed out the box, but costs $170 less than, the 1800X).

It's for people speculating upcoming stuff, as tech lovers and budding enthusiasts often do.

I understand your practical approach and in this example I do agree, though still would say this kind of thread is just "not for you" rather than "pointless".

Sent from my OnePlus 1 using a coconut

 

You may be right that the guessing/speculating part is not for me.

But I think I provide a good counterpoint, if nothing else with my practical view of things, no? lol...

And it's definitely not pointless; each time I have time to read the forums I'm interested in I always expand my viewpoint just a little more.




btw, how many MHz does your coconut run at?

 

Not even one. It runs on rum, beach limes (parties), and doubles.

Like the rest of the country xD

 

CPU Buyer's Guide: Q1 2017
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9793/best-cpus

 

Intel Launches Kaby-Lake based Xeons: The E3-1200 v6 Family
http://www.anandtech.com/show/11232/intel-launches-xeon-e3-1200-v6-family

 

Dr. AMK,

I've tried getting the 'performance' in the graph you posted 'Performance Per Dollar', but don't see it? (Yeah; I read the Anandtech article...).

I think the graph is misleading?

What I'm reading is that the i7-7700K is giving ~95% of the performance for ~$200 (~65% of the cost) less. Whatever 'performance' is being reported as here...

This doesn't show Ryzen 7 in the best light, does it?

 

Yes you are right, something wrong with this graph. but in general it's informative, showing the whole picture and if there is a mistake in the graph we can deal with it just like you did. Good noticing skills

 

Kaby Lake dropped support for 8.1 and older WinOS. That is a reason for some users/institutions to stay on older hardware.

 

Dear @tilleroftheearth
"is being reported as here", it seems that the link you shared is not working, can you please give me the link to that thread or article, I need more information about this subject.

 

Yup, it's a genius business marketing tactic Intel / AMD / Microsoft have come up with: increase the disincentives for upgrading your hardware by not supporting the software we want to run on the new hardware.

Make it not worthwhile to spend money on new hardware. That'll show those rascally PC owners.

Such "dyed in the wool" environmentalism should be rewarded, let's heed Intel's / Microsofts call to inaction, and stop buying new hardware!!

Save the environment, stay on Windows 7/8.1, and keep getting value out of the $$$$'s we've already spent. Value from our PC investments increase the longer we keep and get use out of our PC's.

Why spend more $$$$'s for more headache's with Windows 10?

Especially since Windows 10 provides no more value than Windows 7 / 8.1 ?

Trust me, it's far more enjoyable to watch the Windows 10 disaster(s) from the comfy stability of Windows Vista, 7, and 8.1

Come back to Windows 7 / 8.1, the waters fine over here

 

How delightful it would be if the sales of the latest cpu's from Intel (AMD) had plummeted straight down the drain. Perhaps Intel and Amd had tapped on the door to Redmond Morons Hq and demanded a change yesterday?

 

Who says they haven't been reduced from what they might have been without the limitation of Windows 10 only? I think it's at least stopped a few people, perhaps more than a few. Maybe thousands.

It's all too new to show up on the bottom line in quarterly reports

 

Wait, so... is 10nm still coming out second half 2017? Or just the 14nm Kaby/Sky X

 

Who knows?

That's what the current Intel rumor is: 14nm 2H 2017, then ULV 10nm end 2017 beginning 2018, then maybe normal desktop / laptop full power 10nm to follow.

There might be a "Frankenstein'd" 10nm cores + 14nm + 22nm glued together CPU hodgepodge until Intel can get all the sections stable on 10nm with acceptable yields.

It could be late 2018 before we see full power 10nm desktop / laptop CPU's.

Look to AMD for innovation for a while... wow, isn't that great?

 

My employer alone delivers thousands of computers every month, all of them with Win7.

 

Dr. AMD,

There was no link attached...

My meaning was that I do not know the 'performance' that was supposedly measured. Hope this helps.

 

I would venture to say then that your employer is only looking out for themselves...

On January 14, 2020, they're expecting a lot of return customers.

See:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/help/13853/windows-lifecycle-fact-sheet


What a business does is not 'first' for the benefit of their customers. Always for themselves (and if that isn't what actually happens; then the company dries up and goes away...).

 

Customers like that are already return customers. Customer provides a software image that we preinstall into every PC, overwriting the OEM software. Then we go and replace users computers at certain office, where one user experiences like 30 minutes break in workflow (extended coffee break). In grand scale there is so many of those computers, by the time "everything" is replaced, first ones are so old that they are waiting for replacement...

It is customer's wish to get Windows 7 in everything. They want, we provide. I do hope that Win10 software image is ready by the time when only option from the Lenovo factory are Tx70 laptops with Kaby Lake...

 

I too give what my clients want/wish for. But that is only after I spell out what services they should have from me.

 

Yeah, teases with *new* tech! WTF!!


Intel Kaby Lake-G Series Leaks With Alleged Discrete GPU Onboard Multi-Chip Module

"Right off the bat, we can see that this is a marked increase in size compared to the desktop oriented Kaby Lake-S (37.5mm2) and the mobile Kaby Lake-H (42mm x 28mm). According to leaked slides, there will reportedly be 65W and 100W SKUs, each with a quad-core configuration and a separate dedicated GPU on the package that connects via PCI x8."


Kaby Lake G Series Processor Info Surfaces

"For now, rumors suggest that these Kaby Lake-G would be exclusive to the notebook market. It is likely to have a discrete GPU embedded into the die. The TDP of these CPUs are much lower than Kaby Lake–H (45w). This is Intel’s take on addition of discrete GPUs on the die itself. The chips will also feature a package size of 58.5 x 32mm which is bigger than the desktop Kaby Lake S (37.5 x 37.5mm) and Kaby Lake H series chips (42 x 28mm). The extra space would probably be utilized in addition of discrete GPU package. There is a controversy about the manufacturer of the on die GPU, some reports suggest that Intel is manufacturing their own GT2 graphics while others suggest about Intel using AMD graphics on the chip."

 

Intel Kaby Lake X Core i7-7740K And X299 Platform Details Leak In SiSoft SANDRA Database

http://hothardware.com/news/intel-kaby-lake-x-core-i7-7740k-and-x299-platform-details-leak