Intel unveils new X-series processors, including the $2,000 18-core/36-thread i9 chip

[midian182]

Just as expected, Intel has revealed its new family of enthusiast processors at Computex. At the top of the Core X-series sits its answer to AMD’s 16-core/32-thread Threadripper CPU: the $1999 i9-7980XE, which boasts an astounding 18 cores/36 threads.

Intel says the i9-7980XE is the first ever teraflop desktop PC processor. Two grand is an awful lot of money, but this is the flagship chip; the rest of i9 X-series are cheaper. Available in 16-core, 14-core, 12-core, and 10-core versions, these Skylake-based chips range from $999 (for the ten core i9-7900X) to $1699.

Intel says that compared to Broadwell-E chips such as the $1723 10-core i7-6950X, the new CPUs offer 15 percent faster single thread performance and are 10 percent faster when it comes to multithreaded tasks.

The i9-7900X chip comes with a base clock speed of 3.3GHz, which jumps to 4.3GHz dual-core speeds when using Turbo Boost 2.0. And thanks to the improved Turbo Boost 3.0, which can dynamically identify and overclock the two “best” cores, it can hit 4.5GHz. Intel hasn't yet revealed the clock speeds for the rest of the Core i9 chips.

For those on a tighter budget, there’s the Core i7 and i5 X-series CPUs. These include the only two Kaby Lake-X processors in the new line: the i5-7640X ($242) and i7-7740X ($339).

All the Core X CPUs use the new X299 chipset (socket 2066), which boasts up to eight SATA 3.0 ports, up to ten USB 3.0 ports, and, when using CPUs with 10 cores or more, 44 PCIe 3.0 lanes

All those cores mean things can get toasty. As such, Intel is selling its own liquid cooler designed for the 165W TDP and 140W TDP of the new chips. It's estimated retail price is between $80 - $100, and it also works with some previous generation CPU models.

Both the new X-series processors and compatible motherboards should arrive “in the coming weeks.”

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/69504-intel-unveils-new-x-series-processors-including-2000.html

 

[FloofyFox]

Huh... It turns out those customers asking to buy i9 computers years back were actually right!

 

[andy06shake]

Still cant see any new Intel CPU that competes directly with the AMD Ryzen Hexacore 1600X.

And there i9s will cost £777, and that's before factoring in Brexit!

 

[captaincranky]

It would seem that very soon, the Rizen crowd wil be back to having nothing to run on about, save for price.

I for one will be looking forward to a modicum of silence from the AMD fanbois choir. (y)

Still cant see any new Intel CPU that competes directly with the AMD Ryzen Hexacore 1600X.

It would seem I spoke too soon.

And there i9s will cost £777, and that's before factoring in Brexit!

Oh well, you surely can't blame Intel, or congratulate AMD for "Brexit", so why don't we try and move past it?

 

[Burty117]

Is the i7-7740X any quicker than the i7-7700K though? Or is it essentially the exact same chip but can be used on the X299 platform?

Edit: After a bit of Googling, it sounds like there are two different Core i7X models. One is a 4/8 configuration, the other is an 8/16 configuration for about double the price.

 

[ET3D]

Is the i7-7740X any quicker than the i7-7700K though? Or is it essentially the exact same chip but can be used on the X299 platform?

The X299 CPU's have 1MB L2 cache per core vs. 256KB for previous Skylake CPU's, as well as a new version of AVX, which potentially more than doubles floating point performance (but will likely require compiler and developer support).

 

[Burty117]

The X299 CPU's have 1MB L2 cache per core vs. 256KB for previous Skylake CPU's, as well as a new version of AVX, which potentially more than doubles floating point performance (but will likely require compiler and developer support).

Ah thanks for the details! I had completely skipped over the cache specs when I was skimming over several articles.

Edit: Even Intel's own Spec Page doesn't give all that much detail around it's cache configuration!

Edit 2: Intel's own documentation on them is different to what a lot of news outlets advertised, No 8/16 config i7 in their documentation, the i5 4/4 is there though.

 

[Kibaruk]

This is the X line, of course it will be different than the K line, it's X(treme) I believe.

It would seem that very soon, the Rizen crowd wil be back to having nothing to run on about, save for price.

And there i9s will cost £777, and that's before factoring in Brexit!

Oh well, you surely can't blame Intel, or congratulate AMD for "Brexit", so why don't we try and move past it?

I lol'd hard.

 

[dirtyferret]

18-core/36-thread i9 chip...finally a chip worthy of opening up my gmail and watching cat videos on youtube. No more surfing the web like a cave man.

 

[Peter Farkas]

So the 7980XE is going to be $1,999.

Is that a new record high price for a CPU or have there been CPUs for that price in the past?

 

[andy06shake]

It would seem that very soon, the Rizen crowd wil be back to having nothing to run on about, save for price.

I for one will be looking forward to a modicum of silence from the AMD fanbois choir. (y)
It would seem I spoke too soon.
Oh well, you surely can't blame Intel, or congratulate AMD for "Brexit", so why don't we try and move past it?

