Intel Expands 8th Gen Core: Core i9 on Mobile, Iris Plus, Desktop, Chipsets, and vPro
by Ian Cutress on April 3, 2018 3:01 AM ESTCoffee Lake with Iris Plus at 28W
Intel recently announced its ‘Intel Core with Radeon RX Vega’ processor line, featuring a H-series processor combined with an AMD graphics chip and a sizeable amount of high-speed HBM2 memory connected via Intel’s proprietary EMIB technology. These parts are designed to service the high-end for integrated graphics, going above and beyond any other integrated graphics solution in the past. That used to be a post held by Intel’s processors that used eDRAM, using the Iris, Iris Pro, and Iris Plus branding. Now the Iris line sits in the middle, acting as Intel’s graphics focused products in the mid-power range.
For the launch today, Intel is lifting the lid on four separate Iris Plus-based processors. These all use the Coffee Lake microarchitecture and are built on Intel’s 14++ process. All four of these processors are in Intel’s ‘GT3e’ graphics configuration, which uses Intel’s Gen 9.5 graphics with 48 execution units (EUs) and 128 MB of eDRAM. This is compared to the GT2 configurations seen on most other processors, that have 24 EUs and zero eDRAM.
| AnandTech | Cores | Base Freq |
Turbo Freq |
L3 | vPro | DRAM DDR4 |
iGPU EUs |
iGPU Freq |
|
| Core i7-8559U | $431 | 4 / 8 | 2.7 | 4.5 | 8 MB | No | 2400 | 48 EUs | 300 / 1200 |
| Core i5-8269U | $320 | 4 / 8 | 2.6 | 4.2 | 6 MB | No | 2400 | 48 EUs | 300 / 1100 |
| Core-i5-8259U | $320 | 4 / 8 | 2.3 | 3.8 | 6 MB | No | 2400 | 48 EUs | 300 / 1050 |
| Core i3-8109U | $304 | 2 / 4 | 3.0 | 3.6 | 4 MB | No | 2400 | 47 EUs | 300 / 1000 |
Intel has split these new CPUs up into a single Core i7-8559U, which is a quad-core processor with the most L3 cache, two Core i5 parts that are also quad-core but have reduced L3 cache, and a Core i3-8109U processor that is dual core, but with the same amount of L3 cache per core as the Core i7-8559U.
In Intel’s manufacturing parlance, this means that the Core i7 and Core i5 are all ‘4+3e’ units, meaning four cores and GT3 graphics with eDRAM. By contrast, the Core i3 is a ‘2+3e’ processor, with only two cores but the same GT3e graphics with eDRAM as the i7/i5. Based on the design of these processors, the Core i3 sits as the lower binned part: it is manufactured as a 4+3e design, but due to processor defects is only suitable to run two cores. As with most of the other mobile processors, the higher performance parts often get the highest frequency graphics as well. In this case, the Core i7-8559U sits at the top at 1200 MHz.
For the eDRAM, in previous generations Intel has moved from going all parts at 128 MB to having some move down to 64 MB, but now moves back up to all of them having 128 MB again. For the eDRAM implementation, Intel is still using their second generation eDRAM implementation whereby the eDRAM acts as a L4 buffer for supplying the L3 from DRAM through the System Agent – this is compared to the first generation where the eDRAM was a victim cache. This methodology allows the eDRAM to speed up more use cases than just graphics, and the 50 GBps bidirectional bandwidth is certainly a big leap over main DRAM bandwidth (that some OEMs run in single channel mode anyway). Iris Plus processors can also be equipped with discrete graphics, although this is up to the OEM.
The 28W Iris Plus processors will match the other mobile counterparts on chipset, and support the new features such as integrated Intel 802.11ac Wi-Fi and native USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) support. We do not know to what extent these are supported, and are waiting on more information. The Iris Pro parts will also support Optane-accelerated storage.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
123 Comments
View All Comments
0ldman79 - Wednesday, April 4, 2018 - link
It is kind of hard to have a 95W CPU and a 200W GPU in a laptop with 6 hard drives though.The desktop isn't going anywhere.
HStewart - Wednesday, April 4, 2018 - link
This excuse about monitor keyboard mice can't be used any more. I am old school person that built my own pc and actual use a dos editor call brief. I work at home and use a ThinkPad and monitor stays down and Conniected to two 24in monitors, day keyboard and Microsoft wireless mouse.But the advantage of I need to go I can take laptop on plane with me - try that with a huge desktop
I believe I can go more than two monitor on this system but for me two is perfect
samsonjs - Tuesday, April 3, 2018 - link
The traditional desktop segment used for gaming might kind of go away but you'll always be able to throw a workstation CPU into a gaming desktop if that's your thing. Server and workstation CPUs aren't going anywhere in the foreseeable future.HStewart - Saturday, April 7, 2018 - link
I would agree on server segment of industry - but workstations have lately - and especially with latest 8th Generation move mobile with Mobile Xeon chips - but still you need to desktop chips for higher core counts and multiple cpu's.I could see one day with technology like EMIB, have multiple cpus and gpu on a laptop. Who knows they could possible do that with dual EMIB on system. It depends on demand - workstation industry actually in a lot of ways of driving CPU and GPU even more than gaming.
