Will Kabylake i7 be hex core?

beany_bot · 7 Jul 2016 at 14:06

Wondering if the next family of "mainstream" core CPUs will be quad core again or move to hex core? I. E. 4790k 6700k then Kabylake. Will they stick with 4?

Would quite like to see it.

Khazzer · 7 Jul 2016 at 14:22

Released information from Intel says 4 core.

beany_bot · 7 Jul 2016 at 14:35

That's a bit rubbish really. Games now starting to use more than 4 cores. Really they should be hex.

Ayahuasca · 7 Jul 2016 at 15:10

beany_bot said:
That's a bit rubbish really. Games now starting to use more than 4 cores. Really they should be hex.

They'll just use that as a selling point for their enthusiant platform.

Yaayuh! · 7 Jul 2016 at 15:10

There's a reason why they've split out the 6+ core CPUs to cater for the market that wants more. Just go down that route instead. Mainstream is still 4C/8T max and i don't see any reason for that to change anytime soon.

Akagi · 7 Jul 2016 at 15:13

Ahh Kabylake... Will it be another iteration of i7 that when stock, it just about on par with my overclocked 2700K? I reckon so.

panyan · 7 Jul 2016 at 15:33

Acme said:
Ahh Kabylake... Will it be another iteration of i7 that when stock, it just about on par with my overclocked 2700K? I reckon so.

+1

im still happy with my 2500K

beany_bot · 7 Jul 2016 at 15:44

Rossi~ said:
There's a reason why they've split out the 6+ core CPUs to cater for the market that wants more. Just go down that route instead. Mainstream is still 4C/8T max and i don't see any reason for that to change anytime soon.

Didn't the mainstream go from 1 to 2 to 4 cores? Meaning, in time, the will probably be 6 then 8 then 10 cores on the mainstream "core" processors.

I'm not looking for anything to change, more the opposite. History says they will increase core count. Just wondering when.

Caracus2k · 7 Jul 2016 at 22:21

Cannonlake is rumoured to be the first hex core consumer CPU

Telecaster · 7 Jul 2016 at 22:45

beany_bot said:
Didn't the mainstream go from 1 to 2 to 4 cores? Meaning, in time, the will probably be 6 then 8 then 10 cores on the mainstream "core" processors.

I'm not looking for anything to change, more the opposite. History says they will increase core count. Just wondering when.

But that was when there was actual need for the increased performance in consumer PCs.

Now a 6700k would be absolute and total overkill for 99.9% of your average consumers, for everyone who demands more there is the enthusiast line.

IMO we'll never get 4+ cores on mainstream CPUs, unless they decide eventually to go down the more cores/lower clock speed route.

I think 4 core mainstream chips are here until the successor for silicon is found. There just isn't a need or demand for it.

AllBodies · 7 Jul 2016 at 23:37

Telecaster said:
But that was when there was actual need for the increased performance in consumer PCs.

Now a 6700k would be absolute and total overkill for 99.9% of your average consumers, for everyone who demands more there is the enthusiast line.

IMO we'll never get 4+ cores on mainstream CPUs, unless they decide eventually to go down the more cores/lower clock speed route.

I think 4 core mainstream chips are here until the successor for silicon is found. There just isn't a need or demand for it.

I agree with what you're saying.

However AMD may force their hand if they offer 8 cores for less than £400. Even if Zen is slightly meh, an 8 core would still destroy a 6700k in many-threaded tasks.

Retron · 8 Jul 2016 at 04:29

Don't expect an increase in cores until the socket type changes is what I'd say - there's a reasonthe hex-core i7s (and up) use a bigger, chunkier socket!

As for Cannonlake, it's nothing but people making stuff up. There's been absolutely nothing official to indicate it'll be moving to a hex-core mainstream setup, nor is that even likely IMO (bearing in mind Cannonlake is just a dieshrink of Skylake/Kaby Lake, surely it'll use the same socket?)

Phemo · 8 Jul 2016 at 07:39

Most of the reason the socket 2011 CPUs need those pins is because of the quad channel memory controller and the additional PCI-E lanes rather than anything to do with the cores.

Intel could probably release a 6 core on 1151 if they wanted but I guess the market doesn't demand that right now.

Back in the day, LGA 775 was for the single core Pentium 4 originally but then Intel released dual core Pentium 4s for it, then the Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quads all used the same socket.

beany_bot · 8 Jul 2016 at 07:59

Telecaster said:
IMO we'll never get 4+ cores on mainstream CPUs, unless they decide eventually to go down the more cores/lower clock speed route.

Going to agree to disagree on that one.
I think that's a bit like saying "1tb is all the storage you will ever need in your lifetime".

There are "mainstream" games starting to appear that use more than 4 cores. This will become more commonplace. Therefore I have no doubt that the mainstream chips will eventually have more than 4 cores.

Semple · 8 Jul 2016 at 08:04

beany_bot said:
Going to agree to disagree on that one.
I think that's a bit like saying "1tb is all the storage you will ever need in your lifetime".

There are "mainstream" games starting to appear that use more than 4 cores. This will become more commonplace. Therefore I have no doubt that the mainstream chips will eventually have more than 4 cores.

That's a pretty poor analogy. Have you not heard of the "data explosion"?

beany_bot · 8 Jul 2016 at 10:18

Well we will see. I'm confident that consumer CPUS will soon have more than 4 cores. Hell if Zens single core performance is what they claim it is then Intel will have to release 6 and 8 core consumer chips to compete.

Combat Fighter · 8 Jul 2016 at 21:06

beany_bot said:
Well we will see. I'm confident that consumer CPUS will soon have more than 4 cores. Hell if Zens single core performance is what they claim it is then Intel will have to release 6 and 8 core consumer chips to compete.

Don't hold your breath on that.

I can see 4 core for mid range systems for years and years.

If you want more cores you have to splash a bit more cash on a higher end platform.

Boomstick777 · 8 Jul 2016 at 23:22

beany_bot said:
That's a bit rubbish really. Games now starting to use more than 4 cores. Really they should be hex.

Not really rubbish, the 6700K beats out the 6950X (£1400) in gaming. A refined' 7700K quad core for around £270 will be a bargain tbh.

For gaming the mainstream i7's are really good. There's a video comparison of 6950X etc VS 6700K, linked >>>

Dave2150 · 9 Jul 2016 at 00:43

beany_bot said:
That's a bit rubbish really. Games now starting to use more than 4 cores. Really they should be hex.

99.99% of games show no benefit from going from a quad to hex core.

Why give people 2 more cores that they won't use? They'll just limit overclocks, increase TDP (power and heat) and push up the price of these products.

6-10 cores are available on the desktop via the enthusiast x99 range to satisfy the productivity need for more cores.

Dave2150 · 9 Jul 2016 at 00:47

Boomstick777 said:
Not really rubbish, the 6700K beats out the 6950X (£1400) in gaming. A refined' 7700K quad core for around £270 will be a bargain tbh.

For gaming the mainstream i7's are really good. There's a video comparison of 6950X etc VS 6700K, linked >>>

+1, I hope Kabylake and Cannonlake are also Quad cores. The quieter and lower heat the better!

IMO, those buying X99 for gaming only are wasting their money, they just think more cores = better, without realising that games dont want more than 4 cores and that the newest architecture will always be faster (Skylake > Haswell, Broadwell etc).