Intel Discontinues Its Skylake-X 7000-Series Processors

[Tsing]

A Product Change Notification (PCN) document has confirmed that Intel is discontinuing its 7000-series Skylake-X chips . The HEDT lineup debuted in June 2017, which wasn’t all that long ago.

"The entry-level Core i7-7800X hexa-core processor tended to the needs of users at the bottom of the spectrum while the the flagship i9-7980XE 18-core part was aimed at more demanding users. Skylake-X got its shine stolen by AMD's Ryzen Threadripper 2 desktop processors, though, which came with higher core counts at much more accessible prices."

There’s no indication of why this is happening, but some say it could be because of the competition’s increasingly impressive core counts.

"Intel's decision to retire its Skylake-X processors might have something to do with AMD's recently announced Ryzen 3000-series family, which arrives with models that span up to 12 cores. Or perhaps Intel just wanted to free up production capacity, since Skylake-X chips jump out of the 14nm+ griddle, and the chipmaker is still struggling to get out of its 14nm slump. Either way, Intel officially discounted Skylake-X yesterday. Customers can place their last orders for what's left of the Skylake-X chips before December 27, with the final shipment going out on June 5, 2020."

 

[Grebuloner]

Wait, wait, wait, wait. (wait). I'm calling BS on their (and your) analysis that Intel is "giving up." It's only the original 7000 series of Skylake-X being discontinued (at the end of 2019, mind), the 9000 series that was the refresh is still active, and I saw a roadmap recently putting Cascade Lake-X this fall (not to mention that X499 board leak).

This is normal business operation, even for Intel, to not maintain an old product stack and free the production up for something forthcoming when newer/better/same priced stuff is presently available.

 

[Dan_D]

Wait, wait, wait, wait. (wait). I'm calling BS on their (and your) analysis that Intel is "giving up." It's only the original 7000 series of Skylake-X being discontinued (at the end of 2019, mind), the 9000 series that was the refresh is still active, and I saw a roadmap recently putting Cascade Lake-X this fall (not to mention that X499 board leak).

This is normal business operation, even for Intel, to not maintain an old product stack and free the production up for something forthcoming when newer/better/same priced stuff is presently available.

I have to agree here. The 7000 series being dropped makes sense now that the newer 9000 series chips are out there. This is normal behavior for Intel. Typically as soon as a new family shows up, the old one gets retired almost immediately. What's odd is that they took so long to drop the 7000 series.

 

[Tsing]

Good catch. I've updated the post.

 

[Dan_D]

Another benefit to this is the fact that these CPU's will start getting discounted by retailers. If you can pick them up for the right price, they could be a good buy for existing X299 owners.