German professional overclocker Dancop got the Intel Core i7-8700K processor to work on an ASUS ROG Maximus IX Apex (Z270) motherboard, something that's not supposed to work. CPU-Z screenshots seem to confirm this unholy union between the 6-core "Coffee Lake" processor and a 200-series chipset motherboard, using a custom "0084" BIOS dated 11th June, 2018. Dancop then proceeded to overclock the chip to 7344 MHz using extreme cooling, and 2x 8 GB (dual-channel) DDR4-4000 memory. This bench-stable build was then used to bag a SuperPi 32M world-record.

There's a rather big catch, though. Half the cores on the i7-8700K were disabled, and so was HyperThreading (not that it's relevant to SuperPi). The 3-core/3-thread chip was still bench-stable at 7344 MHz, crunching SuperPi 32M in a world-record 7.609 seconds. The clock speed was achieved by dialing up the multiplier to 73.0x, with the base-clock probably untouched, at 100.61 MHz (with the +0.61 MHz probably being variance). Supporting this clock was a blistering core voltage of 1.984 V. A liquid-nitrogen evaporator was used to tame the CPU and motherboard VRM. Find the validation in the source link below.

Intel today announced the Core i7-8086K six-core processor in the LGA1151(v2) package, compatible with 300-series chipset. This processor commemorates 40 years since the company's 8086 processor, which was the spiritual ancestor of the x86 architecture that dominates modern day computing. Based on the same 14 nm "Coffee Lake" silicon as the i7-8700K, this chip features high clock speeds of 4.00 GHz nominal, with a maximum Turbo Boost frequency of 5.00 GHz. Like the i7-8700K, it features 256 KB of dedicated L2 cache per core, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. The processor will go on sale from 8th June, the company didn't reveal pricing, but it's rumored to be a conspicuous USD 486.

Latest leak confirms that Intel is preparing new Xeon processors targeted at the entry level market. These Xeon chips, which are based on Coffee Lake-S, have been rebranded from Xeon E3 to Xeon E. The Xeon E-2000 family consists of ten models featuring up to six cores. They differ from their consumer Coffee Lake counterparts in terms of features, memory support, operating frequencies, and TDP ratings. Seven of the ten processors come with iGPUs as denoted by the G suffix in the model number. The new Xeon E-2000 processors will be manufactured in Intel's Vietnam facility. The first batches of these processors are expected to ship sometime around June 25, 2018.

Intel is commemorating 40 years of its 8086 processor, the spiritual ancestor of the x86 machine architecture that rules modern computing, with a special edition socket LGA1151 processor, dubbed Core i7-8086K. The chip appears to feature a nominal clock speed of 4.00 GHz, with a maximum Turbo Boost frequency of 5.00 GHz, making it the first mainstream desktop processor from Intel to hit the 5.00 GHz mark, out of the box.

The Core i7-8086K is more likely to be based on a special bin of the 14 nm, 6-core/12-thread "Coffee Lake" silicon, rather than being something next-gen or 8-core. The retail SKU bears the part number "BX80684I78086K." The chip will be compatible with Intel 300-series chipset motherboards. Pre-launch listings put its price around $486, which is along expected lines, as it's 70-100 EUR pricier than the i7-8700K. Intel could unveil the Core i7-8086K at the 2018 Computex (specifically on the 8th of June), alongside the first motherboards based on its Z390 Express chipset.

That Intel bringing 8 cores to the mainstream-desktop (MSDT) platform is more than a rumor now, as a curious-looking SiSoft SANDRA database entry suggests. An anonymous source submitted benchmark results of a processor with 8 cores, 16 threads, 256 KB of L2 cache per core, and 16 MB of L3 cache; clocked at 2.60 GHz (prototypes and engineering-samples are usually clocked low). This can't be i7-5960X or the i7-6900K, because the HEDT chips pack 20 MB of L3 cache. The more recent i7-7820X packs 11 MB of L3 cache, with 1 MB per core of L2 cache. It's conceivable that an MSDT chip could retain the cache hierarchy of the current MSDT processors from Intel, with 2 MB L3 cache slices per core, adding up to 12 MB on the i7-8700, for example, explaining the large 16 MB L3 cache on this chip.

