[News] Intel finalising Ryzen spoiler Core i7 and i5 chip designs says report

[StyM]

http://hexus.net/tech/news/cpu/10222...s-says-report/

PC enthusiasts and gamers are getting pretty stoked up about the upcoming launch of AMD Ryzen processors, scheduled for 2nd March. Yesterday we looked over a leaked product matrix that contained a full range of 17 AMD Ryzen processors, with 8C/16T R7 chips at the high end through to 4C/4T chips at entry level. Of course pricing is key to how disruptive AMD's launch will be but it looks like Intel is pre-empting some trouble as rumours circulate about it implementing a "last-resort solution that represents a confession of indisputable weakness".

French computer publication Canard PC is the source of the above quote. Its magazine editors have been informed that Intel is planning to adjust its Kaby Lake prices and introduce new chips to fend off the AMD challenge. For the scale of the price cuts to be seen I guess we will have to wait for AMD to show its hand, however insider sources have indicated to Canard PC that two new unlocked Kaby Lake chips have been designed to help fully answer AMD's new lineup. There will be a new unlocked Core i7 and Core i5 as outlined below, asserts the magazine.

Intel Core i7-7740K: Base frequency of 4.3GHz, Turbo of 4.6GHz. 8MB of L3 cache. TDP of 100W.
Intel Core i5-7640K: Base frequency of 4.0GHz. 6MB of L3 cache. TDP of 100W+. Plus last but not least - Hyper-Threading SMT support.

Above you will note that, if the rumours are correct, this will be the first modern Core i5 to have Hyper-Threading enabled. Indeed, as the source says, this feature is traditionally the dividing line between the i5 and i7 chip ranges. However, Intel has already shown that it is willing to blur boundaries in its seventh generation Core processor range with the unlocked Core i3-7350K and the Hyper-Threading enabled Pentium G4560.

Hyper-Threading on the Intel Core i5-7640K is not confirmed by all Canard PC sources but the magazine promises to clear up the uncertainty by the end of the week when it says one of these unannounced processors will arrive at its labs in France for testing.

[StyM]

AMD's Upcoming Ryzen Launch to Prompt Reshuffle of Intel's CPU Line-up

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.

[StyM]

so who just bought a 7700k ?

[AliG]

Good. This is exactly why we needed AMD to be strong again.

[Sparky]

I take it as a good sign if Intel is getting a bit unsettled and feeling at least somewhat pressured to make changes accordingly. Can only be good for us

[AliG]

I take it as a good sign if Intel is getting a bit unsettled and feeling at least somewhat pressured to make changes accordingly. Can only be good for us

The real question is how much will these affect AMD sales? These will unquestionably win the gaming segment, but I don't think that's really the 8-core Ryzen's niche.

[drmrlordx]

I think the 7740k and 7640k may be Kabylake-X chips for LGA2066.

[StyM]

http://wccftech.com/intel-core-i7-77...40k-amd-ryzen/

[BenchZowner]

Socket R4 (2066) + Quad Channel.

7700k is still the mainstream king :p

[zanzabar]

why would you spend the money for 20xx and get a quad core, it makes no sense while the 6800k exists.

[Tenknics]

So it looks like they just pulled in Kaby-X if that socket 2066 is true.

These aren't new chips, just being pulled in a few qtrs. LOL

[BenchZowner]

What made you thought that they have/felt the need for something better anyway ?

Ryzen is good, not good enough however to claim anything other than a price cut on Intel's HEDT.

[vario]

Yea, if all goes well ryzen will start to drag the prices down to where they started before bd collapse.
Thing is, AMD should not rest on their laurels like they did few times before, but actually keep innovating and keep pushing.We will see if they will do that.
On the KabyLake X, this thing says quadchannel, but few times before kabylake-X was written as having dual only so i dont know if that quad channel is true.
These may be just kaby lake chips for 2066 socket with a proper solder.Which puts it in a weird position and would make it very niche.BUT intel could use it as a showcase against ryzen.
Anyhow, 4 cores are done as the high end mainstream parts.And good riddance, phenom II X6 and later core i7 9xxs were so long ago, time to get back with some real performance scaling.

[BenchZowner]

AFAIK all the x299 platform chips will be quad channel.

To be honest nobody should care, dual channel is more than enough to feed those little monsters with all the data they need to perform.

[StyM]

Intel Core i7-7740K and i5-7640K Codenamed "Kaby Lake-X," 112W TDP, No IGP

Apparently these two chips are built in the new socket 2660 package, and will be launched around Gamescom, some time in August.