Intel today introduced the Core i3-8130U dual-core (2-core/4-thread) ultra low-power processor for thin and light notebooks, and 2-in-1 convertibles. Based on the 14 nm "Kaby Lake-U" silicon, the chip features a TDP of just 15W, making it ideal for all-day power devices. It is clocked at 2.40 GHz, with 3.40 GHz Turbo Boost frequency, and packs 4 MB of L3 cache. In its TDP-down mode, the CPU idles at 800 MHz, lowering the TDP to 10W. Its dual-channel DDR4 memory controller supports up to 32 GB of DDR4-2400 or LPDDR3-2133 memory. On the display side of things are the UHD Graphics 620 iGPU with clock speed ranging between 300 MHz and 1.00 GHz, 24 execution units, and hardware-acceleration for H.265/HEVC with 10bpc color.

Intel's 8th gen, Coffee Lake-architecture CPUs will soon see new additions to the lineup, if leaked retail dates are correct. While Intel's six-core processors have earned themselves a respectable position in the CPU market - even if outgunned, core-wise, by AMD's Ryzen - the company is in dire need of shoring up its lower-pricing offerings so as to better compete with AMD's full available line-up, which currently offers users many more choices in both platform pricing, features, and processor specs. The date seems to be a make-up gift from the blue giant: it's expected these processors will hit retail on February 14th.

Intel 9th generation Core processors could hit the shelves some time in 2018, after Intel has ironed out supply issues of its current 8th generation Core "Coffee Lake" lineup, and figured out what to do with the unsold 7th generation Core "Kaby Lake" inventory. It has been rumored that the company could increase core-counts across the board again, with the introduction of an eight-core part in the mainstream-desktop lineup, probably to better segment the Core i7 series from the Core i5 series. It's not implausible to expect the next-generation Core i7 MSDT parts to be 8-core/16-thread, and Core i5 MSDT 6-core/12-thread, with 4-core/4-thread or 8-thread Core i3 parts making up the entry-level, which would bring Intel's MSDT lineup on core/thread-count parity with AMD.

The change-log of the latest FinalWire AIDA64 version spells out several 9th generation Core processor model numbers, at least the Core i5 and Core i3 SKUs. The Core i5 lineup includes the i5-9600K, followed by the i5-9600, i5-9500, i5-9400, i5-9400T, i3-9300, i3-9300T, i3-9100, i3-9100T, i3-9000, and i3-9000T, with the "T" extension denoting lower TDP, probably at 35W, while the rest of the lineup has its TDP rated at 65W. The change-log also speaks about Intel's second-wave of Core "Coffee Lake" parts, which launch early-2018, alongside its other 300-series chipset for the platform, such as the H370, B360, and H310.

ECS today rolled out the LIVA Z Plus ZE mini-PC featuring legacy connectivity, combined with otherwise modern hardware, which puts its applications halfway between retail/POS (point of sale) and educational/robotics. The mini-PC features four RS232 serial COM ports, so you can directly plug in POS peripherals such as barcode/RFID scanners, receipt printers, credit card POS machines, electronic weighing scales, etc. It comes with rather powerful 7th generation "Kaby Lake" SoC options, including Celeron 3965U, Core i3-7100U, Core i5-7200U, and i5-7500U, bolstered by Intel vPro.

Besides factory-fitted SoCs, the LIVA Z Plus ZE comes with two DDR4 SO-DIMM slots, supporting up to 32 GB of dual-channel memory, and one M.2-2242 slot with both PCI-Express 3.0 x4 and SATA 6 Gbps wiring. Besides the four RS232 ports, it features four USB 3.0 ports (three type-A, one type-C), two 1 GbE wired network interfaces, 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.0 WLAN, stereo HD audio, and display outputs that include one each of HDMI 1.4 and miniDisplayPort. Measuring 117 mm x 128 mm x 51 mm (WxDxH), it supports VESA mounting, which lets you tuck it away behind your monitor. It draws power from an external 65W power brick.

Intel's 8th generation Core "Coffee Lake" 6-core processors aim to restore the company's competitiveness in the mainstream-desktop (MSDT) platform, which eroded to AMD's unexpectedly successful Ryzen. The chips will hit the stores a little later this month, at price-points very close to the outgoing 7th generation Core "Kaby Lake" processors; although a report by SweClockers predicts that the chips will be scarcely available until early-2018.

