Wednesday, April 19th 2017
Intel to Accelerate Basin Falls Unveil, Coffee Lake Launch
According to DigiTimes, sources among Taiwan-based PC vendors have indicated that Intel's upcoming Basin Falls platform, which includes Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X processors on a new X299 chipset, will be unveiled at Computex 2017 (May 30th, June 3rd), in Taipei - two months earlier than expected. This move comes accompanied by an accelerated launch of the Coffee Lake microarchitecture, which still uses the 14 nm process, to August 2017 from an initial January 2018 launch. If true, this is big in a number of ways - that Intel would bring forward a product launch 4 months has some interesting implications - or at least, confirmations.
Remember that Coffee Lake is supposed to carry an increased number of cores in its mainstream designs. And we all know how Intel's line-up has almost been torn apart by Ryzen's aggressive core and thread-count, with AMD offering more cores and threads than Intel at virtually all price-points. And even if an argument is made regarding Intel's better gaming performance, that's one scenario out of many. Future proofing, professional work, multimedia, all of these assert AMD's dominance in a pure price-performance ratio. I, for one, would gladly give up some FPS in some games and accept an increased number of cores than go the other way around (especially with AMD's platform support and the number of patches that have increased game performance on Ryzen CPUs.)
So what we see here, if these reports are correct, is Intel scrambling to respond to a launch that caught the blue giant squarely with its figurative pants down - Ryzen's 52% performance increase (and incredible energy efficiency) over the now defunct and best-forgotten Bulldozer debacle was something Intel wasn't quite counting on. Intel had three choices: keep its stalwart posture with no price decreases on its line-up and see Ryzen CPUs flying off the shelves, as they mostly have; do an about-face and lower pricing, which would indelibly mark its standing and image as an untouchable tech giant; or accelerate the launch of its upcoming platform, with a line-up that is actually better equipped to handle Ryzen's core and thread dominance. If the last one is true, then this is no small feat for Intel itself, and just goes to show how the company could have increased core-count on its processors any time it wanted. Instead, they took the sound business decision in face of lacking competition - but those are all decisions that now show us how ridiculous it is that Intel is selling two-core, four thread i3 processors for the premium it has.
Back to the news piece, these Basin Falls-based products are expected to be revealed near the E3 gaming show in June, with the official release at the end of the month. It is currently expected that the Skylake-X series features three 140W processors with 6, 8 and 10-core designs, while the Kaby Lake-X series carries a 112 W, quad-core processor. In August, Intel will release a top-end 12-core Skylake-X processor. These will probably enter a collision course with AMD's expected X399 platform, which again boast of higher core-counts - and probably better performance-per-watt - than Intel's offerings, with 12 and 16-core processors (with double the threads) being available.
As for the 14nm-based Coffee Lake-based processors, which are supposed to bring Intel back in the mainstream processor game, the company is expected to initially release several K-series Core i7/i5/i3 processors and accompanying Z370 chipsets in August, with more CPUs and the H370, B360 and H310 chipsets at the end of 2017 or early 2018. Digitimes also reports that Intel has ordered five extra EUV machine sets from ASML in an effort to increase its manufacturing capabilities. If all of this pans out the way it's looking, I think "scrambling" is a more than fair description on the current Intel landscape.
Source:
DigiTimes
Remember that Coffee Lake is supposed to carry an increased number of cores in its mainstream designs. And we all know how Intel's line-up has almost been torn apart by Ryzen's aggressive core and thread-count, with AMD offering more cores and threads than Intel at virtually all price-points. And even if an argument is made regarding Intel's better gaming performance, that's one scenario out of many. Future proofing, professional work, multimedia, all of these assert AMD's dominance in a pure price-performance ratio. I, for one, would gladly give up some FPS in some games and accept an increased number of cores than go the other way around (especially with AMD's platform support and the number of patches that have increased game performance on Ryzen CPUs.)
Back to the news piece, these Basin Falls-based products are expected to be revealed near the E3 gaming show in June, with the official release at the end of the month. It is currently expected that the Skylake-X series features three 140W processors with 6, 8 and 10-core designs, while the Kaby Lake-X series carries a 112 W, quad-core processor. In August, Intel will release a top-end 12-core Skylake-X processor. These will probably enter a collision course with AMD's expected X399 platform, which again boast of higher core-counts - and probably better performance-per-watt - than Intel's offerings, with 12 and 16-core processors (with double the threads) being available.
