First listings of Intel's upcoming Coffee Lake 6 core and 4 core processors have been sighted. The new processors were spotted in Sisoftware database and are part of the desktop and embedded platforms.
Intel Coffee Lake Desktop 6 Core and Embedded 4 Core Processors Detailed
With Intel pushing ahead the the launch of their next generation processor families in response to AMD's Ryzen processors, we are finally starting to get new info on Intel's mainstream and high-end desktop CPU platforms. The new processor platforms are scheduled to launch sometime in mid of 2017. First up will be the high-end Skylake X and Kaby Lake X CPU families which will range from 4, 6, 8 , 10 and 12 core SKUs. The more mainstream desktop oriented family will arrive after that in the form of Coffee Lake S. This line up will feature Intel's first 6 core mainstream processor.
Intel Coffee Lake chips were previously going to launch in January 2018 (CES). But recent AMD launches have pushed Intel to shake up their launch roadmap. The recent reports have suggested that Coffee Lake chips can launch as early as August, at GamesCom 2017. The new Coffee Lake chips will launch alongside the Z370 chipset based motherboards and would be followed by the H370 and B360/H310 chipsets at the end of 2017 or early 2018.
Intel Coffee Lake S 6 Core Part Could be a Core i5 Processors - Features No Hyper Threading, Up To 3.50 GHz Clock Speed on Engineering Sample
The first processor I think most users would be interested to learn about is the Coffee Lake S 6 core part. This is Intel's first 6 core, mainstream and consumer oriented processor. The processor carries some very interesting specifications. First of all, it's a 6 core part that features no hyper-threading. It comes with 3.5 GHz base clock and no turbo boost speed is mentioned. My guess is that we are looking at a engineering sample and final chip will ship with higher clock speeds.
The chip features 1.5 MB of L2 cache (6 x 256 KB) and 9 MB of L3 cache. Now the first thing someone will say is that how do we know this is an actual Coffee Lake processor? Well, it's quite easy to tell. First, the chip we are looking at was running on a Kaby Lake-S client platform. Kaby Lake-S is the mainstream line which currently supports Skylake and Kaby Lake consumer processors. This is not the HEDT line which should have the Kaby Lake-X codename. Also, the high-end 6 core Broadwell-E parts feature up to 20 MB of L3 cache whereas this processor has less than halve of it.
The cache also tells us a lot about this processor. We know from previous Intel architectures that each core has 2 MB of L3 cache and the entire cache is shared across all cores. A 4 core, 8 thread Kaby Lake chip featured 8 MB of L3 cache. So this chip should have theoretically featured 12 MB of L3 cache that would be shared across all cores. But since this is a disabled chip since it doesn't feature hyper-thread, the conclusion is that we are looking at a Core i5 series 6 core chip. Intel isn't making big changes with Coffee Lake and since the design heirarchy is mostly similar to Kaby Lake, a Core i5 chip with disabled design should feature 9 MB of L3 cache. A disable Kaby Lake Core i5-7600K chip also featured less cache of 6 MB compared to 8 MB L3 cache on the Core i7-7700K chip.
Intel Coffee Lake S 6 Core Processors Specs (Preliminary):
| CPU Name | Intel Core i5-7600K | Intel Core i5-8600K | Intel Core i7-7700K | Intel Core i7-8700K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU Family | Kaby Lake-S | Coffee Lake-S | Kaby Lake-S | Coffee Lake-S |
| CPU Process | 14nm | 14nm | 14nm | 14nm |
| CPU Cores | 4 | 6 | 4 | 6 |
| CPU Threads | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 |
| Base Clock | 3.8 GHz | 3.50 GHz | 4.2 GHz | 3.7 GHz |
| Boost Clock | 4.2 GHz | TBA | 4.5 GHz | TBA |
| L2 Cache | 1 MB (256 KB per Core) | 1.5 MB (256 KB per Core) | 1 MB (256 KB per Core) | 1.5 MB (256 KB per Core) |
| L3 Cache | 6 MB | 9 MB | 8 MB | 12 MB |
| Unlocked Design | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Socket Support | LGA 1151 | LGA 1151? | LGA 1151 | LGA 1151? |
| PCH | 200-Series | 300-Series | 200-Series | 300-Series |
| TDP | 91W | 95W | 91W | 95W |
Are Intel Coffee Lake Processors Compatible With LGA 1151 Socket and 200-Series PCH?
