Intel Officially Discontinues Kaby Lake-X Processor Lineup

EOL After Less Than a Year

Intel‘s Kaby Lake-X CPUs are quite the anomaly. Unlike previous HEDT parts, they were released concurrently with the Skylake-X CPUs. They also had much lower core-count and are only dual-channel memory. That is despite being compatible with the same X299 motherboard that the Skylake-X processors use. These processors were supposedly “gateway” entry-point processors that would entice mainstream desktop users to try out the HEDT platform. However, many aspects of this processor leaves very little to be desired over its regular mainstream counterpart.

Kaby Lake-X processors not only have the same dual-channel limitation as the mainstream Kaby Lake CPU, but only has 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes available as well. Considering the price of the X299 motherboard is often much higher than a Z270, the Kaby Lake-X+X299 motherboard pairing did not make sense. Unless you literally just want to waste money. The Intel Core i7-7740X in comparison to the i7-7700K did not really offer a convincing advantage. Likewise with the Core i5-7640X and the Core i5-7600K. Except now users don’t even have the integrated graphics capability on a pricier platform.

How Will This Affect Intel’s Product Line?

The discontinuation of these products is hardly surprising. Both the i7-7740x and i5-7640x in boxed and tray versions officially begins on May 7, 2018. You will still find them in stores as the supply winds down. The official product discontinuance demand to local Intel representative itself does not end until August 10, 2018. Plus, the last product discontinuance order date is not until November 30, 2018.

Also, Skylake-X processors are still available and will continue until right after Intel introduces its HEDT replacement.