Intel was expected to come out with their HEDT line of processors under the Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X family. A massive leak about the processor family confirms that Intel will be doing away with the naming scheme it has always followed and will now come out with a Core i9 processor.
The news has been confirmed by Videocardz and it mentions that the Core i9 name will be used only for the processors launching under the Skylake-X family. Kaby Lake-X will continue to use the Core i7 naming scheme. Skylake-X processors will be targeted at the high-end desktop PCs that need the extra power for simply the best performance. With that, it becomes logical for Intel to bring a new brand name for its high-end lineup.
A total of four Core i9 processors under the Skylake-X family have been named – Core i9-9720X, Core i9-7900X, Core i9-7820X, and Core i9-7800X. On the other hand, the Kaby Lake-X family will have two processors – Core i7-7740K and Core i7-7640K.
Of the four processors under the Skylake-X family, the Core i9-7920X would be the highest end one that will feature 12 cores and 24 threads. The cache capacity of the chip is 16.5MB, which might seem small on paper but Intel has made it much more efficient. It reduces the chip size and cost while maintaining the performance. The processor has a TDP of 160W.
The next in the list are the Core i9-7900X, Core i9-7820X, and Core i9-7800X that come with lower core count of 10 cores, 8 cores, 6 cores respectively. The 7900X has the same TDP of 160W, while the other two are rated at 140W. All the four processors will make use of the LGA 2066 socket type.
Also, all the four chips in the Skylake-X family will support quad channel DDR4 memory clocked at 2666 MHz. Although there is no news about the pricing of these chipsets, Intel is expected to keep the prices competitive considering the stiff competition from Ryzen. AMD will also be launching its HEDT X399 processors with up to 16 cores really soon.
For the Kaby Lake-X processors, the better of the two will be the Core i7-7740K and is based on the latest 14nm+ process node. This ensures better performance with increased efficiency on the existing 14nm FinFET technology. It is a quad-core chip with the hyper-threaded design. It has a base clock of 4.2 GHz with 4.5 GHz boost and has 8MB of L3 cache. The TDP of the processor is 112W.
The Core i7-7640K processor would be an entry level CPU and is also based on the 14nm+ process node. Its base clock speed is 4 GHz while there would be 6MB of L3 cache. The TDP of this processor is also 112W and both the processors in Kaby Lake-X family will support dual-channel DDR4 memory.
We can get to hear about the Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X from Intel on 30 May and it falls in line with earlier reports of Intel launching its products at PC Gaming Show. The products can be made available by the end of June.