Intel is launching "Coffee Lake" desktop processor family with a rather trimmed down lineup of six SKUs, two each under the Core i7, Core i5, and Core i3 brands, with the former two being 6-core, and the Core i3 being quad-core, marking an increase in core-counts across the board. While these chips will very much be available on launch-date in the retail channel, there could be an inventory shortage running all the way till Q1-2018.

Intel today announced that its new family of 8th Gen Intel Core desktop processors will be available for purchase beginning Oct. 5, 2017. The new desktop processor family is built for gamers, content creators and overclockers who require premium performance. Ranging from Intel Core i3 to Intel Core i7, these processors deliver premium performance for what comes next, opening the door for a new level of faster, easier and more immersive experiences.

This new family introduces the first-ever 6-core Intel Core i5 desktop processor and first-ever 4-core Intel Core i3 desktop processor. The family offers a wide range of performance options for consumers with unlocked1 "K" processors that deliver maximum tuning flexibility at each brand level and up to 40 platform PCIe 3.0 lanes for system expandability on graphics, storage and I/O. These processors are supported with new Intel Z370 chipset-based motherboards.

It was initially believed that Intel will launch its 8th generation Core "Coffee Lake" desktop processor lineup with only 6-core SKUs in the Core i5 and Core i7 extensions, priced well above $200; with Core i3 SKUs joining in Q1-2018. A popular retailer confirmed to us that the first wave will include two Core i3 SKUs, namely the Core i3-8100 and Core i3-8350K. Both these chips are quad-core, and lack both HyperThreading and Turbo Boost, but feature rather high clock speeds.

The Core i3-8350K is a particularly interesting SKU. This 4-core/4-thread chip features an unlocked base-clock multiplier, and 8 MB of L3 cache, as opposed to 6 MB on the i3-8100. Just as Intel previously differentiated its Core i3-x1xx SKUs from i3-x3xx SKUs by giving the latter 33.33% more L3 cache, the trend is continuing with the 8th generation, except that both the core-count and L3 cache amount has doubled over the 7th generation. The prices could be noticeably higher, too. The six SKUs Intel will launch for the retail channel on the 5th of October, are tabled below.

Intel is preparing to expand its Skull Canyon line of high-performance NUC compact desktops, with new models based on its upcoming "Coffee Lake-U" silicon. The company is preparing variants based on 28W TDP Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 ultra-low power processors, and 300-series chipset. The Core i3 based parts offer 4-core/4-thread CPU configuration, while the Core i5 and Core i7 ones offer 4-core/8-thread configurations. One of these could even feature a large onboard graphics core cushioned by on-package eDRAM L4 cache. The three "Coffee Lake-U" based NUCs could be released in Q2-2018, which is quite a wait.

Intel is rushing in its 8th generation Core mainstream-desktop (MSDT) processor lineup, codenamed "Coffee Lake," later within Q3-2017. The first four of these will be six-core SKUs, which while built in the "LGA1151" package, the same ones as the 7th generation "Kaby Lake" and 6th generation "Skylake," will not be compatible with motherboards based on the older 100-series and 200-series chipsets, for reasons unknown. Upcoming motherboards based on the 300-series chipset, could support not just 8th generation "Coffee Lake" processors, but also older LGA1151 processors. The chipset lineup consists of the Z370 Express, which features support for CPU overclocking and 2-way multi-GPU; and the mid-range B360 Express chipset, which could launch either in late-2017 or early-2018, alongside the first Core i3 "Coffee Lake" chips. The first wave of motherboards to go with "Coffee Lake" processors will hence be Z370-based. VideoCardz compiled a partial, but growing list of motherboards which could make up the first wave.

Intel today announced its 8th generation Core processor family, with new mainstream desktop (MSDT) processor SKUs. The company is stressing on these chips featuring "40% more performance over the previous-generation," even though the "Coffee Lake" micro-architecture is essentially based on the "Skylake" and "Kaby Lake" architectures. The company is arriving at 40% by across the board increases in core-counts. Quad-core Core i5 and Core i7 SKUs now have 6 cores as opposed to 4 (a 33% multi-threaded performance increase straight off the bat), and the remaining 7% from higher clocks or micro-architecture level incremental updates; while Core i3 now includes quad-core SKUs.

