Intel announced 18 new 8th Gen “Coffee Lake” chips, including up to hexa-core Core H-series and Xeon M-series CPUs, which are appearing in Linux-ready COM Express Type 6 modules from Seco and Congatec.

Intel rolled out new H-, M-, U- and S-series Intel Core and Xeon chips, expanding its line of 14nm fabricated, 8th Gen Core Kaby Lake Refresh processors, code-named “Coffee Lake.” Of special interest to LinuxGizmos types are four new dual- and quad-core U-series chips with up to 2.7GHz clock rates and 28W TDPs, as well as four quad- and hexa-core H-series Core i5 and i7 processors and a pair of hexa-core M-series Xeon chips, all with 45W TDPs.

Congatec Conga-TS370 left) and Seco COMe-C08-BT6
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The hexa-core Core i7-8850H, quad-core Core i5-8400H, and hexa-core Xeon E-2176M are appearing in a pair of 125 x 95mm COM Express Basic Type 6 announced today by Congatec and Seco. Both the Conga-TS370 and Seco’s COMe-C08-BT6 are available with Linux or Windows 10, and support 0 to 60° temperatures (see farther below).


Intel’s 8th Gen M- and H-series processors
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Intel launched its first round of 8th-Gen Kaby Lake Refresh “Coffee Lake” chips back in September, starting with six S-series chips. This fourth generation of its 14nm fabricated Core chips — following Broadwell, Skylake, and Kaby Lake — offers relatively modest performance and power efficiency improvements.

Like most of AMD’s new Ryzen Embedded V1000 SoCs, most of the Coffee Lake processors are double threaded, so four cores give you eight threads and six cores give you 12. The exception is a new batch of “low power” S-series CPUs with “T” naming extensions that have 35W TDPs. The new “T” S-series models are all single-threaded except the top-of-the-line, hexa-core Core i7-8700T, which is clocked to 2.4GHz/4.0GHz.

Intel’s latest batch of U-series (left) and new “T” branded additions to the S-series
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The latest batch of U-series processors give you more speed, but higher 28W TDPs than the original batch. The initial U-series chips, which were used in recent Linux-based laptops from System76 and ZaReason, provide slightly faster quad- instead of dual-core designs with the same price and 15W TDP as 7th-Gen “Kaby Lake” models. The first round of Coffee Lake chips also included some high-end models tuned to gaming, as well as the first hexa-core Core i5 and first quad-core Core i3 models.

Also today, Intel unveiled a new line of 300-series I/O chipsets that are based on the upcoming Cannon Lake PCH. The lineup includes a Q370 model that supports up to 6x USB 3.1 Gen2 ports, up to 24x PCIe 3.0 lanes, and Intel Wireless-AC for faster 802.11ac.

Intel’s original line of 8th Gen S-series CPUs (left) and new 300-series I/O chipsets
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Last week, Intel added to the Coffee Lake parade with some gaming focused G-series chips that use a Radeon Vega GPU from rival AMD. The Core i7-8809G, which can be overclocked, as well as the fixed rate Core i7-8705G, are available in Intel NUC mini-PCs.

Today’s media coverage emphasized Intel’s first mobile version of its gaming-oriented Core i9 design. The hexa-core Core i9-8950HK CPU uses thermal velocity boost” technology to jump from 2.9GHz to 4.8GHz.

The related H- and M-series processors used by Seco and Congatec include the Core i7-8850H, the fastest of the two hexa-core Core i7 models with 2.6GHz/4.3GHz performance. The i7-8850H offers a 9MB Intel Smart Cache and supports “partial” overclocking. The Core i5-8400H is the fastest of the two quad-core i5 models, with 2.5GHz/4.2GHz performance and an 8MB cache. The hexa-core, 2.7GHz/4.4GHz Xeon E-2176M with 12MB cache is the slower of the two Xeon M-series chips. (The turbo speeds can only be achieved by one core at a time.)

All the models used by Congatec and Seco offer 45W TDPs and support Intel Optane memory and Intel VPro technology. As with other Coffee Lake processors, there are software patches to protect against Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities. However, a hardware fix will await the 10nm Cannon Lake generation.

The three models used by the Conga-TS370 and COMe-C08-BT6 modules are the:

• Intel Core i7-8850H (6x 12-thread 14nm Coffee Lake cores @ 2.6GHz/4.3GHz); 9MB Cache, 45W TDP (35W cTDP)
• Intel Core i5-8400H 4x 8-thread 14nm Coffee Lake cores @ 2.5GHz/4.2GHz); 8MB Cache, 45W TDP (35W cTDP)
• Intel Xeon E-2176M, 8850H (6x 12-thread 14nm Coffee Lake cores @ 2.7GHz/4.4GHz); 9MB Cache, 45W TDP (35W cTDP)

Intel claims that the six-core H-series and M-series modules offer between 45 to 50 percent more multi-thread and 15 to 25 percent more single-thread performance compared to 7th Gen “Kaby Lake” Core processors. The built-in Intel Gen9 LP graphics can manage up to 3x independent displays at once, with a resolution up to 4096 x 2304 @60Hz, 24bpp. There’s support for DirectX 12 and OpenGL 4.5, as well as an H.265 / HEVC hardware transcoder.

