Intel Coffee Lake CPUs

[rickca]

Intel is launching its 8th generation core desktop processors on 10/5.  This is the successor to Kaby Lake.  Bad news ... you need a new motherboard (Z370) for these CPUs.

So anyone considering a new build may want to review this announcement.

 

Really interesting is the i3-8100 because it's incredibly cheap.  This is a quad core i3 (no hyperthreading, no turbo boost) running at 3.6 GHz and TDP of 65w for only $117!

Next up the line is the i3-8350K.  It's an unlocked quad core (no hyperthreading, no turbo boost) running at 4 GHz and TDP of 91w for $168.  The rest of the lineup are 6 cores.

 

Compare to the i7-6700K which had a processor base frequency of 4 GHz (max turbo 4.2 GHz), TDP of 91w, hyperthreading and larger cache of 8MB vs only 6MB on i3-8350K.

It certainly makes the i3-8350K look like a fantastic deal.

[hdo]

Intel is having big troubles in 10 nanometer process. Micro$oft will launch Windows for ARM-based cellular PCs. We are well in the transition to ARM-based Windows PC. New ARM-based windows will run 32-bit Wintel programs in emulator mode. I am waiting for it.

[rickca]

The ARM-based Windows machines will be tablets and ultrabooks.  It does not address the high end 64-bit desktop environment we need for HQPlayer.

 

I also think that Microsoft will have a lot of kinks to iron out in the initial systems.  No doubt though that this is an interesting development.

[hdo]

Although I have a DSD DAC, I don't use DSD. My Windows laptop with 2.2GHz dual core uses only average 3% CPU to play 24bits/384kHz FRAC files. Most people will have no problem with ARM speed and will switch to more power efficient platform. Bonus is you get cellular access to the internet.

[Miska]

If one is into heavy desktop gaming, then there's no place for ARM there at the moment.

 

Intel and AMD dominate and now with competition both crank up the performance at faster pace. I don't know any ARM that could compete with Intel Core Core/Xeon or AMD Ryzen/Epyc processors... Now combine that with latest Pascal or Volta generation Nvidia GPUs and you have a real powerhouse...

 

Both also have SoCs with comparable performance to the ARM-based SoCs like Qualcom Snapdragon or Samsung Exynos.

[hdo]

MS is targeting the following Snapdragon 835 chip to run ARM. It's got everything you need. 2.45GHz octa core. PCM 384khz, DXD, and DSD native playback. No cooling system noise. Cellular internet connections. It will be much improvement over Intel.

 

     https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/processors/835

 

 

[rickca]

Looks like the 6-core parts are very supply constrained at the moment.  Initial benchmarks are out.  Looks like really good price/performance from the quad-core parts.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/11859/the-anandtech-coffee-lake-review-8700k-and-8400-initial-numbers

 

@hdo I think you're being very optimistic.  Sure the Snapdragon 835 is great.  Its Microsoft I worry about.

[Indydan]

I wonder if Apple was waiting for these processors to update the Mac Mini? It has been 3 years now since the Mac Mini has been updated. That is long enough! 

 

Although the current Mac Minis are 3 years old, Apple has not lowered the price. 

[Ralf11]

I hear that the mini is always a laptop w/o batteries, shoved into a new case.  And... maybe they are trying to kill it...

[MikePM]

Any guess as to how well the i3-8100k will handle dsp with roon?  They recommend an i7 for this, but some of the the newer i3's appear to be faster than old i7's.  Its not clear what roon thinks is the minimum processor power needed.

[rickca]

3 minutes ago, Indydan said:

I wonder if Apple was waiting for these processors to update the Mac Mini? It has been 3 years now since the Mac Mini has been updated. That is long enough! 

 

Although the current Mac Minis are 3 years old, Apple has not lowered the price. 

Apple is working on becoming vertically integrated and doing everything themselves.  Apple was part of a group that just bought Toshiba's memory chip business for $18 billion.  In April, Apple announced it plans to stop using Imagination Technologies graphics chip IP within two years.  

[rickca]

There are now Z370 motherboards available with Aquantia 10 Gb/sec LAN ... along with dual Intel 1Gb/sec NICs.  Check it out.  Who needs it ... but it's cool.

https://www.asrock.com/MB/Intel/Fatal1ty Z370 Professional Gaming i7/index.asp

 

Aquantia is about to launch its IPO.

[Miska]

On 10/6/2017 at 12:25 AM, hdo said:

MS is targeting the following Snapdragon 835 chip to run ARM. It's got everything you need. 2.45GHz octa core. PCM 384khz, DXD, and DSD native playback. No cooling system noise. Cellular internet connections. It will be much improvement over Intel.

 

     https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/processors/835

 

 

 

I have number of Intel hardware that doesn't have cooling system noise either, etc. So I wonder what is the "much improvement". I have passive cooled Intel CPUs up to Core i5 (and i7 wouldn't be a problem either), without any fans at all.

 

But that Snapdragon is nowhere near the processing performance of desktop/workstation/datacenter systems, the difference is several orders of magnitude. That PCM/DXD/DSD playback doesn't mean anything. Even my smallest single-core 400 MHz ARM9 board can play up to DSD256 natively when there is no need to do any DSP processing (just shoveling data around). But when you want to do heavy digital room correction DSP for DSD256 sources at highest possible quality you need hefty CPU and preferably GPU too. Especially if you want to do it for 5.1 channels...

 

[hdo]

1 hour ago, Miska said:

But that Snapdragon is nowhere near the processing performance of desktop/workstation/datacenter systems

 

This is a small fraction of overall market. I don't know how many people use desktop and workstations.

 

Snapdragon 835 is a SOC (system on chip). It's got many things in the chip. CPU, GPU, GPS, phone, sound cards, ... The benefit will be cost and lest power consumption with more features. Of course, devices get smaller.

 

 

 

[Miska]

1 minute ago, hdo said:

This is a small fraction of overall market. I don't know how many people use desktop and workstations.

 

Quite a lot. Desktop PC market is over 100 million units per year. Laptops are similar and do around 150 million units per year. So totaling around 250 million units.

 

2 minutes ago, hdo said:

Snapdragon 835 is a SOC (system on chip). It's got many things in the chip. CPU, GPU, GPS, phone, sound cards, ... The benefit will be cost and lest power consumption with more features. Of course, devices get smaller.

 

Of course I know this. There are plenty SoCs on the market from various different vendors, for various different use cases. Intel and AMD also make number of SoCs. I have several ARM and Intel ones myself as well as one AMD.

 

Snapdragon SoC is designed for mobile phones and has feature set for that. There are other SoCs for other use cases from other vendors.