Core i9 processors. Powerful DigitalRazor computers based on INTEL CORE i9. Why do we need such powerful processors as i9?

15.08.2020

In the case of Intel processors, we have two completely different microarchitectures. And two representatives of Skylake-X differ in the number of cores and their frequencies, but have the same memory controller and the same mesh network (with the same synchronization frequency of 2.4 GHz). They are marking time at approximately the same level, and this level is not very distinguishable from the Core i7-8700K.

If you look at the detailed results of the programs included in the group, it is easy to see that the 7980XE noticeably outperforms the 7900X where you need to calculate something “in the background,” but cannot boast of anything in interactive applications. In SolidWorks, it loses even to the Core i7-7800X, i.e., to the younger Skylake-X for LGA2066 (however, both Ryzen Threadrippers in this application lose to their “halves,” which, however, is not much of a consolation). It ended up being the fastest we tested, but it's more accurate to consider it equal to the 1950X. Twice cheaper. And to a greater extent, outperforming his partner in price sparring.

The end result looks quite funny - in fact, with “autumn products” Intel made up for AMD’s breakthrough in the field of increasing processor performance. Anyway, accurate to the milliliter top processors for LGA1151 and LGA2066 are slightly faster than for AM4 and TR4, respectively. True, from a practical point of view, this makes some sense only in relation to the first platform, since in its case everything is fine with prices, and there are other advantages. With Skylake-X, parity in performance is observed only at different prices of solutions and vice versa :) But this is explained simply - in fact, there are not so many tasks in our test methodology for both Ryzen Threadripper and Core i9. Even though, at the request of workers We greatly enriched it with multi-threaded software, cutting out (literally live) a variety of interactivity.

Energy consumption and energy efficiency

However, it is worth noting that in such conditions the Core i9-7980XE turns out to be more economical than the i9-7900X. This is not some kind of limitation of the board's power supply and/or cooling system - in this case the result would be the same. So, it’s just that the frequencies in different loading modes are chosen correctly enough so that the new extreme can not only work faster (which, as we have seen, it does not always succeed in), but also consume less energy.

As a result, due to a combination of factors, the platform in its older versions has become more “energy efficient”. Which is logical - with multi-threaded loading, a larger number of low-frequency cores can work more efficiently than fewer with a higher frequency clock frequency. A possible answer to why all manufacturers have already reached for multi-cores in smartphone SoCs. True, with all the attractiveness of this approach, it is worth understanding that a larger number of cores also means a larger chip area, and therefore its cost. And unpleasant side effects in cases where this very “multithreaded loading” is not detected. The latter can be compensated for by flexible control of the clock frequency, but there is nothing to compensate for the former.

Total

In principle, from the point of view of abstract technical progress, the birth of the older subline of processors for LGA2066 can only be assessed positively. Not because previously such a number of cores was generally unavailable - it has been found in server processors, as mentioned above, since the days of LGA2011-3. It’s just that just a couple of years ago, for an 18-core Xeon of a lower frequency, they “asked” about seven thousand dollars, but now you can get within two thousand (at least, if you look at the recommended prices). And 14 cores in the new family will generally cost less than 10 just a year ago. Let everyone decide for themselves who to thank for this. But, in general, AMD is also “playing” in this field now (which also wasn’t the case a year, two, or five years ago), and it’s playing well - at least taking into account the final prices of the products.

The main problem is that such solutions are needed by too few users - it is not so easy to load them with work. On a home personal computer, this is practically impossible (at best, only sometimes and for a very short time). But their development and even simple production are expensive, regardless of whether a special crystal is made or an assembly from pre-selected “successful” ones. Actually, this is why the prices of such solutions differ markedly from those usual for the mass market - it is still not possible to bring them to the mass market. And are they needed there? Times when every step of increasing CPU performance personal computer significantly increased the capabilities of the latter, is a thing of the past. But nevertheless, such “steps,” as we see, are being made (and no matter for what reasons), which those who still need such processors can use to their advantage.

Intel is a prestigious company with extensive manufacturing experience electronic devices And computer components, which has its own clear development strategy. Development of an 18-core chip Intel Core The i9-7980XE is not just an improvement in technology, but an important strategic step. We can safely assume that the i9 is not aimed at home use, although most Intel processors are designed for desktop and gaming computers. But why would Intel release such a “monster”?

There can only be one answer: this is due to the announcement of new Threadripper processors with an impressive 16 cores from AMD.

Recently, competition in processor development has become more intense as AMD began releasing a more affordable, high-performance family of Ryzen chips, each of which has its fair share of advantages. One of the best is the Ryzen 7 1800X, an eight-core processor with sixteen threads and 4MB L2/16MB L3 cache. It reaches almost half the price of an Intel processor of similar specifications.

To remain competitive, Intel must work to improve its innovative chip architecture and do everything it can to attract professionals who want a good return on their investment. The fact that there is demand for a 16-core chip from AMD gives Intel hope to capture its market share with the early release of a slightly more monstrous processor.

Why might you need 18 processor cores?

Honestly, for the coolest apps and games, octa-core processors provide more than enough performance and do a great job. Each additional core on the processor means less lag in demanding applications. Eight cores can run eight active processes with very little thread interruption operating system generally.

