Intel Discontinues Oddball i7-7740X & i5-7640X Kaby Lake-X Processors

It’s the end of an era. Not much of an era, but an era nonetheless. When Intel released its Core-X processors last summer, the lineup was complemented with a few bottom-feeders based around the Kaby Lake-X microarchitecture. This was in contrast to Skylake-X, which represented the actually enthusiast parts, from the six-core i7-7800X right on up to the eighteen-core i9-7980XE.

What made Kaby Lake-X a seriously odd release is that the i5-7640X and i7-7740X are quad-core parts supporting only a dual-channel memory controller, with prices that make AMD’s Ryzens look like a steal. $339 for a quad-core 7740X or $329 for a new eight-core Ryzen 2700X? It’s not just more chip for the buck, but the resulting motherboard will be a lot cheaper, too.

It seems not even Intel is fooled any longer by these parts, as PC Perspective writes that both SKUs have reached end-of-life status – not even a year after their release.

What’s a bit humorous is the wording in the official document: “Market demand for the products listed in the ‘Products Affected/Intel Ordering Codes’ tables below have shifted to other Intel products.” Ultimately, these chips clearly shouldn’t have existed to begin with, because few people are going to pay enthusiast prices for a quad-core, dual-channel platform.

If you happen to own either of the two affected chips: congratulations! Your grandkids will appreciate the story behind the relic.