The SANDRA numbers suggest similar IPC to the "Coffee Lake" architecture, while a proportionate increase in performance to the increased core-count. The chip scored 96 points with 237.03 GOPS score; 330.64 GIPS Dhrystone integer, 194.46 GFLOPS Whetstone single-precision floating-point; and 148.47 GFLOPS Whetstone double-precision; and 91.45 GOPS/GHz clocks/performance. Intel is rumored to launch an 8-core/16-thread LGA115x processor, possibly paired with its upcoming Z390 Express chipset, and possibly based on its new 10 nm silicon fabrication process; sometime either in 2H-2018 or Q1-2019.

Intel released a product brief of its premium mainstream-desktop (MSDT) chipset, the Z390 Express. Positioned above the Z370 Express, the chipset has an exhaustive feature-set. It supports current 8th generation Core "Coffee Lake" processors, and is ready for the next-generation. Like all other 300-series chipsets, the Z390 interfaces with the LGA1151 processor over a DMI 3.0 chipset-bus. Much like the Z370, it features 24 downstream PCI-Express gen 3.0 lanes. Its storage setup remains unchanged from the Z370 - six SATA 6 Gbps ports with AHCI and RAID support; and up to three 32 Gbps M.2/U.2 connectors.

The differences begin with the chipset's integrated USB connectivity. The Z390 Express directly puts out six 10 Gbps USB 3.1 gen 2 ports, and ten 5 Gbps USB 3.1 gen 1 ports. If that's not a lot, it also puts out fourteen USB 2.0 ports (a total of 30 USB ports). Another major feature is Intel SmartSound technology, which the document specifies as an "audio/voice offload" DSP. This should, in theory, reduce the CPU's load in processing the audio stack. At the physical level it's still the company's "Azalia" HD audio bus wired to an audio CODEC with close to zero native signal processing. Perhaps some of that processing is done inside the chipset. The concept appears to be borrowed from edge-computing, and triggered by the rise in voice-command interface, so the chipset can natively process speech-to-text conversions.

ASUS rolled out the Prime H310T, one of the rare few thin mini-ITX motherboards based on Intel 300-series chipset, a boon for certain SFF cases such as the Akasa Euler series, or DIY all-in-one PC upgrades. Based on Intel H310 chipset, the board supports 8th generation Intel "Coffee Lake" processors (including 95W TDP chips). It draws power from 2-pin (12V DC in), and conditions it for the LGA1151 processor using a simple 3+1 phase VRM. The CPU socket is wired to two DDR4 SO-DIMM slots, which support up to 32 GB of dual-channel DDR4-2666 memory.

Storage connectivity includes a 32 Gbps M.2-2280 slot, and two SATA 6 Gbps ports. The only other expansion slot is an M.2 slot for WLAN modules. Display outputs include LVDS (useful in AIOs), DisplayPort, and HDMI. USB connectivity includes four 5 Gbps USB 3.1 gen 1 ports. 2-channel HD audio and gigabit Ethernet make for the rest of it.

Two weeks ago, Intel indirectly confirmed via the release notes for its Rapid Storage Technology driver that the Z390 platform will support the current "Coffee Lake" and soon-to-be-released "Cannon Lake" processors. SuperMicro's Z390 motherboard (C9Z390-CG-IW) recently popped up in a few 3DMark results to confirm this compatibility. The motherboard was tested alongside the Intel Core i7-8700T and Intel Core i7-8700K six-core processors. Therefore, it's safe to say that the upcoming Z390 motherboards will employ the LGA1151 socket.

Intel unintentionally confirmed the existence of two of its upcoming client platform chipsets, the Z390 Express, and the X399 Express. The latest release-notes documentation of its Rapid Storage Technology driver, mentions Z390 and X399, alongside the CPU micro-architectures they support. The Z390 supports current-generation "Coffee Lake" and upcoming "Cannon Lake" processors, while the X399 supports HEDT derivatives based on the two architectures, namely "Coffee Lake-X" and "Cannon Lake-X," with no mention of "Skylake-X."

