So, do you remember the Kaby Lake-X processors that launched along side the Skylake-X parts back on June 19, 2017. These are (were) 14nm+ processors built into the LGA2066 socket as a part of the X299 chipset launch. They shipped as the Core i7-7740X (4-core, 8-thread) and Core i5-7640X (4-core, 4-thread) and at the time I had this to say about them:

These are very…interesting CPUs. They do not offer new features compared to the Core i7-7700K or Core i5-7600K, but run at barely higher clocks (100 MHz on the base on the 7740X for example). They don’t see more PCIe integration, they don’t have larger caches. They are basically the same Kaby Lake design we have come to know previously but in a new package and prepped for a new set of motherboards. Is that an advantage? It’s hard to know yet, but in general, the X299 motherboard market is going to be more expensive than the Z270 motherboard market, meaning you are going to pay more in total to own this CPU. Does the added TDP give us more thermal headroom for overclocking? Maybe the new heat spreader? I’m not sure and Intel hasn’t said yet. But what they have stated is that they wanted to offer the option to consumers that wanted the “absolute fastest gaming processor” with the best clock speeds at a reasonable price.

Even in June, the value and positioning of the Kaby Lake-X processor was a mystery. Well Intel has fixed all of that today by announced end-of-life for both of those processors.

Intel's language in the release is kind of interesting: "Market demand for the products listed in the "Products Affected/Intel Ordering Codes" tables below have shifted to other Intel products." Yeah, I bet it has.

These were parts without a real audience, and their creation was a consistent mystery to the enthusiast market Intel targeted. For many, it was a honest sign that Intel has lost track of what the PC market was asking for. At least the short lifespan of the pair indicates that Intel got the message loud and clear.

If you are so inclined, you can still pick up the 7740X and 7640X for a while longer. Here is the table of Kaby Lake-X's remaining life.

You can read the entire Intel document here if you'd like.