Intel has just rung the death knell for Core+ packages that bundle a CPU with an Optane module.
These Core+ offerings consisted of an 8th-generation Intel Core processor bundled with a 16GB Optane cache drive, and they came in three different flavors: Core+ i5-8400, Core+ i5-8500 and Core+ i7-8700.
As Tom’s Hardware reports (via PC World), the bundles have been marked as discontinued by Intel, the reason being a “lack of market demand”.
If you still wish to get hold of one of these bundles, the cut-off date for ordering is September 30, 2019 – assuming that stock is still available at that point. The final shipments are expected to be out by December 27 at the latest.
Micron matters
Intel’s Optane products leverage 3D XPoint technology, which the company worked on jointly with Micron – although last year, the partnership was dissolved, with Micron subsequently announcing that it would be buying out Intel’s share of the joint venture (Intel Micron Flash Technologies). And just this week, Micron confirmed it is buying up the fab the two companies jointly operated to manufacture 3D XPoint goodies.
That doesn’t mean Intel won’t independently continue to work with 3D XPoint – which was originally billed as the biggest memory architecture breakthrough in 25 years since the arrival of NAND – in its own fabs, so we will still see products in the future.
Although it’s the end of the road for the aforementioned Intel bundles, of course.
An Intel spokesman told PC World: “We have a number of manufacturing options available to us and have been shipping a broad portfolio of Intel Optane technology products for more than a year. We’ll continue to expand our product line and lead the industry with this exciting, new technology.”
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