What happens to the X299, you ask? The table mentions the chipset as supporting SKL-X (Skylake-X) and KBL-X (Kaby Lake-X), but it's not clear if Intel is only referring to the forgettable i7-7740X and i5-7640X with "KBL-X." The Z390 is rumored as being Intel's next top mainstream-desktop chipset, with a long overdue update to onboard audio standards, in being a departure from the "Azalia" HD audio specification, onward to the new Programmable Quad-Core Audio with new SoundWire digital audio interface. The chipset is also rumored to feature 10 Gbps USB 3.1 ports.

ASUS expanded its Expedition line of motherboards and graphics cards purpose built for gaming iCafes (they're still a thing in the developing world), with the new B360-V Expedition motherboard for 8th generation "Coffee Lake" processors. Built in the slim micro-ATX form-factor, the board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors. A simple 5-phase VRM powers the CPU, which is wired to two DDR4 DIMM slots supporting up to 32 GB of memory; and one PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot.

Storage connectivity includes four SATA 6 Gbps ports. 6-channel HD audio, and gigabit Ethernet make for the rest of it. What makes this board suited for iCafes, is high-grade electrical components, better anchored PCI-Express slots, surge protection across all LAN and USB ports, and slightly better onboard audio than other boards in its class, with separate PCB layers handling left and right audio channels; and 144 hours of rigorous stress-testing of each board before it's packaged.

Intel's upcoming Coffee Lake-S CPUs are still only referenced as smoke and mirrors - gradually becoming denser, surely, but slowly. However, hawk-eyed users have begun noticing the usual trickle of information that precedes a product release. In this case, Intel themselves have started listing technical documentos referencing the Coffee Lake-S parts, and though these read as confidential, the hints they hide are enough to piece together some broad strokes.

Intel recently celebrated 20 years of the Pentium brand that made the company a household name, with a special Pentium 20th Anniversary Edition G3258 SKU. If rumors are to be believed, the company could do something similar with the upcoming 40th anniversary of its 8086 processor, the distant ancestor of today's x86 architecture. Some sources even suggest that the company could take advantage of its 8th generation Core product cycle to launch a "Core i7-8086K" SKU.

Pictures surfaced on social media of the said "i7-8086K" SKU in the flesh, complete with a part number "SR3QQ." Based on the same 14 nm "Coffee Lake" silicon as the i7-8700K, this chip has a nominal clock speed of 4.00 GHz, a maximum Turbo Boost frequency above 5.00 GHz, an unlocked multiplier, and 12 MB of shared L3 cache. Intel could choose June 8th (around the 2018 Computex and the actual anniversary of 8086), to launch the new SKU.

big.LITTLE is an innovation by ARM, which seeks to minimize power-draw on mobile devices. It is a sort of heterogeneous multi-core CPU design, in which a few "big" high-performance CPU cores work alongside a few extremely low-power "little" CPU cores. The idea here is that the low-power cores consume much lesser power at max load, than the high-performance cores at their minimum power-state, so the high-performance cores can be power-gated when the system doesn't need them (i.e. most of the time).

Intel finds itself with two distinct x86 implementations at any given time. It has low-power CPU micro-architectures such as "Silvermont," "Goldmont," and "Goldmont Plus," etc., implemented on low-power product lines such as the Pentium Silver series; and it has high-performance micro-architectures, such as "Haswell," "Skylake," and "Coffee Lake." The company wants to take a swing at its own heterogeneous multi-core CPU, according to tech stock analyst Ashraf Eassa, with the Motley Fool.

GIGABYTE's high performance, stylish and quality designed AERO series has attracted media from around the world since it was launched, further recommended by world-renowned editors as laptop of the year 2017. This time, the AERO laptops take an upgrade leap with all new Intel Core i7-8750H CPU, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10 Graphics and a 144Hz refresh rate display with a bezel of only 5mm thin. All this, packed in a 1.8cm thin chassis.