 
Conga-TS370

Like Congatec’s 6th Gen Skylake based Conga-TS170 and 7th Gen Kaby Lake powered Conga-TS175, the Conga-TS370 uses the COM Express Type 6 Basic form factor. All common Linux operating systems, as well as the 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows 10 and Windows 10 IoT are supported.

Conga-TS370 block diagram
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The module offers up to 10-year availability, and targets applications including “high performance embedded and mobile systems, industrial and medical workstations, storage servers and cloud workstations, as well as media transcoding and edge computing cores,” says Congatec.

Thanks to the Coffee Lake-H chips, the module supports Intel Optane memory, as well as Intel Software Guard extensions, Trusted Execution Engine, and Intel Platform Trust Technology. The Core processors use the new Intel PCH-H QM370 Series I/O chipset while the Xeon is paired with a CM246 Series controller.

You can load up to 32GB of DDR4-2666 memory via dual sockets with optional ECC. There are 4x SATA III interfaces, as well as an Intel i219-LM GbE controller with AMT 12.0 support. Expansion features include a PEG x16 Gen3 interface and 8x PCIe Gen 3.0 lanes.

The integrated Intel UHD630 graphics supports up to three independent 4K displays via HDMI 1.4a, eDP 1.4, and DisplayPort 1.2. Dual-channel LVDS is also available as an alternative to eDP, and for the first time, you can switch between eDP to LVDS by software alone, says Congatec.

The highlighted feature enabled by Coffee Lake-H is its support for up to 4x USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, which operate at up to 10Gbps. The module also includes 8x USB 2.0 interfaces.

The Conga-TS370 is further equipped with LPC, I2C, SMBus, GPIO, SDIO, and dual UARTs. There’s also an HD Audio interface, TPM 2.0, and ACPI 4.0 with battery support. The Congatec Board Controller provides features including watchdog, non-volatile user storage, and backlight control.

Support services are available, along with a range of accessories and standardized or customized carrier boards and systems. A Conga-Teva2 carrier is in the works but is not yet documented.

 
COMe-C08-BT6

Seco’s COMe-C08-BT6 module, which follows it similarly Type 6, 6th Gen Skylake based COMe-B09-BT6, is designed for applications including gaming, signage, infotainment, HMI, biomedical devices, Industry 4.0, automation, and telco. There’s support for 64-bit Linux and Windows 10.

COMe-C08-BT6
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Not surprisingly, the feature set is very similar to that of the Conga-TS370. You get up to 32GB of DDR4-2666 with ECC, 4x SATA 3.0 channels, and an Intel i219-LM GbE controller.

The COMe-C08-BT6 has the same triple display and 4K support as the Congatec model. In this case you get DP, HDMI, and DVI DDI interfaces, as well as a choice of eDP, LVDS, or LVDS + VGA interfaces. HD Audio is also available.

Like the Conga-TS370, there are 4x USB 3.1 Gen 2 interfaces, 8x USB 2.0 links, a PEG x16 Gen3 interface, and 8x PCIe Gen 3.0 lanes. Other features include 2x UARTs, as well as SPI, I2C, SMBus, LPC, and GPIO. You also get a watchdog, optional TPM 2.0, thermal and fan management signals, and 12V or optional 5V DC input.

CCOMe-965 carrier (left) and block diagram
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The COMe-C08-BT6 is available with Seco’s CCOMe-965 Mini-ITX carrier board, which also supports other Seco Type 6 modules such as the COMe-B09-BT6 and Ryzen V1000 based COMe-B75-CT6. There’s also a Cross Platform Development Kit that includes the CCOMe-965, along with HDMI and DisplayPort cables, and is said to support ARM-based Type 6 COMs in addition to x86.


CCOMe-C30 carrier (left) and block diagram
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One final development option is an upcoming, 3.5-inch form factor CCOMe-C30 board that features a DP++ port, 2x mini-DP++ ports, and LVDS and eDP connections. The 146 x 102mm board has dual M.2 sockets, dual GbE ports, and SATA and microSD slots. You also get 2x USB 3.0 and 2x USB 2.0 ports, plus 4x serial headers, among other features.

 
Further information

No pricing or availability information was provided for the Congatec Conga-TS370 or Seco COMe-C08-BT6 Type 6 modules. More on Congatec’s Conga-TS370 module may be found in the Conga-TS370 announcement and product pages.

More on Seco’s COMe-C08-BT6 may be found on the COMe-C08-BT6 product page.

Intel’s latest Intel Coffee Lake processors should start shipping in volume by the end of the month. More information may be found on Intel’s 8th Gen Intel Core announcement page.