Here's the first picture of MSI's flagship socket LGA1151(v2) motherboard for 8th generation Core "Coffee Lake" processors, the Z370 GODLIKE Gaming. The board features the latest design theme by MSI for its top-tier Enthusiast Gaming series. It will be the company's most feature-rich motherboard for the platform. Drawing power from a 6-pin PCIe power connector, besides 8-pin EPS and 24-pin ATX; the board conditions it using an 18-phase VRM. The CPU is wired to reinforced DRAM and PCI-Express slots.

The Z370 GODLIKE Gaming from MSI appears to feature a plethora of onboard overclocking controls, and top-grade connectivity, which could include Killer DoubleShot Pro networking, a staggering five M.2 slots (two of which come from a riser), the company's highest-grade next-generation onboard audio solution, a large number of USB 3.1 gen 2 ports, metallic I/O shroud elements, besides the chipset and VRM heatsinks. The board lights up like a Christmas tree with RGB LEDs all over, and features several RGB LED headers. The Z370 GODLIKE Gaming could be among the first wave of socket LGA1151(v2) motherboards by the company, which could launch a littler later in Q3-2017.

Here are some of the first pictures of upcoming motherboards by ASRock based on Intel Z370 Express chipset, which are designed for 8th generation Core "Coffee Lake" processors. Among the boards pictured, are the Z370 Killer SLI/ac, the Z370 Extreme4, the Z370 Pro4, the Z370 Taichi, the Z370M Pro4, and the Z370M-ITX/ac.

The Z370 Taichi appears to be leading the pack, with the most connectivity options, the strongest CPU VRM, etc. The Z370 Extreme4 is similar in connectivity options to the Z370 Taichi, although it's based on a different PCB. The Z370 Killer SLI/ac and Z370 Pro4 make up the entry-level of the segment. The Z370M Pro4 and the Z370M-ITX/ac, make up the micro-ATX and mini-ITX options, respectively. There still seems to be room for higher segment motherboard in ASRock's lineup. Intel is expected to launch the 8th generation Core processor desktop lineup a little later in Q3-2017.

[Pictures removed at request of ASRock]

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 giving finishing touches to a mobile 8th generation Core i7 processor which features the full complement of 6 cores present on the "Coffee Lake-H" silicon. This is firmly a mobile SKU, and not desktop-on-mobile. According to specs put out in a Geekbench database entry, the processor features 6 cores, 12 threads (HyperThreading), 9 MB of L3 cache, and a nominal clock speed of 2.60 GHz.

Intel tends to keep the nominal clocks of its mobile processors low, while compensating with higher single-core or two-core Turbo Boost clocks. The processor in the Geekbench DB entry packs enough punch to dethrone desktop quad-core parts in multi-threaded scores, with a score of 19,129 points. The single-threaded score isn't groundbreaking at 4,013 points, but that's probably because of the low clock speeds and aggressive power-management inherent to mobile platforms.

Ahead of their launch later this quarter, SiSoft SANDRA benchmarks of Intel 8th generation Core i7-8700K and Core i5-8400 six-core processors surfaced in benchmark databases, which were promptly compared to their predecessors by HotHardware. The results put to the test Intel's claims of "over 40 percent more performance" compared to the 7th generation Core processors, which the company made in its 8th Generation Core Launch Event presentation. A bulk of these performance increases are attributed to the increasing core-count over generation, which directly yields higher multi-threaded performance; while a small but significant portion of it is attributed to increases in single-threaded performance. Since the "Coffee Lake" micro-architecture is essentially a refresh of the "Skylake" architecture, single-threaded performance increases could be attributed to higher clock speeds.

The Core i7-8700K is the top-dog of the 8th generation Core mainstream-desktop processor family. This six-core chip was compared to the product it succeeds in Intel's MSDT product-stack, the quad-core Core i7-7700K. There is a 45 percent increase in performance, in the "processor arithmetic" test; and a 47 percent increase in the "processor multimedia" test. These two test-suites are multi-threaded, and hence benefit from the two added cores, which in turn add four additional logical CPUs, thanks to HyperThreading. "Processor cryptography" sees a 12 percent increase. The single-precision and double-precision "Scientific Analysis" tests, which again are multi-threaded, see 26 percent and 32 percent performance gains over the i7-7700K, respectively.

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 has just opened the proverbial lid on their 8th Gen "Coffee Lake" family of CPUs, which should bring about a democratization of cores for the masses. Acer has been quick to jump on the 8th Gen bandwagon, by announcing their new Nitro 5 Spin laptop, which brings with it the increased performance and "UHD graphics" of Intel's 8000 series of CPUs.