World's First 144Hz Extreme Gaming Display + 5mm Thin Bezel
The All new AERO 15/15X stands out from the crowd with the 144Hz Full HD IPS display, plus X-Rite Pantone calibration before leaving the factory. Users can experience the latest refresh display technology with a wide viewing angle that was once thought impossible, all with accurate colors. Add such display technology to a 5mm near-borderless display, and the user gets the world's first and best display combination found on a laptop. The AERO 15X also comes with a 4K ADOBE 100 percent RGB display for those who need the extra fine details.

Introducing the EVGA H370 Stinger - A budget-friendly workhorse for your HTPC or gaming PC. Featuring a next-gen Intel H370 Express Chipset, with DDR4 2667MHz+ memory support and a 10-layer PCB, this motherboard is built to withstand the daily grind. Using a 9-phase PWM, external clock generator, HDMI 2.0 and 7.1 Channel HD Audio, this motherboard will thrive as the heart of your next system, while supporting today's widely-used components.

With four SATA 6G ports, M.2, Intel Optane Memory Ready, the EVGA H370 Stinger has you covered for storage. This motherboard also comes with USB 3.1 Gen 2, 4 native USB 3.1 Gen 1 and included Dual-Band WiFi + Bluetooth for versatility. By using a careful balance of performance and features, the EVGA H370 Stinger gets you straight to the point.

Similar to other laptop manufacturers, ASUS will also give their ROG Zephyrus GX501 the special Coffee Lake treatment. The new model (GX501GI EI005T) is powered by an Intel Core i7-8750H six-core processor that operates at 2.2 GHz with a turbo boost clock of 4.1 GHz. With 9MB of onboard L3 cache, the Core i7-8750H boasts a 45W TDP. The Zephyrus GX501 comes with 16GB of DDR4-2400 memory and a 512GB SSD. The 15.6-inch display on the Zephyrus GX501 features a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, 144 Hz refresh rate, and support for NVIDIA's G-Sync technology. Unfortunately, the laptop's very slim body forces ASUS to implement the Max-Q variant of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 GPU. Judging from the photographs of the latest Zephyrus GX501, the machine not only received a processor upgrade but also a slight facelift. It appears that ASUS has pushed the keyboard upwards closer to the display. The GX501GI EI005T was listed for 3499 Swiss francs at a Swiss retailer, which translates over to around $3657.

The Predator Helios 500 is Acer's 17.3-inch gaming laptop featuring one of Intel's upcoming six-core mobile Coffee Lake processors. Consumers can choose between a Core i9-8950HK with a 2.9 GHz base clock and 4.8 GHz boost clock or the lower-spec Core i7-8750H that runs at 2.2 GHz base clock and 4.1 GHz boost clock. Independent of processor model, the Helios 500 comes with a Full HD 144 Hz IPS display with NVIDIA G-Sync support. The onboard NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is responsible for graphics duties. The Helios 500's other specifications include 16GB of DDR4-2133 memory and a 256GB M.2 SSD for primary storage. In terms of connectivity options, consumers receive three USB 3.0 ports, two USB Type-C ports with Thunderbolt support, HDMI port, DisplayPort, LAN port, and two audio connectors. The Intel Core i9-8950HK version costs 1999 PLN ($3500) while the Intel Core i7-8750H version goes for 8999 PLN ($2630).

MSI is in the throes of launching a socket LGA 1151, Coffee Lake-based motherboard that's geared for cryptocurrency mining. Apparently looking to cater to the mining enthusiast that wants the latest silicon even in the CPU department of their mining setup, it's still hard to imagine something other than the upcoming Pentium or Celerons will ever make their way to this motherboard - not in any sane miners' mind, surely.

