What's interesting is how long Intel are going to keep dragging the basic Core architecture out... Even Icelake looks to be just a die shrink of Coffelake. I'm sure they are working on something new, but we also know the limits of the design are already being touched on (in terms of IPC), so how much longer until we actually see Intel "do a Zen"??
This is far too soon to be a response to Ryzen. This is a pretty dramatic change to their die production across the board (particularly the -U and -S lines, and probably -Y too), and is the sort of thing with year or more lead times.
I can't believe they'll keep the prices down - this is Intel, after all. Moreover, needing a new Motherboard is a bit of a kick in the teeth!
On the flip-side, a 4-core, 4-thread, 3.8GHz base-clock processor goes from the i5-7600k to the i3-8100, or ~$314 to ~$154 for equivalent performance even assuming no IPC change at all.
I thought Intel had killed Iris Pro deader than a Norwegian blue... It's now 'Iris Plus' iirc, which is basically what was 'Iris' [without the Pro] - 48 execution units and and 64MB of eDRAM.
You can still buy it, in Xeons launched last year: http://ark.intel.com/products/93742/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3-1585-v5-8M-Cache-3_50-GHz
Intel charges roughly $60 more for an otherwise identical mobile cpu if it has IrisPro: http://ark.intel.com/products/93340/Intel-Core-i7-6870HQ-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-3_60-GHz vs http://ark.intel.com/products/88970/Intel-Core-i7-6820HQ-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-3_60-GHz Obviously $60 is way too much of a premium to make it the only choice, but I'm sure there are people out there who would happily pay a $60 premium on a desktop cpu if it was an available choice.
6c/12t might just convince me it's worth the upgrade from my i7 2600 which is otherwise as far as I'm concerned keeping pace with anything I throw at it.
I'd buy a quadcore i3 with IrisPro, an ITX board and a small case to use as an HTPC, but of course Intel won't let me, so I don't really have any options until AM4 APUs arrive eventually.
Not gonna lie, my biggest hardware regret of the past 10 years is breaking apart my watercooled Sandybridge rig and going on a pointless and expensive upgrade travelling circus (first to a Z170/6700 combo, then the Z270/7600K setup). I could have just bought a GTX1080 (or Ti) with the money I spent and had 90% of the power and a LOT of spare change... Still, it's wisened me up to know that when I build my next rig in a year or 2, it'll be done with the intention of getting my monies worth out of it, in terms of lifespan.
Probably because if you're going to shove everything into a non-upgradeable CPU package anyway, there's little reason to half-arse things and put that package onto an ATX board and let it rattle around in a huge case: just put it in a NUC to start with.
Putting it in an ATX case would indeed be a waste of space, leaving the sole Pci-e slot on an ITX board available for something other than a GPU is a whole different story though.
begin retrospective rant... This made me investigate just when I bought my PC parts and it was way back around March/April 2011! Over 6 years service overclocked at 4.5GHz ain't bad going considering it's still a competitive performance PC. In retrospect I'm glad I went big on the Motherboard getting the Asus P8P67 Deluxe. In my rig I do use almost every USB, SATA connection and then some! During the systems life I've gone through so many configurations with the exception of the Motherboard and the CPU. From GTX 460 --> GTX 460 SLI --> GTX 780 Ti --> GTX 780 Ti SLI --> GTX 980 Ti --> GTX 980 Ti SLI! Memory went from 4GB 1600MHz to 8GB 1600MHz and finally 16GB 2133 MHz. Storage wise I originally went with an OCZ Vertex 3 for the OS then ended with a Samsung 840 Pro since the Vertex decided to disappear from the SATA drive now and again. My only regret is buying the Corsair AX850 PSU which I've had changed 4 times with RMA replacements. Lucky it came with a 7 year warranty which I had to make full use of! /end rant Anyways, this new range of CPUs has peaked my interest. The cost of Intel motherboards and memory kind puts a dampener on things however!
I'm a bit concerned about the lifespan of a Z370 motherboard - highly unlikely to support the next generation of chips, surely. It's a stark contrast to the promised 3+ year lifespan of AM4!
