Intel planning 8C/16T CPUs, Z390 chipset for mid-2018

Intel continues to react to AMD's feverish threat with Ryzen, with Chipzilla launching CPUs and new chipsets left, right, and center - and now... we're hearing more about Intel's next-next-gen Ice Lake CPU architecture.

Intel is preparing Ice Lake-based CPUs that will launch in the second half of 2018, with 8C/16T chips that will fight Ryzen 7 1800X, with a next-gen Z390 chipset that will sit side-by-side with the upcoming Z370 platform.

The big difference between Z370 and Z390 is that the latter will support higher CPU core counts, with Intel launching an offensive to compete against AMD's new Ryzen chips. This means that Intel will be waiting nearly an entire year before they can properly compete against the pure CPU thread count that AMD offers with Ryzen.

The new Ice Lake CPUs will reportedly be made on Intel's 10nm node, but we have no idea what CPU family they'll fall into - Core i7-9900K? No power numbers, or anything else just yet. I'm sure Intel will have another CPU family or two to release between now and then, too - especially at this rate.