This also brings us to the next interesting detail we are getting from this listing. The specific 6 core Coffee Lake part was tested on the Kaby Lake-S client system. Kaby Lake-S platform means that the chip was ran off a 200-series PCH based motherboard. If true, Coffee Lake would retain compatibility not only with the LGA 1151 socket but also currently available motherboards.
As with the previous generation, Skylake and Kaby Lake processors are compatible with both 100 and 200 series motherboards. While AIB partners of Intel will refresh their product stack with the new 300-series chipset, it is highly possible that they will still offer BIOS updates allowing compatibility of Coffee Lake chips on 200-series motherboards. This would allow users a very easy and affordable upgrade path to newer 6 core chips.
Intel Coffee Lake R (Embedded) Core i7 Processor Features 4 Cores and 8 Threads
Finally, we have an embedded chip based on the Coffee Lake architecture. This chip features 4 cores, 8 threads and a clock speed up to 2.11 GHz (base clock is 1.90 GHz). This chip comes with 8 MB L3 cache and was tested on a Kaby Lake R client system which refers to the embedded platform. The specifications listed for this chip confirm that it is a new processor which will be branded under the Core i7 family and come with a new 8th generation naming scheme.
These listings more or less confirm the rumors that Intel have pushed ahead the launch of their processor lineups. We can see Coffee Lake chips on consumer platforms as early as August 2017 with engineering samples of the new 300-series chipset based motherboards being shown off at Computex in June 2017.
Intel Desktop CPU Generations Comparison:
| Intel Sandy Bridge | Intel Ivy Bridge | Intel Haswell | Intel Broadwell | Intel Skylake | Intel Kaby Lake | Intel Coffee Lake | Intel Coffee Lake Refresh | Intel Comet Lake | Intel Rocket Lake | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processor Architecture | Sandy Bridge | Ivy Bridge | Haswell | Broadwell | Skylake | Kaby Lake | Coffee Lake | Coffee Lake | Comet Lake | Rocket Lake |
| Processor Process | 32nm | 22nm | 22nm | 14nm | 14nm | 14nm+ | 14nm++ | 14nm++ | 14nm++ | 14nm++ |
| Processors Cores (Max) | 4/8 | 4/8 | 4/8 | 4/8 | 4/8 | 4/8 | 6/12 | 8/16 | 10/20 | 10/20? |
| Platform Chipset | 6-Series | 7-Series | 8-Series | 9-Series | 100-Series | 200-Series | 300-Series | 300-Series | 400-Series | 400-Series? |
| Platform Socket | LGA 1155 | LGA 1155 | LGA 1150 | LGA 1150 | LGA 1151 | LGA 1151 | LGA 1151 | LGA 1151 | LGA 1200 | TBD |
| Memory Support | DDR3 | DDR3 | DDR3 | DDR3 | DDR4/DDR3L | DDR4/DDR3L | DDR4 | DDR4 | DDR4 | DDR4 |
| TDPs | 35-95W | 35-77W | 35-84W | 65W | 35-91W | 35-91W | 35-95W | 35-95W | 35-127W | TBD |
| Platform | Desktop LGA | Desktop LGA | Desktop LGA | Desktop LGA | Desktop LGA | Desktop LGA | Desktop LGA | Desktop LGA | Desktop LGA | Desktop LGA |
| Launch | 2011 | 2012 | 2013-2014 | 2015 | 2015 | 2017 | 2017 | 2018 | 2020 | 2021 |