Intel recently concluded an event intended for local distributors in China, a key presentation slide of which was snapped and posted online. The slide confirms the company's product-stack for the mainstream desktop platform, and its augmentation with the first wave of 8th generation Core "Coffee Lake" SKUs. The slide also confirms that Intel will be replacing current Core i7 4-core/8-thread SKUs with Core i7 6-core/12-thread ones; Core i5 4-core/4-thread SKUs with 6-core/6-thread ones, and Core i3 2-core/4-thread SKUs with 4-core/4-thread ones, marking the biggest fundamental update to the product stack since the Core MSDT family started out a decade ago, with the Core "Lynnfield" and "Clarkdale" processors.

The slide further describes per-core performance increases ranging between 11-29 percent owing to higher clock-speeds and a slightly newer micro-architecture, and 51-65 percent increases in multi-threaded performance owing to the increasing core-counts across the board. While these SKUs are expected to logically replace the various Core "Kaby Lake" SKUs from their current price-points, there could be a tiny price increase, across the board, which Intel could justify using the higher core-counts.

It turns out that the Core i3-8300 isn't the only upcoming quad-core processor bearing the value-segment Core i3 badge; with Intel planning two other quad-core SKUs, according to leaked company documents that surfaced on the forumscape. The two other SKUs are the Core i3-8350K and the Core i3-8100. While the specs-sheet puts out only a limited number of specifications, it confirms that both the SKUs are quad-core, and that the i3-8350K features an unlocked multiplier. It also confirms that Core i3 quad-core chips (including the i3-8300) lack HyperThreading.

The Core i3-8100 could position itself at the lower-end of the value-segment, below the Core i3-8300. The Core i3-8350K could be a logical successor to the unlocked i3-7350K, which is being sold at $189. One can expect a pricing overlap between this unlocked quad-core SKU, and the cheapest "locked" six-core SKU bearing the Core i5 badge, such as the Core i5-8400. The i3-8350K is clocked at 4.00 GHz out of the box, and the i3-8300 at 3.60 GHz. Both chips lack Turbo Boost. The i3-8350K has a TDP rated at 91W, which is marginally below the 95W rating of its six-core siblings. The i3-8100 has its TDP rated at 65W.

Intel Core i3-8300 could be the company's first quad-core processor to bear the Core i3 badge. Based on the 14 nm "Coffee Lake-S" silicon, This SKU could be priced in the upper-band of the Core i3 lineup (around the USD $150 mark), offering four cores. As if that isn't surprising enough, this quad-core chip even reportedly features HyperThreading, enabling 8 logical CPUs for the OS to deal with.

For the first time, a Core i3 part will have more logical CPUs than a Core i5 part, which lacks HyperThreading. Such a feature disparity won't be new, as current Core i3 dual-core SKUs feature HyperThreading, which Core i5 quad-core parts lack. The i3-8300, however, will lack Turbo Boost, which Core i5 SKUs will feature. The chip reportedly features a clock speed of 4.00 GHz. The L3 cache amount and TDP of this chip remain unknown at this point. Intel could launch Core i3 "Coffee Lake" processors only by late-2017 or early-2018.

Intel has recently updated documentation on their available list of processors based on the 7th generation of the Core Family. These new Kaby Lake-based CPUs will further flesh-out Intel's offerings in both the desktop, laptop, and professional segments with new entries in the Core i3, Kaby Lake-U, and Xeon E3 lines of processors.