The Nitro 5 Spin is being marketed as a convertible, gaming-focused laptop, whose 15.6 1920*1080 IPS panel can be rotated to multiple locking positions through a 360º hinge. The gaming part of this laptop seems a little subdued - an NVIDIA GTX 1050 graphics card is confirmed to be on board - while memory configuration, and even the specific Intel 8th Gen processor inside, are still a mystery. The company also said that 802.11ac MU-MIMO Wi-Fi will be par of the course for their new offering, and that we should expect this take on Intel's 8th Gen mobility CPUs to be available sometime in October, for a respectable $999.

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.

Here are the first pictures of the retail boxes of 8th generation Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors. The first wave of processors based on Intel's new 14 nm "Coffee Lake" silicon will be 6-core parts in the Core i5 and Core i7 brands, which will be launched on 22 August; with Core i3 following on much later in the year, or even early-2018. The boxes confirm several things about these chips, beginning with the fact that their integrated graphics cores will be branded "Intel UHD Graphics 6xx," and that they will require motherboards based on Intel 300-series chipset, even though their socket is "LGA1151."

There doesn't appear to be a socket key difference between these processors and "Kaby Lake," so it's possible that while 300-series chipset motherboards support older "Kaby Lake" and "Skylake" processors, "Coffee Lake" will only work on 300-series chipset, and not older 200-series or 100-series. Intel making the bold move of branding its new integrated graphics "UHD" could hint at its credentials with hardware-accelerated decoding of new video formats such as 10-bit VP9 at 4K without breaking a sweat; and new display connector standards such as HDMI 2.0 and DP 1.4. The various models that make up the first wave of 8th generation Core i5 and Core i7 desktop processors, are tabled below.

Ahead of their unveiling later this week, four Intel Core i5 and Core i7 U-series (ultra-low power) mobile processor SKUs surfaced in Intel's public price-lists. The prices in the list are meant for notebook manufacturers, for each chip purchased in 1,000-unit tray quantities. The specifications of these SKUs put out in the price-list indicate that Intel is keeping up with its drive to increase core-counts across its product-stack, even with TDP as tight as 15W (that's 15W for quad-core chips). The nominal clock speeds of these chips are kept very low, and their Turbo Boost frequencies are kept high, so there's tighter control over when the processor wants to spend power on performance.

The lineup is led by the Core i7-8650U, which is a 4-core/8-thread SKU with a clock speed of 1.90 GHz, and max Turbo Boost over 4.00 GHz; 8 MB of L3 cache, and a price of USD $409. Selling at the same exact price is the i7-8550U, with a slightly lower clock speed of 1.80 GHz, and 4.00 GHz Turbo Boost. The Core i5 lineup, interestingly, is 4-core/8-thread (includes HyperThreading support), even through its L3 cache amount is 6 MB. The i5-8350U ticks at 1.70 GHz, and an unknown Turbo Boost clock, and is priced at $297; while at the same price, the i5-8520U is clocked at 1.60 GHz, with 3.40 GHz Turbo Boost. The four chips will already be up for order in August 2017, and the first finished-products based on these chips could launch by Holiday.

Naming schemes are pretty interesting nowadays, with AMD firing some warning shots across Intel's bow with their X399 HEDT chipset (thus superseding Intel's X299 by a whole hundred.) This may seem like nothing, and it actually should be nothing; naming schemes are not to be considered indicative of actual performance, especially in regards to competing companies' products. However, as we all know, there is power in numbers. Namely, there is power in bigger numbers, as an i7 will be above an i5, and a Ryzen 7 will be above a Ryzen 3.

AMD threw a curve ball towards Intel with their B350 chipset, which stands in the way of Intel's own historical nomenclature (after the B150 and B250 chipsets from Intel, a B350 would surely follow.) Now, reports say Intel will be upping AMD by releasing a B360 chipset, thus regaining footing in the "bigger is better" battle of wits over consumer's hearts. My Drivers, the source of the information, goes on to say that these chipsets won't be released in 2017 (only Intel's Z370 chipset is expected this year), and that despite using the same socket, Intel's Coffee Lake won't be a drop-in upgrade for Z170 and Z270 platforms, since Intel "changed the alignment of the design." This information had already been advanced by a motherboard maker's social media channel as well.

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 appears that Intel's response to AMD's Ryzen desktop processors will be quite a departure from the norm for the blue company. That Ryzen CPUs with their price points are a disruptive piece of silicon is a well-known fact by now. However much we knew that, though, it appears that Intel really is giving a bold (some might say necessary) response to Ryzen's threat to their immutable (for so many years) CPU lineup.

There has already been a leak for the i3-8350K and i3-8100 CPUs for Coffee Lake; this second one comes more as a confirmation of what image was already forming in our minds. And it seems that Intel really is relegating their four-core, four-thread processors to the i3 tier, thus dropping its entire lineup by a rung. Some questions remain regarding Intel's i5 lineup: likely, entry-level processors of this tier ship with four cores and HyperThreading enabled. It's expected that some i5 models will carry six physical cores (absent of HyperThreading), though. This means Intel's clean segmentation, which started with Nehalem almost a decade ago (on the 45 nm process; do you remember that?) has been brought to an end. It also means my puny i5 will now be relegated to i3 territory, but that's... Life.

