Intel is promising around a 15 percent jump in performance versus Kaby Lake, although it hasn't noted whether this refers to desktop or mobile chips. Intel promised a similar performance jump between Skylake and Kaby Lake, but this was largely based on a bump in base clock speed for desktop chips; IPC (instructions-per-clock) remained identical.
Where Intel will find the required performance improvements given it's stringing out 14nm for another year remains to be seen, although?as AMD has demonstrated with its Bristol Ridge CPUs?there are efficiency gains to be had with some clever engineering.
Intel is keeping schtum about the full Coffee Lake lineup, but it's expected to include a six-core CPU as part of the standard range of i7 products. Currently, Intel only offers more than four cores in its Xeon and Extreme Edition ranges, which typically retail at much higher prices.
The Coffee Lake chips will go head-to-head with AMD's upcoming Ryzen CPUs, which launch in March. Ryzen will feature eight cores and 16 threads in its top-end part, with six- and quad-core versions making up the rest of the line. Pricing for Ryzen is yet to be announced.
Intel's highly anticipated Cannon Lake CPUs?which are based on a new 10nm process?do not currently have a release date. However, when they do eventually arrive, Intel has said that "Data centre [is] first for [the] next process node," meaning enterprise users will get their hands on their chips before consumers. Intel also noted that future process uses will be "fluid," depending on the market segment, meaning 14nm may be sticking around for longer than some had hoped.
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