The new Core i3 processors make use of the S-0 stepping, instead of the B-0 stepping of previously-released processors. The additions are comprised of the i3-7340 (4.2 GHz, 4 MB cache, 51 W TDP); i3-7320T (3.6 GHz, 4MB cache, 35 W TDP); i3-7120 (4 GHz, 3 MB cache, 51 W TDP); and the i3-7120T (3.5 GHz, 3 MB cache, 35 W TDP.) On the laptop side of the equation, Intel is introducing four new processors: the Core i3-7007U (2 cores, 4 threads, 2.1 GHz, 3 MB cache); the Core i3-7110U (2 cores, 4 threads, 2.6 GHz, 3 MB cache); the Core i5-7210U (2 cores, 4 threads, 2.5 GHz base, 3.3 GHz Turbo, 3 MB cache); and the Core i7-7510U (2 cores, 4 threads, 2.7 GHz base, 3.7 GHz Turbo, 4 MB cache.) Lastly, Intel is adding the new E3-1285 v6 Xeon to its lineup. This one brings increased clock speeds (4.1 GHz base, 4.5 GHz Turbo) with Intel's HD P630 integrated graphics, increasing the TDP by 19 W ( to 91 W) compared to the already existing Xeon E3-1275 v6 - for a 300 MHz clock speed increase. This Xeon should be the new highest-end processor for the iMac, which should place its pricing above the $612 mark previously held by the Xeon E3-1280 v6.

Intel Pentium G4560 dual-core socket LGA1151 processor is too good for Intel's comfort. For the past two generations, Intel has enabled HyperThreading on Pentium dual-core chips, and expanded L3 cache amount from 2 MB to 3 MB; which had been the two key differentiators for the company's Core i3 desktop lineup from Pentium. HyperThreading was warranted by an increasing number of games and applications which wouldn't work without at least 4 logical CPUs. The G4560 is a formidable part at its USD $64 price - 2 cores, 4 threads, the latest "Kaby Lake" micro-architecture, 3 MB L3 cache, and 3.50 GHz clock speeds. On the flip side, it makes buying Core i3 dual-core parts close to double its price a dumb option. Intel's solution? Effectively kill it.

According to a DigiWorthy report, Intel has decided to scale down production of the Pentium G4560 in a bid to cripple its availability, and force consumers to opt for pricier 7th generation Core i3 parts. The cheapest part, the Core i3-7100, is priced almost double that of the G4560, at $117. You get the same two "Kaby Lake" cores, 4 threads enabled by HyperThreading, the same 3 MB L3 cache, but slightly higher clock speeds of 3.90 GHz, and a faster integrated graphics core, if you use one. Does the extra 400 MHz warrant double the price? Not even in the case of Intel's priciest Core i7 SKUs. All prices are Intel's "recommended customer price" for 1000-unit tray quantities.

Over the weekend, Intel cut the retail price of its overclocker-friendly dual-core chip, the Core i3-7350K. The chip is now priced at USD $149, down from its launch price of $184. Based on the 14 nm "Kaby Lake" silicon, the i3-7350K is designed to target the performance-segment gaming PC crowd by offering two cores clocked extremely high out of the box, which in Intel's calculation could prove sufficient to power gaming at 1080p or even 1440p. Then there's always the joy of overclocking, thanks to its unlocked base-clock multiplier.

The Core i3-7350K features out of the box clock speeds of 4.20 GHz. Turbo Boost isn't available to the Core i3 brand. The dual-core chip features HyperThreading, enabling 4 logical CPUs for the OS to deal with. It also gets 4 MB of shared L3 cache. Its $184 launch price may have been rendered untenable by competing AMD Ryzen 5-1500X and Ryzen 5-1400 quad-core parts priced at $189 and $169, respectively, which not just give you two more cores, but also double or quadruple the L3 cache, and unlocked multipliers. Unlike the two Ryzen 5 quad-core parts, the Core i3-7350K retail package lacks a stock cooler, escalating its cost by at least another $20 for a decent cooler, if you don't have one. These factors may have driven the price-cut.

We expect to know a little more about AMD's Ryzen 3 processors soon, which are expected to compete against Intel's Core i3 processors while offering a full-blown, true quad-core design against Intel's dual-core + HyperThreading solutions. However, it would seem that ASUS itself has given up a little of the game away, through a processor compatibility list for its upcoming Crosshair VI Hero WIFI AC motherboard.

The processor specifically detailed is AMD's Ryzen 3 1200 CPU. We already know this to be a quad-core part (and ASUS notes it as a 4C processor, so, four cores), but ASUS' misstep tells us this one will carry a base clock speed of 3.1GHz, with 8 MB of L3 cache and a 65 W TDP.

