Home Technology Intel’s 10nm Cannonlake pushed to 2017, Kaby Lake set for later this year

Intel’s 10nm Cannonlake pushed to 2017, Kaby Lake set for later this year

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Cannonlake delayed, Kaby lake in 2016

Intel hasn’t really been breaking new performance ground in the past few years, with many of their achievements coming in the form of efficiency. Looking at the brand new Skylake processors and looking even further back at Sandy bridge, it’s clear that raw performance jumps just aren’t as high as they used to be. Skylake did make way for DDR4 support and low, low TDP ranges, but those looking for the generational leap like Sandy bridge were left wanting. And that may stay that way for a while.

Intel has had their roadmap for 2016 leaked, which reveals plans to bring Kaby Lake processors to market before the end of the year. This will of course start with mobility ships in new laptops, and trickle down to desktops as we approach Q3. Kaby Lake will remain on the 14nm die and 1151 chipset, meaning your new Z170 boards aren’t going out of fashion just yet. They will however, introduce new 200-series motherboards that will also work with Skylake processors, offering faster PCI-e speeds, Intel 3DX Point Memory and more.

Cannonlake, the next die shrink in the now broken tick tock cycle, will only debut in 2017. Intel is expected to shrink down to 10nm here, which should increase efficiency even more while offering some performance gains. That will predictably come with a new motherboard slot, making it tempting to wait for if you’ve been rocking a Haswell or Ivy Bridge chip for the past few years.

The question in terms of raw gaming performance though is just how much both Kaby Lake and Cannonlake will push the bar. It’s already been shown that Skylake offers very little in terms of performance to justify a full upgrade over the likes of Sandy Bridge, making a full PC refresh and expensive endeavour with little reward. Kaby Lake might finally tip the scales in favour of upgrading, but only for systems on really old architecture. Right now if you’re even on Haswell, the idea of an upgrade shouldn’t even exist.

And with the current exchange rate making PC component prices soar locally, it’s even less enticing. Still, here’s to hoping Kaby Lake is actually an upgrade worth getting excited for.

Last Updated: March 16, 2016

11 Comments

  1. I’m still getting all the CPU I need out of m Ivy Bridge i7, so the only reason to upgrade would be DDR4, but even that isn’t required yet. I’ll probably wait until 2018 before I do the core components upgrade. MB, CPU & RAM.

    Intel screwed themselves with making such great processors in the Ivy & Sandy Bridge – there’s literally no need to upgrade from those yet.

    Reply

    • Spy Master Tokashi

      March 16, 2016 at 11:15

      I am sitting with an issue here. I need to build a brand new PC, not upgrade … build a new PC.

      Is it then better to just buy a 2nd hand Ivy Bridge setup and then buy the latest GPU card or should I go for the latest 1151 chipset.

      I have calculated so far it will be a very expensive build… around 17k to get very high mid range PC.

      Reply

      • Pariah

        March 16, 2016 at 11:26

        If you’re building from scratch, rather spend the extra and buy the latest. You want your money to go as far as possible, and buying 4 year old tech probably isn’t the wisest.

        Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        March 16, 2016 at 11:34

        I had to buy at the end of last year & there wasn’t much price difference between the older & newer stuff, so go with new.

        Reply

      • HairyEwok

        March 16, 2016 at 11:34

        Go for the latest CPU. It’s a bit more future proof. My Sandy i5-2500 is peaking its limits right now with games so Ivy isn’t far behind in terms of reaching its limits as well. But then again i’ll only recommend the upgrade to a newest gen CPU if you’re planning to game the cutting edge games on full settings.

        Reply

      • Raptor Rants

        March 16, 2016 at 12:59

        Wait for the release. When it does, prices don’t drop or increase. They remain roughly the same. So the i5-current will then be replaced with the i5-new at roughly the same price etc.

        Reply

    • Raptor Rants

      March 16, 2016 at 12:59

      I’m still sitting pretty with my Sandy i7-2600. Barely breaks a sweat on games. I’m still far from the MB, CPU and RAM myself.

      Reply

      • Alessandro Barbosa

        March 16, 2016 at 14:31

        Yeah same, but it’s clear that some games are already benefiting from the addative gains and the DDR4. So Skylake might not have been the one to upgrade to, but I’m already saving for a Kaby Lake upgrade.

        Reply

  2. HairyEwok

    March 16, 2016 at 11:31

    I’ve been saving a lot of monopoly money, so when the rand is declared garbage i’ll be super rich.

    Reply

  3. Dane

    March 16, 2016 at 12:20

    Dit Lake nie goed vir Intel nie.

    Reply

    • Dane

      March 16, 2016 at 12:21

      Ha! I made a funny.

      Reply

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