2018 for Intel has been dominated by the Meltdown and Spectre flaw that affected hundreds of millions of devices. Consumers and businesses have been distracted, but the company wants to get back to products. With that in mind, Intel is reportedly preparing its 9th generation CPUs for an October launch.
We already know the company has postponed its 10nm Cannon Lake processors until 2019. However, this year will see a refresh of the current line-up. It is worth mentioning Intel only debuted its flagship first ever Core i9 in April.
Considering that 8th generation chipset is still new, we will treat the rumor of an October launch with a pinch of salt. Still, the reports circulating this past week also offer more information about the 9th generation and what we can expect.
We know Intel will simply improve its existing 14nm process. Wccftech reports new Core i9, i7, and i5 chips will launch on October 1st. Again, while the i7 and i5 seem likely, we are not 100% on a refresh of the i9 just yet.
Leading the range is the Core i9-9900K. This processor is expected to come with 8 cores and 16 threads. According to leaked documentation, the 9900K will score Intel’s own UHD 620 graphics capabilities and 16MB of L3 cache.
It seems Intel will also boost its Core i7 chipset but ramping up the number of cores from the current generation 6 to 8 cores (with 8 threads). As for Core i5, it will receive 6 cores and 6 threads.
Facing Competition
These days, Intel is under more scrutiny following the mess of the Spectre vulnerability. The company is also facing more direct competition form AMD in the form of the Ryzen range of processors.
Speaking of which, AMD announced its second generation ThreadRipper series earlier this month. Two CPUs make up the X series, which AMD says are all designed to appeal to gamers and enthusiasts seeking extra power. A further two processors make up the WX series, which means work station. AMD says these two CPUs are for creators needing expansive performance.