Akasa introduced a pair of fanless mini-PC cases for Intel's "Apollo Lake" and "Kaby Lake" NUC boards, the Newton S7 and Newton AC. The Newton S7 is designed to cope with the 15W TDP thermal loads of NUC boards with Core i3 and Core i5 "Kaby Lake" NUC boards, such as the NUC7i3BNK, NUC7i3BNH, NUC7i5BNK, and NUC7i5BNH. The Newton AC, on the other hand, is designed for Pentium and Celeron "Apollo Lake" based NUC boards, such as the NUC6CAYH and NUC6CAYS.

Measuring 176.5 mm x 200 mm x 53.5 mm (WxDxH), the Newton S7 features a chunky aluminium body that doubles up as a heatsink for the SoC. It offers one 9.5 mm-thick 2.5-inch drive bay. Its front-panel ports include two USB 3.0 type-A, HDA audio jacks, a hole for IR receiver, and two WLAN antenna holes at the rear end. The Newton AC, on the other hand, measures 140 mm x 111 mm x 51 mm, with one 2.5-inch drive bay, and cutouts for front IR receiver, USB type-A ports and HDA jacks. Both cases come with options for compatible power bricks.

GIGABYTE today introduced a powerful variant of its BRIX IoT fanless node. In contrast to its Pentium "Apollo Lake" SoC based siblings, the new GB-EKi3A-7100 ships with a Core i3-7100U "Kaby Lake" processor. The unit is also slightly larger, measuring 180 mm x 117 mm x 36 mm (LxWxH). You get two DDR4 SODIMM slots, besides a 32 Gbps M.2-2280 slot with NVMe support, so you can add your own memory and SSD. Connectivity includes 802.11ac WLAN with Bluetooth 4.0, gigabit Ethernet, RS232 serial COM, two 5 Gbps USB 3.0 type-A ports, and two 10 Gbps USB 3.1 ports, of which one is type-C. Display outputs include HDMI 2.0 and mini-DisplayPort 1.2 (driven by the integrated Intel HD 620 graphics core).

Following its launch of the Ryzen 5 series performance-segment six-core and quad-core processors later this month, AMD could launch entry-level quad-core chips based on the 14 nm "Summit Ridge" silicon in the second half of 2017. This lineup will be called the Ryzen 3 series, and will occupy several sub-$150 price points.

The Ryzen 3 series parts will compete with Intel's Core i3 dual-core "Kaby Lake" processors, and will offer four cores, even if lacking SMT (that's 4 cores, 4 threads), and up to 8 MB of L3 cache, making for a compelling deal against Core i3 "Kaby Lake" dual-core parts that have 2 cores and 4 threads enabled through HyperThreading, and just 3-4 MB of L3 cache. What's more, the Ryzen 3 series chips will come with unlocked base-clock multipliers. One of the prominent Ryzen 3 series SKUs revealed by leaky taps among the motherboard industry is the Ryzen 3 1200.

Over 12 hours ahead of its unveiling, Guru3D accidentally (timezone confusion) posted some juicy details about AMD's exciting Ryzen 5 desktop processor lineup. What makes these chips particularly exciting is that they occupy several sub-$250 price points, and offer the kind of gaming performance you'd expect from the larger 8-core Ryzen 7 series chips, since not a lot of games need 8 cores and 16 threads. The Ryzen 5 series will launch with two 6-core, and two 4-core SKUs, all four of which feature SMT (simultaneous multi-threading), and unlocked base-clock multipliers.

The Ryzen 5 series is topped by the Ryzen 5-1600X, priced at USD $249. This 6-core/12-thread chip features the full 16 MB of L3 cache available on the 14 nm "Summit Ridge" silicon, and backs it with clock speeds of 3.60 GHz core and 4.00 GHz TurboCore, with the XFR (extended frequency range) feature enabling higher clocks depending on the effectiveness of your CPU cooling. This chip could be AMD's power move against the Intel Core i5-7600K. Next up, is the Ryzen 5-1600 (non-X), priced at $219. This chip lacks the XFR feature, and comes with slightly lower clocks out of the box, with 3.20 GHz core, and 3.60 GHz TurboCore. You still get an unlocked base-clock multiplier, which Intel's $220-ish competitor to this chip, the Core i5-7500, sorely lacks.

