Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Intel’s powerful new 8-core processor could land in desktops this September

Chuong Nguyen
By

Intel may have some powerful processors in the works that are slated to arrive this fall. After revealing plans to debut a high-end, premium processor with 28 cores at Computex, Intel may be working on a more powerful option for mainstream desktop users with eight cores of computing power.

The Intel processor roadmap was pieced together by PC Watch, which is citing intelligence gathered from discussions with Intel’s original equipment manufacturing partners rather directly with Intel’s own executives, so the accuracy of the timeline is uncertain. “First of all, I am not directly listening to the roadmap from Intel,” PC Watch cautioned in its reporting. “Therefore, please be aware of the possibility that this article may be inaccurate.”

Recommended Videos

The eight-core consumer desktop processor is said to arrive as part of Intel’s planned Coffee Lake refresh in September and not on the Coffee Lake-S family, TechRadar reported. Coffee Lake Refresh will expand on Intel’s 2017 launch of Coffee Lake, which at the time delivered up to a maximum of six cores. Moving to an eight-core product will help Intel stay competitive against rival AMD and its Ryzen 2 processors with a maximum of 32 cores.

Related

But before Intel could introduce its eight-core consumer processor, it still has to work out details on how it will address the prosumer market. The Coffee Lake refresh is expected to arrive first in July in the form of the Xeon E processor, but that desktop processor only has four cores.

Enthusiasts who need the most powerful PCs can look forward to Intel’s Basin Fall refresh, which will come with 22 cores. The Basin Fall refresh is expected to arrive around September and adds four additional cores to Intel’s current 18-core Core i9-7980XE flagship. This new chip could either be part of the Skylake-X or Kaby Lake-X family, but comes with a new socket design. This means you would need a new motherboard to upgrade.

Looking ahead into the second part of 2019, Intel may be launching a new Cascade Lake-X family for the high-end desktop market.

In addition to working on more powerful processors, Intel is also looking at making its own GPU to compete against Nvidia and AMD. In discussions with analysts, Intel revealed that its discrete GPUs could arrive as early as 2020, Marketwatch reported.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Chuong Nguyen
Chuong Nguyen
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Silicon Valley-based technology reporter and Giants baseball fan who splits his time between Northern California and Southern…
Here’s a shocking reminder of just how far ahead Intel is in race with AMD
Intel Core i5-14600K processor inside its socket.

It's no secret that between Intel and AMD, it's Intel that holds the majority of the market -- but a recent market analysis report really highlights just how much Intel beats both AMD and Apple. While both Intel and AMD make some of the best CPUs, and Apple has its own excellent proprietary silicon, Intel's CPU shipments trump them both. The report tells us that Intel controls a whopping 78% of the PC processor market.

The information comes from Canalys, a PC industry research firm. It's worth noting that it excludes tablets, which would have bumped up Apple's numbers a bit, as well as Qualcomm's. But zooming in on the PC CPU market alone, including desktops and laptops, tells a different story. The research shows a 78% market share for Intel and 13% for AMD, while Apple accounts for about 8% or slightly more. The rest belongs to MediaTek, Qualcomm, and ARM.

Read more
AMD vs. Intel: the rivalry has never been more fierce
An AMD Ryzen 7000 processor slotted into a motherboard.

If you’re building your own PC, there’s plenty of criteria to consider when molding your machine. What operating system do you plan on using? What graphics card will be best for gaming? And where exactly can one buy all these components? There’s a lot to think about, but one important decision you can’t forget is whether you’ll be using an AMD or Intel processor for your new machine.

A war of chips and cores that shows no sign of stopping, the age-old battle of AMD vs Intel is a classic competition, but is one processor brand better than the other? That’s where we come in. 

Read more
One of the great rivalries in PCs could collapse
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger stands in front of a blue and purple background.

Intel always competes against AMD, both make some of the best processors, and the sky is blue -- what else is new? Well, it turns out that one of those statements might not be as true as it was just last week. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger revealed that Intel's own fabs are open to making chips for some of the biggest companies in tech, and that even includes its long-standing rival AMD.

Gelsinger spoke during the first Intel Foundry Direct Connect in San Jose, California, about the operations of its new fab, which Intel itself refers to as a "more sustainable system foundry business designed for the AI era." Intel has big plans for its foundry, with a goal to beat its biggest rival TSMC in advanced chip manufacturing by 2025. The company reportedly hopes to be making the world's fastest chips already this year with its Intel 18A manufacturing technology. Beyond that, Intel hopes to widen the gap with its new 14A technology in 2026.

Read more