On Aug. 21, Intel will unveil the 8th Generation Intel Core processor family on Facebook Live. Watch as two exciting moments align: the Great American Solar Eclipse and the unveiling of Intel's most powerful family of processors for the next era of computing. Hear from those who are at the center of creating this technology and from creators who are using the power of 8th Gen Intel Core technology in new and exciting ways.

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 8th generation Core "Coffee Lake" mainstream desktop processors could work on older socket LGA1151 motherboards based on Intel 200-series chipset, after all. A recent motherboard BIOS update by ASUS alters the name-string of a system device to read "Intel Kaby Lake/Coffee Lake-S Host Bridge/DRAM Controller," reinforcing the theory that Coffee Lake and its companion 300-series chipset make up the Kaby Lake "Refresh" platform.

Responding to a customer question, motherboard maker ASRock had recently commented that "Coffee Lake" processors won't be supported by current motherboards based on the 200-series chipset, dashing hopes of current platform users to upgrade to newer 6-core processors without having to unnecessarily buy a new motherboard and reinstall software. This development shouldn't necessarily raise hopes. Although Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake have a lot of architectural similarities, particularly with their uncore components, revised electrical requirements of the new chips could be behind the lack of backwards platform-compatibility. It remains to be seen if you can use your current "Skylake" and "Kaby Lake" processors on upcoming 300-series chipset motherboards.

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 seems to be addressing key platform limitations with its 8th generation Core "Coffee Lake" mainstream desktop platform. The first Core i7 and Core i5 "Coffee Lake" processors will launch later this year, alongside motherboards based on the Intel Z370 Express chipset. Leaked company slides detailing this chipset make an interesting revelation, that the chipset itself puts out 24 PCI-Express gen 3.0 lanes, that's not counting the 16 lanes the processor puts out for up to two PEG (PCI-Express Graphics) slots.

The PCI-Express lane budget of "Coffee Lake" platform is a huge step-up from the 8-12 general purpose lanes put out by previous-generation Intel chipsets, and will enable motherboard designers to cram their products with multiple M.2 and U.2 storage options, besides bandwidth-heavy onboard devices such as additional USB 3.1 and Thunderbolt controllers. The chipset itself integrates a multitude of bandwidth-hungry connectivity options. It integrates a 10-port USB 3.1 controller, from which six ports run at 10 Gbps, and four at 5 Gbps.

A motherboard maker's official Twitter feed has just confirmed what we all had an inkling to believe already: Intel's upcoming Coffee Lake architecture, which promises the first major change in Intel's line-up strategy, won't be compatible with existing motherboards and chipsets. Now, granted, companies' official Twitter feeds may sometimes be open to failures or miscommunication from the account operator at the time of writing, but still, the company hasn't doubled back on the original posting.

This does make slightly more sense than other times where Intel didn't offer support for a new generation of its processors in a past chipset. However, this does confirm that Intel users are again left without an upgrade path for the top-of-the-line Intel solutions they may have acquired already. If you purchased an i7-7700K and were expecting to upgrade to an Intel six-core next round, you'll have to rethink that strategy, and your budget, to include a new motherboard with a new chipset (expectedly, Z370.)

After a CPU-Z screenshot leaked of Intel's upcoming Coffee Lake hexa-core CPUs, which look to bring the fight to AMD's Ryzen, this time there are leaks of three different Intel 6-core processors. The previous CPU-Z screenshot apparently pointed towards Intel's upcoming 8700K six-core processor, with a base clock of 3.5 GHz and a boost clock of 4.3 GHz. The BCLK of the CPU was set at 100 MHz with a TDP of 80W.

In the new leak, the i7-8700K seems to have received a speed bump and accompanying TDP increase. It now sits at a reported 3.7 GHz base clock, 4 GHz boost for four and six cores, 4.2 GHz for dual-core workloads, and 4.3 GHz for single-core workloads under a 95 W TDP. The second leaked six-core processor still sits at that 95 W TDP, but has much lower core clocks than the purported 8700K: a 3.2 GHz base clock with 3.4 GHz boost for four and six cores, and a 3.6 GHz boost for one or two-core workloads. Both of these appear to be unlocked, overclockable chips (IA Overclock capable.) The last CPU in this leaked info is a 65 W chip whose clocks seem a little out of the other's league. It has a lower base clock of 3.1 GHz, granted, but a four and six core turbo up to 3.9 GHz. Dual core boost stands at 4.1 GHz, while single-core workloads see Turbo taking the ship up to 4.2 GHz. The lower base clocks and increased Turbo speeds mean that this is likely an i7 T series chip. Naturally, you should take this information with a bucket of salt.