However, for professional 3D modelers and architects the story is a little different. Some people need as many cores as possible to run programs that perform a lot of calculations in parallel. By jumping from eight to sixteen or eighteen cores, they will see huge performance gains. This makes them more productive at work.

Most of the programs we run in everyday life do not reach this level of complexity. Therefore, for the average user, buying a processor for several thousand dollars is a waste of money. For example, applications such as Skype will not use all the cores that the processor has. It will run in one thread, without parallelization. The same goes for many other programs. They will not work in multi-core mode. On this moment Home PC users don't need more than 8 cores, and it's quite difficult to say when you'll need 16 or 18 cores. To the question “why does a computer need many cores” from an ordinary user, the most logical answer is “No reason”

Share in the comments if you use applications that require large quantity cores?

Intel Core i9-7980XE

In this article I want to tell you about Intel's most powerful processor today for home PCs - Intel Core i9-7980X E. If a little earlier the most powerful was Intel Core i7-6950X Extreme Edition, now this 10-core processor looks pretty weak compared to the new processor with 18 cores and 36 threads!).

The new high-performance processor of the Intel Skylake-X family is made using a 14-nanometer process technology, which is an achievement in itself. After all, the current family of processors based on the Haswell-E architecture was made using a 22-nanometer process technology.

The release date for the new core i 9 line and in particular the Intel Core i9 7980 XE is spring-summer 2017. Now this 18-core unit is already on sale; in DNS (Samara) it costs 145,000 rubles. I didn’t look at other stores, but I think it might be a little cheaper somewhere.

More advanced designs for the production of processors on silicon chips make it possible to increase the number of transistors, which in turn affects the computing power.

So, characteristics of the most powerful Intel processor Core i9-7980X E :

Socket: LGA 2066;
Core: Skylake-X (2017);
Process technology: 14 nm;
Number of cores: 18 (36 threads);
Clock frequency: 2600 MHz (max. 4400 MHz-Turbo Boost);
L1 cache-64 KB (per core), L2 cache- 1024 KB (per core), L3 cache-25344 KB (total);
Instruction set: ABM, ADX, AES, AVX, AVX2, AVX-512, BMI1, BMI2, CLMUL, EMMX, EPT, F16C, FMA3, FPU, MMX, MPX, NX, SGX, SMM, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4 .1, SSE4.2, SSSE3, TSX;
Support for 64-bit instruction set - EM64T;
The maximum supported memory is 128 GB (DDR4);
System bus - DMI 3.0;
Bus bandwidth - 8 GB/s;
Heat dissipation: 165 W;
Number of lines PCI Express — 44;
Energy saving technology - Enhanced SpeedStep;
The cost is about 130 thousand rubles.

Well then, Intel Core i9-7980X E became the first 18-core processor in IT history (probably there will be a 20-core processor soon). But the question is, are all 18 cores really needed for a home computer?

Will all 18 processor cores be used? And especially all 36 streams? As the developers themselves say, 18 cores will help you work faster in resource-intensive programs. For example, in programs for video editing, for processing media content.

But are these programs so widespread and how many people work behind them? I think most ordinary users are interested in the question of performance gains in games. There are a lot of gamers now, people play GTA 5, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Arma3, WOT, and for them this issue is quite relevant.

I want to assure you that This processor is NOT “sharpened” for games! Modern games can use a maximum of 4 cores. The remaining cores simply will not be used. You can read what kind of processors there are in general to get your bearings.

Considering the cost of this “crystal” (about 120 - 150 thousand rubles), it makes no sense to buy it for games. It will be more profitable and rational to buy a top-end 4-core processor, for example Core i7 6700 (Skylake).

The most powerful processor for PC!

Therefore the processor most powerful processorIntel Core i9-7980X E designed for multithreading. That is, it is “tailored” to work with programs that can use more than 4 cores.

Well, here we come to one of the most difficult reviews in recent times, and all because we have a top-end processor for testing Intel Core i9-7980XE, which is 18 cores on one chip. And, it would seem, just a processor with a large number of cores, and with an architecture Skylake-X We are already well acquainted and have analyzed it in detail. What's so complicated? We decided to spend more time than usual studying Intel Core i9-7980XE in comparison with other processors, understand when you shouldn’t waste time on trifles and boldly purchase it, and when buying this processor is not justified.

