Journalists had been waiting patiently for the October 5th launch of Intel’s 8th generation ‘Coffee Lake’ desktop CPUs, but following a series of leaks, it’s now removed the NDA allowing me to show you what’s in store. There are no official benchmarks yet as I’m still awaiting my review sample, but we can at least see the full specifications, line-up and prices.
Cheaper K-series quad-core
It’s very interesting indeed and for a number of reasons. Firstly, the Core i3-8350K, which is the successor to the ill-fated Core i3-7350K, is turning into a much more potent quad-core. The fact it looks set to retail for just $168 makes this a potentially fantastic budget CPU for those that will be overclocking. It’s specifications point at it essentially being similar to the current Core i5-7600K, but costing $50 less.
Super-cheap Core i3-8100 quad-core
At launch there will be three non-K-series CPUs, including a quad-core in the form of the Core i3-8100. This is just as interesting as Intel states a retail price of just $117 – that’s a huge amount less than its current cheapest quad-core CPU, the Core i5-7400, which retails for $190.
Six cores for just $182
Meanwhile, the Core i5-8400 will offer six cores – a figure that has only until now been available on Intel’s high-end desktop platform with the current six-core Core i7-7800X retailing for $380. Here, though, the Core i5 will cost just $182.
Source: Forbes