AMD's upcoming Ryzen chips probably represent the hardware world's most awaited shake-up in recent times (and I do know I've been mentioning this non-stop, but please, do bear with me here). The thought that the underdog could finally present an actual alternative - at least performance-wise - to its Goliath of a rival - and thus introducing renewed competition in a bogged-down hardware segment and the democratization of high-quality processing cores - is simply too good to not gobble down like water given to a desert nomad. I, for one, hope that AMD can deliver, prompting a better competitive - and pricing - environment for all of us.

And it would seem that Intel is looking to staunch an eventual bleeding that AMD's Ryzen chips might instill to their CPU line-up, with its expected 4-core, 8-thread, 6-core 12-thread, and 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen processors, by shaking up its - now ancient - line-up of Core processors. Intel has already introduced some changes to its line with the release of Kaby Lake - with some Celeron processors carrying Hyper Threading, previously locked to their i3 processors, and the first unlocked-multiplier Core i3-7350K processor, but apparently the company feels that isn't enough for Ryzen's expected performance - enter the Core i7-7740K and the Core i5-7640K.

Intel's Core i3-7350K, the little dual-core that could, is going to be absent from the company's launch line-up, multiple sources have reported. Considering Intel's other expected, already pretty well-known parts and respective pricing which will be making up its Kaby Lake market launch, the absence of Intel's only "innovative" product (if you can really call an unlocked multiplier an innovation) surely presents itself as sad news for the extreme value-conscious consumer - at least if non-K overclocking of Intel's processors is, this time around, properly shut-down by the company as intended.

Expected to be priced at $175, the Core i3-7350K is expected to carry a base clock of 4 GHz, with 5 GHz on air being the expected OC potential of the chips. Apparently, Intel is delaying the launch of this part (as well as its entry-level Celeron and Pentium families of processors) by several weeks. This could be a way for Intel to prevent early cannibalization of its i5 7400 processors by a small chip that could, in the right scenario, provide much higher performance due to its 1 GHz extra base core clock speed (also being the only Core i3 desktop SKU to feature Turbo Boost, with a frequency of up to 4.2 GHz).

Intel's 7th generation Core "Kaby Lake" processors are slated for a January 2017 launch, beginning with the flagship Core i7-7700K processor. Ahead of their launch, here are pictures of the retail boxes of Core i7, Core i5, and Core i3 "Kaby Lake" processors. As you can see, they're nearly identical to those of the 6th generation Core "Skylake" boxes, except for the "7th Generation" marking on the box, Intel HD Graphics 630 markings, and an interesting-looking "For a Great VR Experience" marking on the box. The processor model number sticker will be pasted right where you'd expect it. Intel Core "Kaby Lake" processors will run on motherboards with Intel 200-series chipset out of the box, and on 100-series chipset motherboards with BIOS updates.

Intel's third overclocker-friendly SKU from its 7th generation Core "Kaby Lake" processor family, the Core i3-7350K, is shaping up to be an interesting option for gaming PC builds. It may be a dual-core chip, which at $177 is within striking-range of the current $189 Core i5-6400 quad-core chip, but the lack of two cores appears to be more than made up for by its significantly higher clock speeds, even in multi-threaded benchmarks. The i3-7350K is clocked at 4.00 GHz, out of the box. It's also the only Core i3 desktop SKU to feature Turbo Boost, with a frequency of 4.20 GHz. It chip comes with an unlocked base-clock multiplier, letting you overclock it with ease.

A PC enthusiast with access to a Core i3-7350K sample put it through Geekbench, where it scored 5,137 points in the single-threaded tests, and 10,048 in multi-threaded tests. Here's where it gets interesting - the Core i5-6400 quad-core chip scores 3,686 points (single-threaded), and 9,982 points (multi-threaded. The i5-6400 is clocked at a mere 2.70 GHz, with 3.30 GHz Turbo Boost. Even the higher clocked i5-4670K "Haswell" quad-core chip (3.40 GHz core, 3.80 GHz Turbo Boost) doesn't manage to beat the i3-7350K, with 4,361 points (single-threaded), and 10,036 points (multi-threaded).