I remember when first interested in Lightwave 3D - I learn that NewTek switch to include Windows because of advancements in Windows NT technology. At this time it was only on Apple Mac which were the obsolete PowerPC devices
a13antichrist - Wednesday, April 11, 2018 - link
The analogy can be made to SSD vs HDD also. SSD might replace 80% of use cases but there will always be some areas where raw storage is simply more valuable than immediate speed. HDD will never go away as long as the $/gb remains far far less than SSD.Fixed desktops will never go away entirely as long as bigger, power-hungrier parts can still outperform mobile parts at lower costs. You pay more for mobile but you pay for the convenience of mobility.
However with a standard business dock or newer USB-C/Thunderbolt/WiGig docks there is really no excuse for 90% of people to still need a desktop - keyboard/mouse/monitor arguments are indeed archaic and totally misguided. A single connection is all it takes these days. Personally I have my MXMaster dongle permanently in the primary laptop itself, so I always have the mouse available whether I'm at the desk or the couch; other dongles attached to the dock take care of the other laptops in the house which I might also use in the dock(s).
Now, I'm not a big gamer, in fact I'm not much of one at all, but just like I need a separate "system" for storage, I would also never consider a laptop (even though it's core i7) if I was going to get into --serious-- gaming. Desktop parts are faster and cheaper, which is a good trade-off against mobility.
But I do think that gaming laptops with a good dock can take care of the needs of 90% of gamers; the question becomes, how much extra are you throwing into the laptop to have a single machine? It's very likely that you could buy a superlight/ultraportable with only basic graphics, plus
build a full gaming PC for the same total price as a well-equipped gaming laptop. That would be the best of both.
Disclaimer: I use a laptop in a dock as my HTPC also. :p
Ananke - Wednesday, April 18, 2018 - link
If you have an engineering labor that costs $1000 a day, any hour saved is profit. If a desktop/workstation is the tool that shaves couple hours daily of that engineering time, you break even within a week. Besides, giving that engineer an extra laptop+tablet+phone is just small extra cost to keep things running. Not even going into cost accounting calculations of having projects accomplished faster and it's implications on the whole corporate structure and costs...And, statistically, the consumer PC gaming market is actually increasing as average sale price and total revenue. The overall consumer PC market shifts towards mobile devices and compute sticks/embedded apps, but the gaming is still quite profitable. And, not to forget that the market is not just America, there are other localities, growing with different price points.ForgotPants - Wednesday, April 4, 2018 - link
Just look at the PC gaming sales charts and you'll see how many gamers there are. It may not be growing wildly (or at all) like mobiles where its ok to spend 900$ every year to get the latest toy from a fruit seller but it is huge, almost as large as all the consoles combined.https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-12-20-...
In addition to gamers, a lot of professionals use desktops in their day to day activities. This market is not going anywhere soon.
Kepe - Thursday, April 5, 2018 - link
The death of desktop PC has been predicted to be imminent for the past two decades. We still have an ever-growing PC gaming community, desktops are used everywhere people need more sustained power than laptops can offer. And that will never change. Software gets more and more complex as new processors become more and more powerful. A laptop will always be thermally constrained compared to what you can achieve with a desktop PC. That's why heavy workloads can never be run on laptops in a productive manner.Laptops are great for people who mainly write or do spreadsheets or powerpoints or stuff like that. But you just can't replace all of the world's desktop PCs with laptops because they are not the optimal solution for all the workloads out there. Video editing, image editing, 3D design. Those things eat up all the performance your machine has, and the more performance you have, the more productive you are. That is the most important thing companies care about. If you spend three hours a day twiddling your fingers, waiting for your computer to finish doing something, that time is completely wasted and costs your employer tons of money annually.
Icehawk - Thursday, April 5, 2018 - link
This dead on IMO. The perf/time thing is how I convinced my company to replace all mech drives with SSDs.jjj - Tuesday, April 3, 2018 - link
So in mobile a heavy focus on boosting ASPs.In desktop , it's hilarious how few SKUs have HT enabled, EPA should fine them or something for wasting power. They depend too much on the 8700k so anything bellow it gets hits harder than usual.