The first of Intel's eighth-generation Core desktop processor is the family code-named 'Coffee Lake' (technically, 'Coffee Lake-S,' to set it apart as the desktop-specific silicon).

(Opens in a new window) Read Our Intel Core i7-7700K Review That extravagant mega-chip made AMD's competing counterpart, the 16-core Ryzen Threadripper 1950X ($548.70 at Amazon) (Opens in a new window), seem downright reasonable in contrast. Intel parried with enthusiast-class offerings in a new family called the Core X-Series, topped by the 18-core Core i9-7980XE Extreme Edtion ($1,200.00 at Amazon) (Opens in a new window).

And the new-CPU conveyor belt really hasn't stopped running since then, with AMD following on with six-core Ryzen 5 chips like the Ryzen 5 1600X, and quad-core, four-thread Ryzen 3 options like the AMD Ryzen 3 1300X. That extends to the Intel Core i5-8400 ($178.99).ĪMD kicked off the trend with its eight-core Ryzen 7 chips in March, topping out on that platform with the Ryzen 7 1800X ($295.00 at Amazon) (Opens in a new window). The thumbnail version? More cores and more threads for your CPU dollar, the more into 2017 you get. So much has happened this year in the desktop-PC CPU market, it's getting difficult to paint even the broad strokes without a billboard-size canvas. Requires a new motherboard, despite Z370 chipset offering no substantive new features.

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