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Intel has unwrapped its latest eighth-gen Intel Core desktop processors, led by the $359 Core i7-8700K, an unlocked processor aimed at overclockers.

Intel boasts that the six-core 3.7GHz Core i7-8700K is its "best gaming desktop processor ever", delivering up to 195 frames per second (FPS) on Gears of War 4, and 25 percent more FPS than its 7th Gen processors.

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The chip is part of Intel's K-series 8th Gen Core chips, which are unlocked for overclocking and, thanks to Intel's Turbo Boost Technology 2.0, the Core i7-8700K can reach a frequency of 4.7GHz. These chips can be expanded with up to 40 platform PCIe 3.0 lanes.

The chip is twice as fast at handling gaming, streaming, and record simultaneously than a three-year-old machine, according to Intel.

Intel has also included new media technology to improve streaming from Netflix in 4K ultra-high definition, and faster 4K video creation.

Meanwhile, developers can take advantage of hardware-based security features such as Intel's Software Guard Extension (SGX), BIOS Guard, and Boot Guard.

Other members of the 8th Gen Core i desktop family, which are built on Intel's 14-nanometer++ Coffee Lake architecture, include its first six-core, six-thread Core i5 and four-core, four-thread Core i3 desktop processors.

The company also unveiled its Z370 chipset-based motherboards, which are required to upgrade to the new chips.

The Core i5-8600K is a six-thread chip with a base clock speed of 3.6GHz, while the Core i5-8400 has a base clock speed of 2.8GHz. These cost $257 and $182, respectively. However, those prices are for orders of a thousand units, rather than retail.

The 4GHz Core i3-8350K and 3.6GHz Core i3-8100 cost $168 and $117, respectively, again per thousand units. These two entry-level chips lack Turbo Boost 2.0.

The 8th Gen Core i7, Core i5, and Core i3 desktop chips will be available on October 5. Intel says they'll start shipping with desktops in the fourth quarter.

These join the recently announced eighth-generation Kaby Lake U-Series chips for laptops, which includes two Core i7 chips, and two i5 chips. At the extreme end, it's also got the up-to-18-core seventh-generation Core X series, ranging from the Core i5 to Core i9. Intel is scheduled to launch eighth-generation Intel Core chips for businesses and consumers in the first half of 2018.

Intel's eighth-generation lineup will consist of three different architectures spanning the 14-nanometer+ Kaby Lake, 14-nanometer++ Coffee Lake and 10-nanometer Cannonlake.

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