As for the 14nm-based Coffee Lake-based processors, which are supposed to bring Intel back in the mainstream processor game, the company is expected to initially release several K-series Core i7/i5/i3 processors and accompanying Z370 chipsets in August, with more CPUs and the H370, B360 and H310 chipsets at the end of 2017 or early 2018. Digitimes also reports that Intel has ordered five extra EUV machine sets from ASML in an effort to increase its manufacturing capabilities. If all of this pans out the way it's looking, I think "scrambling" is a more than fair description on the current Intel landscape.
66 Comments on Intel to Accelerate Basin Falls Unveil, Coffee Lake Launch
They need to increase the core count and reduce prices if they want to get back in the game for people considering an R7 purchase.
Can't wait!
6 cores of 5Ghz 14nm+++ goodness.
$250 7600k overclocked beats any Ryzen cpu in gaming
$350 7700k stock or overclocked smashes any Ryzen cpu in gaming
$420 6 core Coffelake destroys any Ryzen cpu in gaming.
I wish you nothing but the best in your quest to objectiveness and mind cleanliness.
I don't mind paying an extra 75$ to have the fastest gaming cpu.
so your i7's are good for you.. but not everybody on the world care about solo gaming performance.
If you want better fps you'll need to upgrade your GPU to a 1080Ti and thereby also your CPU.
Nice combo you have btw, I have this myself as well.
Epeen alert.
Swallow this fact then AMD are back in town and Intel are shitting themselves as there stock shelves fill with dual and quad cores and this will continue given that's what they make most.
Oh you want a 6 core 12thread 5ghz unicorn ,you might have to wait a while for that unicorn unless you have phase change or liquid nitrogen.
Luckily they have people like you about.
I have a good 2tb ssd
16gb of ram seems to be enough.
My gtx1070 kills 1080p.
My i5 6500 @ 4.5 needs an upgrade.
I don't need to save $75, I have a job that pays me.
why do I feel like i'm being attacked for wanting the best or better?
Would you rather me lie and say, " I'm going to change my motherboard and buy a faster Ryzen cpu for gaming?
This seems to be an Intel Coffee Lake 6 core cpu thread..
Point is you would get more FPS and future proof upgrading your GPU than your CPU. CPU makes difference in the 60+ or even 100+ FPS region (except RTS), GPU makes a difference everywhere.
And in my use case below(crunching/folding /useful work) a 209 £RyZen 1600 pulverised everything Intel sell upto a grand ,so realise I'm not about just games , but the 2-5fps intel have at 4k (not 1080p)ain't worth shit to me using 2 4k displays, certainly not verses the productivity and power savings on RyZen.
However I am not biased and no i don't own one I'll wait ,I'm waiting for the hedt to appear and Vega because it's not the CPU liming my gaming at 4k it's still the GPU.
Listen I don't need help, but thank you.
First, buy a 35/40 inch 4k monitor with Gsync 144Hz, (can't find one yet)
Then upgrade my gpu to Vega or 1080ti
Next upgrade to 6 core and overclock.
Problem is there is no great 4k monitors out there. So I will stick to 1080p till then.
Intel clearly said the 8 generation CPU will NOT be compatible with Z170, so your plan is doomed right from the start.
You may like little 28 inch 4k monitors but that's way too small for me.
I don't downsize. As of today there is no good large 4k options.
I don't use crappy 480's in a mostly unsupported crossfire environment
just because AMD can't release a good high end gpu, like you do.
I don't care about saving a few seconds with productivity apps or streaming my games as I play.
You also wrong about 4k monitors(many are good) though if i extrapolate your meaning you want 4k 140hz+ gsync and expect a titan to manage this, hahaaaaaa genius level tech knowledge.
Close up 28" is very useable and my 49" 4k does casual gaming fine a ty
I reckon that Ryzen version 2 will fix that IPC deficit and give us some real head-to-head competition, the likes of which we haven't seen since 2005.