Intel 8th-gen CPUs review : Price and Specs
Intel has already announced its first wave of eighth generation processors back in August, and now it’s time for desktops to get the latest 8th-Gen processors inside them.
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| Representational image |
The biggest change in the eighth-generation Core line is that Intel is upping core count across the entire eighth-generation range on desktop. First ever in history, The entry-level i3 model now comes with four cores (up from two), so finally we'll be able to see a better performing Core i3, however the original hyper threading support in i3 lineup has been dropped, so no virtual cores are there now; the midrange Core i5 has six (up from four), here also Intel's virtualisation technology(hyper threading technology has been discontinued, so the core i5-8xxx processors will feature 6 physical cores with 6 ongoing threads.
Now the beast, Core i7 chips now offer six cores with hyper-threading. So, you can have upto 12 threads at simultaneous operation, Great !!!.
Intel's strategy changes:
The 8-th Gen processor design has been codenamed as Coffee-lake architecture, of course it sounds as a successor to older 7th gen Kaby lake architecture. this time Intel changed their strategy of completely discontinuing older gen architecture in newer gen processors, since the new Coffee lake processors are based on the same design as Kaby lake with a increased miniaturisation (14nm ++ while earlier is was 14nm+).That being said, it’s still not quite the jump that Intel had likely been hoping for to the 10nm architecture (code named as the "Cannon Lake"), although the company is still promising that later eighth-generation products will be built on 10nm architecture, too.
According to Intel, the new chips are up to 32 percent faster compared to the previous generation, and up to 65 percent faster than a three-year-old machine when it comes to tasks like video editing or content creation. Intel is also touting big improvements on the gaming side of things, calling out the top-of-the-line i7-8700K as the company’s “best gaming desktop processor ever."
Intel is offering six, eighth-gen desktop chips at launch, two for each processor class:
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| Representational image-8th gen Core i7 |
- i3-8100, with four cores / four threads and clocked at 3.6GHz for approximately $117
- i3-8350K, with four cores / four threads and clocked at 4.0GHz for approximately $168
- i5-8400, with six cores / six threads and clocked at 2.8GHz (with a boost of up to 4.0GHz) for approximately $182
- i5-8600K, with six cores / six threads and clocked at 3.6GHz (with a boost of up to 4.4GHz) for approximately $257
- i7-8700, with six cores / 12 threads and clocked at 3.2GHz (with a boost of up to 4.6GHz) for approximately $303
- i7-8700K with six cores / 12 threads and clocked at 3.8GHz (with a boost of up to 4.7GHz) for approximately $359
Coffee Lake Official specs:
Desktop processors:-
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| Official specs of 8th gen Desktop processors |
Laptop processors:-
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The prices of corresponding 8th gen processors are deemed to rise by $30 to $80 as compared to predecessors of 7th generation, but this price rise isn't much as it used to be for earlier generation followup releases. Taking into account the drastic improvements in performance, we suggest you wait till end of this year if you are planning to but a new shiny performance device so that you get a hold of the elite generation processor powered device. ;-)
New Z370 chipset:
Now, the downside of this generation change, you’ll need to invest in a motherboard built off Intel’s new Z370 chipset to actually use the eighth-gen chips, which is another cost to consider if you’re looking to upgrade. Older chip-sets and processors have no compatibility with this motherboard. Intel justified this incompatibility by saying that that power delivery mechanism had to be improved to implement 8th gen technology perfectly. This means the Z270 chipset that was introduced for Kaby Lake is already defunct and won’t accept any newer processors. That’s a bit of a bummer for anybody who made what they were hoping was a long-term investment in a Z270 motherboard.
The eighth-gen Intel Core desktop processors will be available for both retail and OEMs on October 5th. Intel has stated that almost 80 laptops coming out till this Christmas will be powered by 8th Generation processors.
Intel has justified its decision to include a refreshed Kaby Lake architecture in its new generation because it believes the performance difference is big enough for regular consumers to consider it as such. Desktop chips, meanwhile, will use the upcoming Coffee Lake architecture, while laptops will see Cannon Lake tech sooner.
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| No Z270 support in 8th Gen processors |
Intel has justified its decision to include a refreshed Kaby Lake architecture in its new generation because it believes the performance difference is big enough for regular consumers to consider it as such. Desktop chips, meanwhile, will use the upcoming Coffee Lake architecture, while laptops will see Cannon Lake tech sooner.
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