Partners: Intel Fights For 'Dominance' With New Eighth-Gen Core Desktop Processors

Partners are cheering Intel's newest eighth-generation Core desktop processors, launched on Monday, as a win for the company's enthusiast customers.

Intel said that its new desktop processors, which include the i7, six-core i5, and four-core i3 processors, can render video frames 25 percent faster than the seventh-generation chips.

"Intel is fighting harder than ever to continue their dominance in gaming performance, and the latest 8th Gen processors including the i7-8700k and Z370 platform are unparalleled for the hard-core gamer or power user," said Randy Copeland, president and CEO of Velocity Micro, a system builder and Intel partner based in Richmond, Va. "We remain excited to continue leading the way by making this new generation of processors available to our customers and the performance community."

[Related: AMD Threadripper Lineup Aims To Put The Heat On Intel Core X With Ultra-Competitive Prices]

Intel said its newest desktop lineup is led by its "best gaming desktop processor ever" – the Core i7-8700K – which has a frequency of 3.7GHz frequency, and is capable of being overclocked to 4.7GHz, using Intel's Turbo Boost 2.0.

That six-core, 12-thread processor costs $359 and will help consumers with 4K video editing and multitasking – as Intel's Hyper-Threading technology allows the processor's cores to work on two tasks to speed up workflows and accomplish more in less time.

Beyond the i7-8700K, Intel offers five more models for its eighth-generation Core lineup – ranging from its Core i3-8100 with a base speed of 3.6 GHz, all the way up to its Core i7-8700 model with a base speed of 3.2GHz that runs up to 4.6 GHz with Turbo Boost.

This lineup also includes the first sixth-generation Intel Core i5 processor and first four-core Intel Core i3 model.

Intel said that its processor family overall offers a wide range of performance options for consumers with unlocked K processors that deliver maximum tuning flexibility and up to 40 platform PCIe 3.0 lanes for system expandability on graphics, storage and I/O.

The new launch comes as Intel faces tightened competition in the high-end gaming segment from rival AMD, which has been striving to steal enthusiast market share with its Ryzen CPU chips. Most recently, the company in May revealed its Threadripper CPUs, designed for gaming enthusiasts and content creation on PCs.

Kent Tibbils, vice president of marketing at ASI, a Fremont, Calif.-based Intel system builder, said in an email that this type of competition is ultimately beneficial to the channel as it means better products for the end users.

"All these variations in product creates opportunity for resellers to demonstrate [Intel's] value as a trusted technology advisor as they help their clients determine the right solution for their particular need," he said. "But it goes beyond advice as there is more opportunity to customize the PC, align everything with the right components including processor, motherboard, memory and more. If it’s confusing for those of us in the industry imagine what it’s like for the end client. So, are these products giving the channel what it needs? Yes, it’s giving them an advantage and an opportunity to grow their business but not because there is a new CPU with more cores but because technology and innovation is being accelerated due to competition."

Intel said that the new Core chips would be available for purchase Oct. 5, while customers can see OEM systems beginning in the fourth quarter of 2017.