Coffee Lake, the CPU generation that saw the most intense change from Intel. If it weren’t for rival AMD, we might not get to experience it. And without Ryzen with multiple cores, we would still be living in the 4-core/8-thread era. So today, we will learn about Ryzen’s counterpart.
A few words about Coffee Lake – the biggest change Intel has ever made
Coffee Lake was launched on October 5, 2017. This is the second refined version of the 14nm process, after Skylake and Kaby Lake. Along with that improvement comes a series of new features, typically:
iGPU supports HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2 and HDCP 2.2
Supports DDR4-2666 RAM on Xeon, Core i9, Core i7, and Core i5 models. The remaining models support DDR4-2400. Xeon supports additional ECC RAM.
The multiplier increased significantly. Core i3 increased to 4 cores, Core i5 and i7 increased to 6 cores. By the 9th generation, Core i7 was pushed to 8 cores
New 300-series chipsets: H310, B360/B365, H370, Z370, Z390, along with new Xeon E-specific chipsets C242 and C246
There are many improvements, but Coffee Lake still cannot avoid the anger of users. Typically, it is not compatible with 100 and 200-series chipset motherboards. That forces users to “spend money” on upgrading the mainboard.
In fact, we can mod the BIOS of 100 and 200-series mainboards to run Coffee Lake CPUs. However, Intel as well as mainboard manufacturers have recommended not to do this. I also advise you not to do it because the risk of the mainboard turning into a brick is quite high. Not to mention, many cases reported that cores were locked when used with Core i5 and i7. Finally, if the motherboard is still under warranty, some manufacturers will also deny warranty if you mod the BIOS. Therefore, we do not encourage this. If you intend to use Coffee Lake CPUs, it is best to use 300-series motherboards.
List of Coffee Lake CPUs
Before we start, I have a few small notes:
Because time is limited, I will only learn about PC CPU codes.
I will divide it into 2 generations: Generation 8 and Generation 9, equivalent to 2 Coffee Lake generations.
We will not include T-tail models because they are only for OEMs, not for mass sale
Order of appearance: Celeron -> Pentium Gold -> i3 -> i5 -> i7 -> i9 -> Xeon E
Generation 8
Celeron
| CPU code | Kernel/thread | Original pulse | Maximum boost pulse | TDP | iGPU |
| Celeron G4900 | 2/2 | 3.1 GHz | N/A | 54W | UHD 610 |
| Celeron G4920 | 3.2 GHz |
Pentium Gold
| CPU code | Kernel/thread | Original pulse | Maximum boost pulse | TDP | iGPU |
| Pentium Gold G5400 | 2/4 | 3.7 GHz | N/A | 54W | UHD 610 |
| Pentium Gold G5500 | 3.8 GHz | UHD 630 | |||
| Pentium Gold G5600 | 3.9 GHz |
Core i3
| CPU code | Kernel/thread | Original pulse | Maximum boost pulse | TDP | iGPU |
| i3-8100 | 4/4 | 3.6 GHz | N/A | 65W | UHD 630 |
| i3-8100F | Không có | ||||
| i3-8300 | 3.7 GHz | 62W | UHD 630 | ||
| i3-8350K | 4.0 GHz | 91W |
Core i5
| CPU code | Kernel/thread | Original pulse | Maximum boost pulse | TDP | iGPU |
| i5-8400 | 6/6 | 2.8 GHz | 4.0 GHz | 65W | UHD 630 |
| i5-8500 | 3.0 GHz | 4.1 GHz | |||
| i5-8600 | 3.1 GHz | 4.3 GHz | |||
| i5-8600K | 3.6 GHz | 95W |
Core i7
| CPU code | Kernel/thread | Original pulse | Maximum boost pulse | TDP | iGPU |
| i7-8700 | 6/12 | 3.2 GHz | 4.6 GHz | 65W | UHD 630 |
| i7-8700K | 3.7 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 95W-110W* | ||
| i7-8086K | 4.0 GHz | 5.0 GHz | 95W |
*: In some reviews, the TDP of the 8700K can be up to 110W when running full load.