Despite Supporting Coffee Lake processors and including 1x PCIe x16 and 12x PCIe 1x slots, MSI has taken steps to reduce unneeded features as much as possible, as the usual workloads for this kind of hardware don't really require more than some basic inputs and outputs. A pair of Molex connectors allows for more power to be delivered to the graphics cards employed on this motherboard, and only 2x DDR4 DIMM slots - smart cost-savings for the market demographic. Everything else is as bare and minimal as possible - the 1x HDMI and 1x DVI video output, sound connectors, 2x USB 2.0 and 2x USB 3.0 slots... One can see the preparations for some more 5x PCIe x1 slots to be added to a motherboard - just not to this one, since it can't handle that many graphics expansion slots. Maybe on some upcoming motherboard that simply reuses this design and trades the H310 chipset for something a little beefier on that front?

Ahead of their launch, motherboards based on Intel's cheaper H370 Express and H310 Express chipsets, hit the shelves in brick-and-mortar PC hardware stores in Thailand. Numerous pictures of ASRock-branded H370 and H310 motherboard models, namely the H370 Pro4, and the H310-HDV; GIGABYTE-branded Aorus H370 Gaming 3, and ASUS Prime H370-A, were posted to social media by PC buyers. Between March-April, Intel plans to launch cheaper H370 Express, B360 Express, and H310 Express chipsets, alongside newer Core i3 and Core i5 "Coffee Lake" quad-core and six-core SKUs; besides Pentium Gold and Celeron dual-core chips based on the silicon. The cheaper motherboards are expected to bring down the overall platform costs of 8th generation Core processors, which now require you to front over $100 on motherboards based on the expensive Z370 chipset. As with several generations of Intel chipset before it, cheaper chipsets lose out on key features such as CPU overclocking and NVIDIA SLI support.

AMD is preparing to launch its first wave of 12 nm Ryzen 2000-series "Pinnacle Ridge" processors in April, with possible availability on the 19th. From all of the materials leaked to the web, it's becoming clear that the Ryzen 7 2700X will be the company's next flagship socket AM4 processor, with a "2800X" not being part of the first wave of "Pinnacle Ridge" chips. Adding further to the theory of the first wave of "Pinnacle Ridge" chips being led by the 2700X, is the leaked cover of the next issue of print magazine CanardPC, which screams "2700X," and includes a roundup of second-generation Ryzen parts from 2200G all the way through the 2700X. The 2700X, besides process and minor architectural refinements, also features higher clocks than the current company flagship in the segment, the Ryzen 7 1800X. It's clocked at 3.70 GHz base, with 4.35 GHz boost, and XFR 2.0 driving the clocks up even further, compared to the 3.60/4.00/4.20 GHz (base/boost/max-XFR) of the 1800X. For this reason alone, the 2700X will be a faster part.

AMD has the advantage of having sized up Intel's Core i7-8700K before deciding to lead with the 2700X. The possible 2800X will depend on Intel's short-term response to the 2700X. There were rumors late last year of a possible speed-bumped "Core i7-8720K." AMD's first wave of Ryzen 2000-series "Pinnacle Ridge" will be as brisk as Intel's first "Coffee Lake" desktop processors, with just four SKUs - the Ryzen 7 2700X, the Ryzen 7 2700, the Ryzen 5 2600X, and the Ryzen 5 2600. Besides higher clocks, the chips could feature a minor IPC uplift (vs. first-generation "Summit Ridge") thanks to rumored faster (lower-latency) caches, support for higher memory clocks, updated Precision Boost algorithms, and XFR 2.0.

Amazon listed for a brief moment four upcoming Coffee Lake processors on their website. The crew over at Tom's Hardware managed to grab some screenshots of the processors right before the pages were taken down. The models in question belong to the Celeron and Pentium Gold families. The Celeron G4900 and G4920 are dual-core processors that lack hyperthreading. Both models are rated at 54W TDP. However, the G4900 operates at 3.1 GHz, while the G4920 runs at 3.2 GHz. Although Amazon didn't leak the pricing, we did some digging of own. According to Connection, the Celeron 4900 goes for $46.27 and the Celeron G4920 for $58.14. Similar to the Celeron models, the Pentium Gold G5500 and G5600 are also dual-core processors and possess a 54W TDP. However, the Pentium Gold models do come with hyperthreading. The G5500 runs at 3.8 GHz and the G5600 at 3.9 GHz. In terms of pricing, the Pentium Gold G5500 costs $82.06 and the faster Pentium Gold G5600 goes for $94.92.

