After many years, we saw a significant upgrade in the Intel processors lineup. Many industry experts say this is due to rising competition from AMD Ryzen. Competition always benefits the users and here it seems true. These new Intel developments may be a result of competition and everyone is liking the result. We are getting a better performance for our hard-earned money now. Intel really changed the game with the new 8th Gen Intel Coffee Lake processors. They are now much better than all previous seven iterations. So we have made a list of 5 reasons to choose new Intel processors.
The market currently has a huge stock of old CPU. These will be in circulation for some time. Their lower price might be a deal maker for many people. But the new processors at the same old price tells us otherwise. For seven generations, Intel’s desktop Core i3 had 2 cores, Core i5 had 4 cores and Core i7 has 4 cores with 8 threads. Laptop’s mobile Core i3 and i5 were dual-core while only selected Core i7 were quad-core. By the way, there were some 4 core mobile i5 CPU as well.
This is now completely changed since 2017 October. The computer industry pioneer Intel is offering double performance at the same price. The gaming market, professional, and media industry demand is increasing these days. Therefore companies are at putting the best products on the market. AMD launched Ryzen chips which are gaining good popularity and market share. Now these new Coffee Lake CPU also offer better value so these are also gaining very good reviews. There are always benefits for choosing newer processors over older ones and we have listed few below.
1) More Cores and Threads
Now from the Coffee Lake series, all desktop Core i3 offer 4 cores, Core i5 offers 6 cores and Core i7 offers 6 cores and 12 threads. Laptop processors are also upgraded with Core i5 now having 4 cores at least. Previously most mobile i5 CPU had 2 cores and 4 threads. The number of core count increase also means thread increase. This means people are getting more than 50% performance increase from last year. There is also a significant increase in L3 Smart Cache size in all families.
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It is amazing to see that Kaby Lake processors became obsolete in just one year which is frustrating for many old buyers. We can see this in the best budget option like Core i3 8100. This budget or entry-level CPU can now easily compete with i5 7400 and 7500. Similarly newer Core i5 8400 can easily compete with Core i7 7700K in mid-range. The new i5 8400 is meant to be a mainstream choice from the team blue. And the new flagship Core i7 8700K is surprisingly powerful with 6 cores and 12 threads.
| Core i5 7400 | Core i3 8100 |
| 4 Cores/ 4 Threads | 4 Cores/ 4 Threads |
| 3.0 GHz Base Clock/ 3.5 GHz Max Turbo Frequency | 3.6 GHz Base Clock |
| 6 MB Cache | 6 MB Cache |
| $182 | $120 |
2) Better Graphics
Desktop chips still come with the same old Intel UHD 630. But some newer mobile processors are getting a great treat. Intel and AMD actually joined hands for the first time. They are making a new GPU for mobile devices. The new mobile lineup CPU is now featuring Radeon RX Vega graphics for a new refresh. This certainly provides users with better laptops that can game at low cost. Laptop manufacturers can cut costs for dedicated graphics cards and provide cheaper solutions to users. This is the only benefit of the new generation upgrade. But honestly, we haven’t seen iGPU upgrade for a while and it really needs a good one.
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Intel UHD 630 is good for very light gaming but for anyone who wants to play new titles, it is not a good option. The integrated GPU is capable of decoding 4K 60fps videos, playing HEVC files and encode faster with Intel Quick Sync. The Quick Sync is a good and fast encoder and can give good results in H264 encoding.
3) Efficient
Most new 8th Gen Intel Coffee Lake processors are providing double performance compared to previous Kaby Lake and Skylake predecessors at the same TDP. They are consuming less or the same power and providing better performance. The same or less TDP shows that the quality of the lineup is much better with revised architecture. Intel has hugely improved their 14 nm lithography this time. Laptop manufacturers are also taking the benefit of this new generation.
If we compare the results of older Kaby Lake counterparts, we see a huge difference in performance. Even though processor size, socket, and power draw are the same, we get better results. The mobile CPUs also have high clocks such as 6 core and 12 threads. That is a very high amount of power for laptops. One great thing is that the thermals are also better which means the laptops can be made with smaller chassis and thermal solutions. Ultimately it means smaller laptops and notebooks.
4) Newer Chipset
Coffee Lake processors require new Intel 300 series motherboards. This includes Z390, Z370, B360, H370, and H310 chipsets. These are for extreme, enthusiasts, business, home, and mainstream users respectively. Previous 7th and 6th gen processors were compatible with both 100 and 200 series chipsets. Many people and users don’t like companies stopping support for older boards. It stops users from upgrading to the new processor with the same motherboard. Even we don’t like this practice because most of the time it is for profit. However here we are and there some positive changes.
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The New 300 series chipset motherboard still uses the same LGA 1151 socket. It means your old tower style or AIO cooler will work in these. Intel says that these new boards have better optimization, power delivery and features. Optane memory and M.2 NVMe support are becoming more common. Therefore new boards will support those more in a better way. These new boards will also support high-frequency DDR4 RAM such as 2666 MHz, 3000 MHz, and 3200 MHz. These things improve the performance of the new systems. We hope that these new motherboards at least support the next 9th generation CPUs.
5) Better value and longer life
The new 8th Gen Coffee Lake processors are providing better value and double performance at the same old prices. This means there is no advantage in buying an older chip now. We only suggest buying a good 7th or 6th gen CPU like Core i7 7700K, i5 7400 if you get them at a very low price. This time the improvement or jump was a major leap for this generation. Such upgrades only happen sometimes. So, new buyers can be safe for some time.
Canon Lake, Ice Lake, and other future chips will be much efficient for sure with 10 nm fabrication and higher threads. Nonetheless, Coffee lake processors won’t be weak by any means. They will surely provide value and performance for a long time to consumers as other older CPU do till now.
We are positive that we will be going to see better and powerful products in the future. Intel is also hardly invested in quantum computers and 10nm process. So we might see exciting products down the line as well. AMD is also on top of the competition and this is just going very exciting. We hope we clearly told the advantages if new CPUs. We highly recommend these new processors to anyone who needs high core count and single-core performance. Gamers, professionals, multimedia editors can now really benefit from extra horsepower and make a great system.