Don't mind moving past it, but I do mind having to pay over the odds because companies and corporations belligerently add costs to products when Brexit has not even taken place yet.

I own both Intel and AMD based rigs so im a bi-fanboy.

 

[davislane1]

So the 7980XE is going to be $1,999.

Is that a new record high price for a CPU or have there been CPUs for that price in the past?

High water mark. The 10-core 6950X hit the market at $1,600 last year, IIRC. Not that big of a bump in price considering the potential performance gains.

 

[HardReset]

The X299 CPU's have 1MB L2 cache per core vs. 256KB for previous Skylake CPU's, as well as a new version of AVX, which potentially more than doubles floating point performance (but will likely require compiler and developer support).

Quad cores have no AVX-512 support. So good luck for getting support for them Intel "(y)"

Early reports say that LGA2066 CPU's have paste under heat spreader. If that is true, it makes all these CPU's useless.

 

[Kibaruk]

18-core/36-thread i9 chip...finally a chip worthy of opening up my gmail and watching cat videos on youtube. No more surfing the web like a cave man.

You mean those processors are used for something different than playing Minecraft?

...if that was not old enough for you... but the real question is, will it run Crysis?

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Two grand for a desktop CPU sounds like an "essential buy" to me, more like a commodity.

 

[EEatGDL]

We have to thank AMD for enabling an Intel 18-core part a little more expensive than the previous 10-core Intel CPU. At that rate we would probably get 12 cores for $2,500 and the 18-core for about $5,000. The new hexa-core looks a lot better with that price, probably the sweet spot for productivity+gaming with strong clock.

 

[ManuelV]

Processors for rich people.

 

[Kibaruk]

Two grand for a desktop CPU sounds like an "essential buy" to me, more like a commodity.

Reason why they have a whole line from i5x to i9x, all the way from a "cheap" proc to those who really really really want to play Minecraft at over 9000 fps.

We have to thank AMD for enabling an Intel 18-core part a little more expensive than the previous 10-core Intel CPU. At that rate we would probably get 12 cores for $2,500 and the 18-core for about $5,000. The new hexa-core looks a lot better with that price, probably the sweet spot for productivity+gaming with strong clock.

Well you get 10 cores 20 threads for a thousand bucks, I'm not sure what you are complaining about or making trends on, but is certainly not about any read information in this topic.

Processors for rich people.

Yeah seriously, I mean who can spend $250 for a processor, sounds out of this earth.

 

[mbrowne5061]

It would seem that very soon, the Rizen crowd wil be back to having nothing to run on about, save for price.

I don't consider myself a fanboi of either AMD or Intel. What attracts me to Ryzen is how nearly every bus, in it's entirety, is in on the CPU itself. The chipsets on Ryzen motherboards are glorified southbridges; I/O extenders.

Words cannot describe how much I hate MediaTek and every other third-party PCIe, SATA, USB, and network controller - because something, somewhere always gets messed up by someone. Give me on-die controllers every day and twice on Sunday.

 

[Raoul Duke]

Processors for rich people.

processors for people who do actual work on their computers, which I might add, does not include me. Having an i7-6700K I find the recent progress very interesting, but no chance I'm going to spend thousands (again) for this stuff.

 

[Puiu]

The pricing and specs of these CPUs makes AMD's HEDT platform look very good. I don't think AMD will sell the 16c/32t Threadripper for more than 1000$ (1200$ at worst)

 

[Kibaruk]

The pricing and specs of these CPUs makes AMD's HEDT platform look very good. I don't think AMD will sell the 16c/32t Threadripper for more than 1000$ (1200$ at worst)

As long as the performance is on the same range, in which normally Intel beats AMD, we'll have to wait and see.

 

[Peter Farkas]

High water mark. The 10-core 6950X hit the market at $1,600 last year, IIRC. Not that big of a bump in price considering the potential performance gains.

I may disagree. So intel keeps rising the prices after ryzen was released. Regardless if it is "128 core Skynet whatever" supadupa CPU...
The price of the most expensive desktop CPU has just increased with a considerable 25%. Yeah, we saw an immediate pricecut on core CPUs but this... this is disappointing. $2K for a bloody cpu... intel come on ffs, we are not printing money! I am pissed.

 

[Puiu]

I may disagree. So intel keeps rising the prices after ryzen was released. Regardless if it is "128 core Skynet whatever" supadupa CPU...
The price of the most expensive desktop CPU has just increased with a considerable 25%. Yeah, we saw an immediate pricecut on core CPUs but this... this is disappointing. $2K for a bloody cpu... intel come on ffs, we are not printing money! I am pissed.

in intel's defence... some are indeed "printing" money

 

[davislane1]

I may disagree. So intel keeps rising the prices after ryzen was released. Regardless if it is "128 core Skynet whatever" supadupa CPU...
The price of the most expensive desktop CPU has just increased with a considerable 25%. Yeah, we saw an immediate pricecut on core CPUs but this... this is disappointing. $2K for a bloody cpu... intel come on ffs, we are not printing money! I am pissed.

Are you pissed that Ferraris run a cool $180,000 used? If you want the top of the line, you're going to get hosed. That's why it's the top of the line.