Intel Coffee Lake vs Kaby Lake: Here’s is a brief comparison

Intel is known for releasing chip updates on a regular basis. Intel Coffee Lake was launched so that the company can stack up against the AMD Ryzen lineup, which outperformed its existence in the mainstream processor segment. You might be in a dilemma if you should upgrade to the latest CPU from the company or stick with the Kaby Lake processor.

Intel Coffee Lake vs Kaby Lake: Should you upgrade?

Notably, Coffee Lake processors are aimed at the high-end gaming laptops, ultra-low-powered notebooks, and desktop computers. The Coffee Lake lineup comprises the following chips.

Processor	Cores	Threads	Base Clock
Core i3-8100	4	4	3.6 GHz
Core i3-8100T	4	4	3.1 GHz
Core i3-8300	4	4	3.7 GHz
Core i3-8300T	4	4	3.2 GHz
Core i3-8350K	4	4	4.3 GHz
Core i5-8400	6	6	2.3 GHz
Core i5-8400T	6	6	1.7 GHz
Core i5-8500	6	6	3.0 GHz
Core i5-8500T	6	6	2.1 GHz
Core i5-8600	6	6	3.1 GHz
Core i5-8600T	6	6	2.3 GHz
Core i5-8600K	6	6	3.6 GHz
Core i7-8700	6	12	3.2 GHz
Core i7-8700T	6	12	3.7 GHz
Core i7-8700K	6	12	2.4 GHz

The Kaby Lake lineup comprises the following chips.

Processor	Threads	Cores	Base Clock
Core i3-7100	2	4	3.9 GHz
Core i3-7100T	2	4	3.4 GHz
Core i3-7101E	2	4	3.9 GHz
Core i3-7101TE	2	4	3.4 GHz
Core i3-7300	2	4	4.0 GHz
Core i3-7300T	2	4	3.5 GHz
Core i3-7320	2	4	4.1 GHz
Core i3-7350K	2	4	4.2 GHz
Core i5-7400	4	4	3.0 GHz
Core i5-7400T	4	4	2.4 GHz
Core i5-7500	4	4	3.4 GHz
Core i5-7500T	4	4	2.7 GHz
Core i5-7600	4	4	3.5 GHz
Core i5-7600T	4	4	2.8 GHz
Core i5-7600K	4	4	3.8 GHz
Core i5-7640X	4	4	4.0 GHz
Core i7-7700	4	8	3.6 GHz
Core i7-7700T	4	8	2.9 GHz
Core i7-7700K	4	8	4.2 GHz
Core i7-7740X	4	8	4.3 GHz

The Core i7 CPUs in the Coffee Lake lineup have 12 threads and 6 physical cores each. The increase in clock speed is impressive but the integrated GPU (Intel UHD 630) is not expected to be significantly better than that used in the Kaby Lake processors. So, the real-world performance will decide which one is better. One thing that we can say is that the presence of additional cores and increased frequencies will come in handy when subjected to multi-threaded applications such as 3D modeling.

Before we head on to the actual comparison, we would like to make a few terms clear.

Hyper-threading: Hyper-threading is a feature used by the Core i7 processors of Intel for years. This feature lets Windows recognize each core as two virtual cores and split the processing load between the two cores. In simple words, quad-core processors with hyper-threading will operate as octa-core processors.

However, it really depends on the tasks you use your PC for. If you need it for casual web browsing, picture editing or simple gaming, you will not need a processor with hyper-threading. If you subject the PC to professional video editing or intense gaming, you should upgrade to a processor with hyper-threading.

Multi-threaded applications: These applications involve a widespread programming and execution model, which lets multiple threads to exist in a single process. The threads share the resources of the process but can be executed individually. They share the data and code segments but have their own program counters, machine registers and stack.

Having said that, let's drill down into the specs and capabilities to know the differences between them.

Coffee Lake vs Kaby Lake

Coffee Lake is the codename for the Intel processor lineup launched in October 2017. This processor lineup is manufactured on the 14nm process just like the Kaby Lake lineup. But the process is more refined than of the Kaby Lake lineup. The new chip offers more cores, a different approach to allocate cache, new features for overclockers and modders and more.

There is no denying that the Coffee Lake lineup is more refined than the yesteryear lineup, which was an improvement to the previous generation lineup called Skylake. The latest one comes with six different CPUs comprising three overclockable K series processors with unlocked multipliers and the other three being non-overclockable chips with locked multipliers.

More cores

The Coffee Lake lineup of processors has more cores. The additional cores will help in handling more complex and multi-threaded applications better and render improved performance while multitasking. This way, it is possible for you to play games, record the session, and do a lot more.

Low frequency

The Core i7 processors of Coffee Lake have a lower clock speed than those of the Kaby Lake lineup. So, when it comes to speed, these are slow. A higher core count has resulted in relatively slower speeds. Eventually, the gap between the single threaded apps, usually games will be smaller.

Turbo Boost

Intel has come up with a kind of auto-overclocking feature dubbed Turbo boost with the latest lineup of processors. This feature lets one core to run at higher speeds for a short duration whenever the boost is needed. All this happens automatically based on the task. Even if the Coffee Lake i7 has a low frequency, the turbo speeds are pretty higher in order to facilitate the Turbo Boost capability and the single-threaded applications.

Native DDR4-2666 RAM support

This is the latest generation of fast performance DRAM modules. It comes with both high-speed data transfer and low power consumption with support for expandability. This makes the device suitable for gaming and industrial grade high-performance computing. It is suited for applications that need low power, high density, and efficiency. Though Kaby Lake processors would run this RAM, there was no native support for the same. The Coffee Lake processors run pretty faster as there is native support for this RAM.

Which is better?

Though we understand that Coffee Lake is the advanced and upgraded one than Kaby Lake, the choice to upgrade to it depends on the usage. Casual gamers who do not notice a lot of performance improvements need not spend on the additional investment. But the heavy users such as intense gamers and multitaskers can opt for the latest one. We say so as the upgrade will definitely be worth it.