Characteristics

Processor name	Core i9-7980XE
Architecture	Skylake-X
Production technology	14 nm, FinFET
Cores/threads	18/36
Hyper-Threading Technology	Eat
Base frequency, GHz
Maximum frequency in turbo mode, GHz
Maximum frequency Turbo Boost Max 3.0, GHz
Unlocked multiplier	Eat
TDP, W
L2 cache, KB	18×1024
L3 cache, MB	24,75
Number of PCI Express 3.0 lanes
DDR4 SDRAM support	Four channels DDR4-2666
Instruction Set Extensions	SSE4.1/4.2, AVX 2.0, AVX-512
Package	LGA 2066
Price	$2000

Test stand

Assembling a system on a processor Intel Core i9-7980XE We could devote a whole separate material, but we’ll just get by with a description of the configuration and dwell only on those points that we would like to highlight. Of course, the declared thermal package of this processor is, at first glance, a modest 165 W, and this is not so much, but this value is relevant only for nominal frequencies. In practice, the processor perfectly boosts itself, thereby crossing the power consumption threshold, and we, most often, like to look for the maximum frequency of the processor when overclocking it. Accordingly, the power supply of this eighteen-core monster should be taken seriously, and for testing we chose one of the best motherboards -.
In general, when choosing a motherboard for Intel Core i9-7980XE we can confidently recommend solutions from ASUS - premium line Republic Of Gamers or professional Workstation. The power systems of these motherboards are made exclusively from high-quality components and are also equipped good systems cooling. You can read the review at.

Paired with motherboard ASUS ROG Rampage VI Apex we used memory modules that are ideally designed for a system built on components Republic Of Gamers. An overview of these modules is also available at.
We also recommend that you choose a power supply carefully and purchase only high-quality and most stable models, such as the recently tested one. This power supply demonstrated voltage stability throughout the entire power range and highest level efficiency, and its review can be found here.
The complete system configuration is described in the table below.

Testing

Last year Intel company raised home system performance to a whole new level with the introduction of an eighteen-core Core i9-7980XE, because previously the flagship of the HEDT platform was Core i7-6950X, which has 10 cores and much more modest frequencies. Of course, it would be good to compare flagships different generations, But Core i7-6950X we do not have in our arsenal and acted as opponents Core i9-7900X And Core i7-7740X. Perhaps most users will ask why so many cores might be useful, and the first thing that comes to mind is, of course, for work tasks, complex video editing, streaming, working with CAD, 3D modeling, and complex calculations. We will devote the first part of the processor review to work tasks. Intel Core i9-7980XE, and in subsequent materials we will delight you with tests in games, we will pay special attention to overclocking, and if you have ideas on what to check, write your comments under this review.
Let's start with the benchmark Cinebench R15, which is built on the engine Cinema 4D, during the benchmark, a 3D scene is rendered. The peculiarity of this benchmark is that it is perfectly tailored for multi-threading, so the difference between processors is clearly visible.

Corona Benchmark also demonstrates performance during rendering of a 3D scene, and it is built on Corona Render.

For the next test we used HWBOT x265 Benchmark clearly demonstrating performance during video encoding by codec H.265.

The following tests show real performance in the final render of the video in Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2018 codecs H.264 and H.265.

Well in WinRAR Benchmark we recorded the maximum archiving speed.

Well, today’s last test will be useful for streamers, and these guys know how powerful hardware can fail during an important broadcast. For testing, we used one of the most popular projects PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, and for streaming it on YouTube we used OBS Studio, streamed in resolution Full HD 60 FPS with a bitrate of 6000 kbit/s. And in this testing there is no big drawdown from the included streaming. But we will look at this topic in more detail in gaming performance testing.

conclusions

We can discuss endlessly what Intel Core i9-7980XE no one needs it, which is what many users do, but the situation is completely opposite. Intel Core i9-7980XE- this is a combine that processes data arrays as quickly as possible and this applies to all the tests we conducted and, if you look at this processor specifically, as professional, working solution , he immediately becomes in demand. Just think, the difference in the rendering speed of an 11-minute video was some 60 seconds compared to the half-cheap one Core i9-7900X, and, it would seem, you can wait, but in the hands of a professional who performs complex installation of massive projects, the difference can reach several hours, and, as we know, “time is money” and it is in this case that the best should be considered.

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At the Computex 2017 consumer electronics show, Intel presented new super-performance processors, including the expected Core i9 series of processors.

The Core X line of processors starts with the 4-core Intel Core i5-7640X, priced by Intel at $242. Three Core processor i7s have between 4 and 8 cores and are priced from US$339 for the 4-core Core i5-7640X, ending at US$599 for the Core i7-7820X chip. Among the highest-speed Core i9 chips, technical data is currently provided only for the Core i9-7900X with 10 cores and the ability to work with 20 threads. The processor is priced at US$999. The Intel Core i9-7980X Extreme Edition chip, which is the top of the line, has 18 cores and supports 36 threads. For the first time, the performance of an Intel chip for a consumer computer reached the order of teraflops (1012 operations per second). Tuj cnjbvjcnm - $1,999.

All processors model range Core X uses the Skylake X architecture (the exception is the 4-core model, built on Kaby Lake X). The innovative Turbo Boost Max 3.0 technology (built into top chips) provides a 1/10 increase in performance when processing multi-threaded data and an almost 15 percent increase in single-threaded calculations. Processors equipped with the universal LGA 2066 platform will be able to work with 4-channel DDR4-2666 RAM and Intel Optane memory and Intel chipset X299. Motherboards with updated capabilities will go on sale in the near future.

As for the eighth generation Intel Core, the company claims that their performance will be even higher than the stated 15 percent increase compared to the Core i7. In reality, a 30 percent increase in productivity will be achieved. CPU Coffee Lake, using 14-nanometer technology will be presented by the end of this year.