Xeon E
The Xeon E CPUs below are only compatible with C242 and C246 chipset mainboards. They are not compatible with 300-series motherboards, despite sharing the same architecture and sockets.
| CPU code | Kernel/thread | Original pulse | Maximum boost pulse | TDP | iGPU |
| Xeon E-2104G | 4/4 | 3.2 GHz | N/A | 65W | UHD P630 |
| Xeon E-2124 | 3.3 GHz | 4.3 GHz | 71W | Không có | |
| Xeon E-2124G | 3.4 GHz | 4.5 GHz | UHD P630 | ||
| Xeon E-2134 | 4/8 | 3.5 GHz | Không có | ||
| Xeon E-2144G | 3.6 GHz | UHD P630 | |||
| Xeon E-2174G | 3.8 GHz | 4.7 GHz | |||
| Xeon E-2126G | 6/6 | 3.3 GHz | 4.5 GHz | 80W | |
| Xeon E-2136 | 6/12 | Không có | |||
| Xeon E-2146G | 3.5 GHz | UHD P630 | |||
| Xeon E-2176G | 3.7 GHz | 4.7 GHz | |||
| Xeon E-2186G | 3.8 GHz | 95W |
That’s all 8th generation Coffee Lake CPUs
Generation 9
Celeron
| CPU code | Kernel/thread | Original pulse | Maximum boost pulse | TDP | iGPU |
| Celeron G4930 | 2/2 | 3.2 GHz | N/A | 54W | UHD 610 |
| Celeron G4950 | 3.3 GHz |
Pentium Gold
| CPU code | Kernel/thread | Original pulse | Maximum boost pulse | TDP | iGPU |
| Pentium Gold G5420 | 2/4 | 3.8 GHz | N/A | 54W | UHD 610 |
| Pentium Gold G5600 | 4.0 GHz | UHD 630 |
Core i3
| CPU code | Kernel/thread | Original pulse | Maximum boost pulse | TDP | iGPU |
| i3-9100 | 4/4 | 3.6 GHz | 4.2 GHz | 65W | UHD 630 |
| i3-9100F | Không có | ||||
| i3-9300 | 3.7 GHz | 4.3 GHz | 62W | UHD 630 | |
| i3-9320 | 4.4 GHz | ||||
| i3-9350KF | 4.0 GHz | 4.6 GHz | 91W | Không có |
Core i5
| CPU code | Kernel/thread | Original pulse | Maximum boost pulse | TDP | iGPU |
| i5-9400 | 6/6 | 2.9 GHz | 4.1 GHz | 65W | UHD 630 |
| i5-9400F | Không có | ||||
| i5-9500 | 3.0 GHz | 4.4 GHz | UHD 630 | ||
| i5-9500F | Không có | ||||
| i5-9600 | 3.1 GHz | 4.6 GHz | UHD 630 | ||
| i5-9600K | 3.7 GHz | 95W | |||
| i5-9600KF | Không có |
Core i7
| CPU code | Kernel/thread | Original pulse | Maximum boost pulse | TDP | iGPU |
| i7-9700 | 8/8 | 3.0 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 65W | UHD 630 |
| i7-9700F | Không có | ||||
| i7-9700K | 3.6 GHz | 4.9 GHz | 95W | UHD 630 | |
| i7-9700KF | Không có |
Core i9
| CPU code | Kernel/thread | Original pulse | Maximum boost pulse | TDP | iGPU |
| i9-9900 | 8/16 | 3.1 GHz | 5.0 GHz | 65W | UHD 630 |
| i9-9900K | 3.6 GHz | 95W-140W* | |||
| i9-9900KF | 95W | Không có | |||
| i9-9900KS | 4.0 GHz | 127W | UHD 630 |
*: In some tests, the TDP of i9-9900K can be up to 140W when running at full load.
Xeon E
The Xeon E CPUs below are only compatible with C242 and C246 chipset mainboards. They are not compatible with 300-series motherboards, despite sharing the same architecture and sockets.
| CPU code | Kernel/thread | Original pulse | Maximum boost pulse | TDP | iGPU |
| Xeon E-2224 | 4/4 | 3.4 GHz | 4.6 GHz | 71W | Không có |
| Xeon E-2224G | 3.5 GHz | 4.7 GHz | UHD P630 | ||
| Xeon E-2234 | 4/8 | 3.6 GHz | 4.8 GHz | Không có | |
| Xeon E-2244G | 3.8 GHz | UHD P630 | |||
| Xeon E-2274G | 4.0 GHz | 4.9 GHz | 83W | ||
| Xeon E-2226G | 6/6 | 3.4 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 80W | |
| Xeon E-2236 | 6/12 | 4.8 GHz | Không có | ||
| Xeon E-2246G | 3.6 GHz | UHD P630 | |||
| Xeon E-2276G | 3.8 GHz | 4.9 GHz | |||
| Xeon E-2286G | 4.0 GHz | 95W | |||
| Xeon E-2278G | 8/16 | 3.4 GHz | 5.0 GHz | 80W | |
| Xeon E-2288G | 3.7 GHz | 95W |