DECIPHERING INTEL’S NEXT GEN
What exactly does Intel’s hunt for that elusive 10nm process node mean for us?
our dear Team Blue? Well, Intel’s hardly out for the count—it still holds on to a massive chunk of that processor market share, and with that in tow, pumping more money into R&D is an easy task for the chipmaking giant. Combine that with its Core architecture still being far superior to AMD when it comes to single-core performance, and all is not lost. Coffee Lake proved to us that Intel was willing to listen, and at last we’ve finally witnessed more cores piled into its smaller form factor chips. With the 1151 socket now hosting up to six cores and 12 threads on its highest Core i7 flagship parts, the future certainly looks bright for those looking to stick with Intel.
So, what’s next? Well, Coffee Lake is Intel’s fourth 14nm product, and the start of its eighth generation of processors. Although the company has confirmed that Coffee Lake is the last of its 14nm product line (not including the Kaby Lake R 14nm++ mobile refresh), confusingly, it’s not the last of its eighth-gen chips. Cannon Lake will also fall under the same categorical nomenclature, even though it’s a process shrink down to 10nm. Confused? You’re not the only one. Typically, when Intel still ran its Tick Tock methodology, it would release an architecture, then shrink the process, with each step being a new “generation” of processors. Although Tick Tock was recently retired for PAO (Process, Architecture, Optimization, each step still being a new “generation”), Cannon Lake’s 10nm process shrink still falls under the “Eighth” generation of processors, according to Intel.
From this, we can predict two things. Firstly, that Cannon Lake’s 10nm processors should be backward compatible with the Z370 chipset and socket; and secondly, that process shrinks will no longer be defined as a new generation, presumably indicating that a reduction in transistor size isn’t providing Intel with the individual core performance boost that it was hoping for, with it more likely leading to reduced power draw instead.
That said, the drop to 10nm is intriguing, as it should reduce the overall size of the silicon die by 28.6 percent. Combined with a lower power draw, Intel should be able to incorporate more cores into its mainstream processors without increasing the size of its chip, or changing the LGA 1151 socket design too significantly. Intel has stated that it’ll be producing a “lower volume SKU” of Cannon Lake early in 2018, before ramping up production within the first half of the year to full capacity.
Then, of course, there’s the chipsets. Expect a new one (likely Z390) before the end of the first quarter, tapping into the full potential of these eighthgeneration processors.