A curious-looking "Core i7-8670" processor surfaced on GFXBench benchmark online database, which features Intel UHD 630 iGPU. The processor's name breaks Intel's naming conventions of reserving the 87xx model number for Core i7 MSDT (mainstream desktop) SKUs, and 86xx for Core i5 SKUs, based on the 8th generation "Coffee Lake" silicon. The GFXBench information tab confirms that this is a 12-thread (6-core + HTT) CPU, and that its nominal clock speed is a mere 3.10 GHz. Its iGPU offers almost the same performance as the UHD 630 iGPU of the Core i7-8700.

One of the greatest complaints enthusiasts had with Intel's 8th generation Core "Coffee Lake" processors and their companion 300-series chipsets is their lack of compatibility with older 200-series and 100-series chipset motherboards, despite sharing an identical LGA1151 socket. Tinfoil hatters attributed this to Intel's synthetic platform-gating to ensure people buy new motherboards every two CPU generations; while Intel itself maintained that "Coffee Lake" chips have special electrical requirements that come with the increased core-counts, without explaining how that shouldn't exempt quad-core SKUs such as the Core i3-8100 and the i3-8350K from functioning on older platforms.

It turns out that "Coffee Lake" is pin-compatible with older LGA1151 motherboards based on 200-series and 100-series chipsets after all, as modders got some of these chips to work on the older platforms. Intel is using software to prevent Coffee Lake from working on older motherboards. This software comes in the form of the CPU's microcode, the iGPU's UEFI GOP driver, and certain Management Engine bootstraps on the side of the motherboard BIOS that lets it recognize the new chips. With the safe transplanting of these pieces of software, Overclock.net modders rootuser123, LittleHill, dsanke, elisw, Mov AX, and 0xDEAD; succeeding in not only getting the chips to work on older platforms, but also found ways to iron out several stability and compatibility issues. They've published a guide at this page.

Intel is gearing up towards launching their mobile CPU solutions based on the current desktop architecture, Coffee Lake. These mobile CPUs will bring Intel's increased core and thread counts philosophy to the mobile crowds, thus increasing overall performance due to the extra two cores and four threads on the top of the line processors.

The CPU that was benchmarked on Geekbench is the i7-8750H, a six-core, twelve-thread CPU with a 2.2 GHz base clock and up to 4.1 GHz Turbo speeds. Its L3 cache department makes do with a pretty respectable 9 MB, and all of this is wrapped in a 45 W TDP package. As it comes to scores, these show expected gains over Intel's previous generation Kaby Lake Core i7-7700HQ - around 20% in single-thread workloads, and a more impressive 50% boost in multi-threaded ones. Two Quanta systems based on the i7-8750H managed single-thread scores of 4700 and 5008, and multi-threaded marks of 17,504 and 20,715. A HP system using the same chip scored 4980 in the single-thread test and 19,402 in the multi-thread benchmark. All in all, impressive gains in the processing prowess department, though these are overwhelmingly derived from the extra cores and threads, and not from some spectacular microarchitecture improvements.

ASRock updated its DeskMini GTX line of compact desktops with support for 8th generation Core "Coffee Lake" processors in the LGA1151 package (up to 65W TDP). At the heart of this machine is the new Z370M-STX MXM motherboard, which is slightly longer than the mini-ITX form-factor, to accommodate a PCIe gen 3.0 MXM slot. ASRock is selling the DeskMini GTX in three main variants based on the factory-installed discrete GPU, the DeskMini GTX 1060, the DeskMini GTX 1080, and the DeskMini RX 580. These use MXM cards of the GTX 1060 3 GB, GTX 1080, and the RX 580 8 GB, respectively, along with a fan-heatsink. The DDR4 SO-DIMM slots now support high-frequency modules up to 4000 MHz. This is still a bare-bones PC in which you add your own CPU, memory, and storage devices. The company didn't reveal pricing.