Intel has obviously been very busy lately, with Optane now released, the new X299 platform on the horizon and CoffeeLake just as close to launch.
This latest leak comes from the SiSoftware database, recent submissions to the database have included a 6 core Intel CoffeeLake CPU fitted to a 200 series chipset motherboard.
Now we know that Intel will be bringing out a new 300 series chipset to coincide with the launch of CoffeeLake, however the use of a 200 series chipset for this submission is very interesting, could this mean backward compatibility to older chipsets through bios updates. This wouldn’t be the first time it has been done, we saw KabyLake being backward compatible with the older 100 series motherboards. Obviously it will be down to manufacturers to produce the BIOS’s for these new CPUs and hopefully, we will see the same support from manufacturers as we have in the past, rather than being expected to buy new motherboards again.
The SiSoft submission also identifies the 6-core, 6-thread CPU from Intel, with a clock speed of 3.5GHz, 1.5MB L2 cache, and 9MB L3 cache. This amount of L3 Cache though is a little odd, Intel’s current KabyLake architecture features 2 MB of L3 cache per core and if we were to expect similar cache levels to KabyLake we should be seeing 12MB of L3. Now this could be a restriction from squeezing an extra 2 CPU cores into the same-sized silicon, or simply a reporting error with the SiSoft database, either way, Intel will surely have their reasons. There is another rather large bear in the room here, the reporting of a 6 core, 6 thread CPU, maybe we are looking at full main stream 6 core CPUs from Intel in the form of a 6 core i5 series CPU.
Hopefully, all our questions will be answered soon with the launch of CoffeeLake coming soon.
About the cache, you guys mentioned that it was a 6C/6T CPU, which is the characteristics of an i5 CPU. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an i7 with 6C/12T, w/12MB cache. However, with the exception of 1st and 5th gen i5s, all quad core i5 CPUs have 6MB of L3 cache. It is proportionally correct to have a 6C/6T CPU w/9MB cache because it is a 3:4 ratio when comparing i5 to i7 CPUs, with the exception of 1st and 5th gen Core series CPUs. It is not an error or typo, yes the 9MB cache seems odd, only because there are only a few CPUs with that cache size, none belonging to the consumer market. However, I am pretty sure that the leaked processor is not the “full” processor, merely an i5 with HT disabled and 9MB shared cache instead of 12MB.