Intel Core i3-8300 And Core i5-8500 Quad And Six-Core Coffee Lake Processors Allegedly Arriving In February
To say that 2017 was an interesting year for CPUs would be a gross understatement. With Ryzen, AMD delivered its most impressive processor family in a decade, and soon after, Intel unveiled its high-end Core X series. That was then followed by another Intel launch: the mainstream-targeted 8th generation "Coffee Lake" Core series.
Now, and thanks to a couple of leaks found on SiSoft's Sandra results repository, we know that a few more 8th generatopm Core models are en route. In addition, Coffee Lake is soon to welcome its first Pentium models, aimed at folks with simpler computing needs. All five of these Pentiums are dual-core models, with the G5600 and G5500 delivering four threads thanks to HyperThreading. It's a little strange to see HyperThreading on models ranking lower than Core i3, but Intel's been known to throw a few curve-balls here and there.
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| Specification | Clock | Turbo | Cores | Cache | Memory | Power |
| Core i7-8700K | 3.7 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 6 (12T) | 12MB | Dual | 95W |
| Core i7-8700 | 3.2 GHz | 4.6 GHz | 6 (12T) | 12MB | Dual | 65W |
| Core i5-8600K | 3.6 GHz | 4.3 GHz | 6 (6T) | 9MB | Dual | 95W |
| Core i5-8600 | 3.1 GHz | ? | 6 (6T) | ? | Dual | ? |
| Core i5-8500 | 3.0 GHz | ? | 6 (6T) | ? | Dual | ? |
| Core i5-8400 | 2.8 GHz | 4.0 GHz | 6 (6T) | 9MB | Dual | 65W |
| Core i3-8350K | 4.0 GHz | N/A | 4 (4T) | 8MB | Dual | 91W |
| Core i3-8300 | 3.7 GHz | N/A | 4 (4T) | ? | Dual | ? |
| Core i3-8100 | 3.6 GHz | N/A | 4 (4T) | 6MB | Dual | 65W |
| Pentium G5600 | 3.9 GHz | N/A | 2 (4T) | ? | Dual | ? |
| Pentium G5500 | 3.8 GHz | N/A | 2 (4T) | ? | Dual | ? |
| Pentium G5400 | 3.7 GHz | N/A | 2 (4T) | ? | Dual | ? |
| Pentium G4920 | 3.2 GHz | N/A | 2 (2T) | ? | Dual | ? |
| Pentium G4900 | 3.1 GHz | N/A | 2 (2T) | ? | Dual | ? |
On the Core side of things, Intel is expected to launch three new SKUs, with two of them being six-core models. Oddly, the only difference seen between the Core i5-8600 and Core i5-8500 right now is a clock frequency difference of 100MHz. A change like that alone wouldn't warrant a separate SKU, so for now, we'll just have to wait, and wonder what other differences are waiting to be discovered.
The same can probably be said for the Core i3-8100, a chip that's a mere 100MHz slower than the Core i3-8300. Projected price differences between both of these super-similar Core i3 and Core i5 parts are said to be about $30, so chances are, cache, and also Turbo may play a role in commanding that higher cost.
Speaking of prices, what's rumored for the new Pentiums is impressive, with the lowest-end G4900 expected to sell for 64 AUD (~$51 USD). Although, being a dual-core without HyperThreading, it's not going to offer a stellar all-around computing experience for most users. At the top-end of the Pentium lineup is the G5600, which is expected to sell for 142 AUD (~$114 USD). With that kind of pricing, it makes the Core i3 series seem really tempting - which may be what Intel's going for.
Nonetheless, even if none of the new models speak to you, there's sure to be one already released that does. And if not, AMD will be more than happy to step in.
