AMD has their Ryzen 5 six-core and Ryzen 7 eight-core chips that have a slight edge over Intel’s $329 Core i7-7700K, which currently sits at the upper end of their mainstream desktop processor line-up. To compete it looks like Intel is preparing a new mainstream desktop platform, which by our guess will have a new socket and be the Z370 Express chipset.
Intel is looking to launch this platform by August-September (before Q4), and it will have one major difference compared to previous mainstream platforms, a new six-core part, which will be based on the 8th generation Core “Coffee Lake” platform. This chip will be based on a refined 14nm process and could have a TDP rating of around 95W for the “K” (unlocked) part. We could also see quad-core parts carved out of this silicon, with TDPs around 65W for the non-K parts.
Intel will likely launch the six-core part(s) first and then follow them up with quad-core and dual-core parts in Q1-2018 as well as launch other 300-series chipsets like H370 and B350.