In what could be a decisive response from Intel towards AMD's recent Ryzen success and core count democratization, reports are making the rounds that Intel is preparing for a shakedown of sorts of its i7 and i5 CPU line-up under the upcoming Coffee Lake architecture. We recently saw (and continue to see) AMD deliver much more interesting propositions than Intel in a pure power/performance/core ratio. And Intel seems to know that its lineup is in dire need of revision, if it wants to stop its market dominant position from bleeding too much.

A report from Canard PC claims that Intel will thoroughly revise its CPU lineup for the Coffee Lake architecture, with an i7-8700K six-core, 12-thread processor being the top offering. This 8700K is reported to deliver its 12 threads at a 3.7 GHz base clock, and a 95 W TDP. These are comparable to AMD's Ryzen 5 1600X processor, which ships with the same six cores and 12 threads under the same TDP, though it has 100 MHz less in base clock speed. However, AMD's Ryzen 5 1600X does retail for about $249 - and you can go even lower to Ryzen 5 1600's $219 - which probably won't happen with Intel's top of the line i7 offering. A slight mention towards the Ryzen 7's 95 W TDP - the same as this reported i7 8700K - even though it has 2 more physical cores, and 4 extra threads.

PC major Acer will be among the first manufacturers to deploy Intel's 8th generation Core "Coffee Lake" processors on its products. The company's Swift 3 notebook, which is already open to pre-orders on Amazon, has one of its CPU options as Intel Core i5-8250U, as discovered by LaptopMedia, in an article. It goes on to describe the i5-8250U as a quad-core chip clocked at 1.60 GHz with up to 3.40 GHz boost, with 6 MB of L3 cache. This is particularly big for the ultra-slim notebook segment as the i5-8250U is among the first quad-core "ultra low power" ("U" suffix) SKUs based on a high performance core, by Intel. The listing doesn't reveal when the notebook will ship.

After rearing its head on SiSoft Sandra, it seems that an engineering sample of Intel's upcoming Coffee Lake CPUs has appeared again - this time on Geekbench. Coffee Lake is supposed to be Intel's version of a core-count democratization. It is expected that the company will introduce six-core CPUs to their i7 line of processors (since apparently the i9 moniker is now limited to the company's HEDT solutions). This should bring about a reshuffle of Intel's CPU line-up, though it remains to be seen how the company will go about that way.

Moving on to the actual Geekbench scores, Intel's 6-core, 12-thread CPU delivers a 4,619 single-core score, and a 20,828 multi-core score. This is more or less inline with AMD's Ryzen 5 1600X 6-core, 12-thread processor. However, AMD's solution is clocked higher than this particular engineering sample was (3.6 GHz on the Ryzen 5 vs 3.2 GHz on the Intel Coffee Lake sample, a 400 MHz difference.) This probably means that finalized Intel silicon with come with higher clocks, and therefore, a more commanding performance.

After the absence of some further details on Intel's upcoming Coffee Lake mainstream CPU architecture (which is understandable, really, considering how the X299 platform and accompanying processors are all the rage these days), some new details have emerged. Intel's Coffee Lake architecture will still be manufactured on the company's 14 nm process, but is supposedly the last redoubt of the process, with Intel advancing to a 10 nm design with subsequent Cannon Lake.

The part in question is a six-core processor, which appears identified as a Genuine Intel CPU 0000 (so, an engineering sample.) SiSoft Sandra identifies the processor as a Kaby Lake-S part, which is probably because Coffee Lake processors aren't yet supported. The details show us a 3.1 GHz base, and a 4.2 GHz boost clock, with a 256 Kb L2 cache per core and a total of 12 MB L3 (so, 2 MB per core, which is in-line with current Kaby Lake offerings.) The 6-core "Coffee Lake" silicon will be built on a highly-refined 14 nm node by Intel, with a die-size of 149 mm². Quad-core parts won't be carved out of this silicon by disabling two cores, but rather be built on a smaller 126 mm² die.

Intel announced that its first CPU micro-architecture built on its upcoming 10 nanometer silicon fab process, the 9th generation Core "Cannon Lake," is on track. In a tweet on the official company account, Intel also announced that its second micro-architecture on the new 10 nm process, codenamed "Ice Lake," is taped out.

In the wake of a competitive CPU lineup by AMD, Intel is frantically upgrading its product lineup, beginning with the new "Basin Falls" HEDT platform early-Summer 2017, followed by its 14 nm "Coffee Lake" 8th generation Core series late-Summer. "Coffee Lake" sees the first six-core SKUs to Intel's mainstream desktop lineup, which has until now, been restricted to dual-core and quad-core parts.