The new Intel X-Series CPUS are based on the new X299/LGA2066 “Basin Falls” platform. The Core X-series has nine different products, four will be arriving later. The nine processors are split into Kaby Lake-X and Skylake-X. The core i9 CPUs are the first new line of CPUs out of Intel in quite a few years.
The new X-Series HEDT (High-End Desktop) lineup sports increase core counts for desktops. Most like due to real heat form AMD for the first time years, the Intel is offering a much lower price point for its new core rich i9 series. Broadwell-E 10-cores weighed in at an eye-watering $1,723, but the new Skylake-X 10-core retails for only $1,000. Intel’s new branding scheme finds the Skylake-X i9 series with 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18-core models with hyperthreading, which sports a massive 36 threads on the high-end Core i9-7890XE. The i7 series spans four, six, and eight cores with hyperthreading, while the i5 series has a lone four-core, bug lacks hyperthreading.
X299 Chipset
The Kaby Lake-X and Skylake-X processors drop into the LGA 2066 socket (R4) on the new X299 chipset. This chipset marks a shift from Intel’s strategy of using server chipsets for its HEDT lineup. The X299 chipset also features a DMI 3.0 connection and the usual goodies, such as eight SATA 3.0 and 10 USB 3.0 ports, but there is major whole with the lack of USB 3.1 support. Intel plans to add it in future chipsets. It also supports 30 HSIO (High Speed I/O) lanes and up to three RST PCIe 3.0 x4 storage devices. Intel’s I218 Jacksonville LAN PHY also makes an appearance.
Quick Specs on the New CPUs
The Core i5-7640X has 4 cores with no Hyper-Threading. It has 4.0GHz base clock speed and Turbo Boosts up to 4.2GHz. There’s 6MB L3 cache, 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes, and two-channel DDR4-2666 memory support. It has a TDP of 112W and is priced at $242.
The Core i7-7740X has 4 cores and 8 threads with HT. It has 4.3GHz base clock speed and Turbo Boosts up to 4.5GHz. There’s 8MB L3 cache, 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes, and two-channel DDR4-2666 memory support. It has a TDP of 112W and is priced at $339.
Moving on to the Skylake-X series, the base Core i7-7740X has 6 cores and 12 threads with HT. It has 3.5GHz base clock speed and Turbo Boosts up to 4.0GHz. There’s 8.25MB L3 cache, 28 PCIe 3.0 lanes, and four-channel DDR4-2400 memory support. It has a TDP of 140W and is priced at $389.
The Core i7-7820X has 8 cores and 16 threads with HT. It has 3.6GHz base clock speed and Turbo Boosts up to 4.3GHz. It also has support for Intel Turbo Boost 3.0, which boosts the best core of the bunch to, in this case, 4.5GHz. There’s 11MB L3 cache, 28 PCIe 3.0 lanes, and four-channel DDR4-2666 memory support. It has a TDP of 140W and is priced at $599.
What might be the sweet spot for some series user, the Core i9-7900X, has 10 cores and 20 threads with HT. It has 3.3GHz base clock speed, 4.3GHz Turbo Boost 2.0 clock speed and 4.5GHz Turbo Boost 3.0 clock speed. There’s 13.75MB L3 cache, 44 PCIe 3.0 lanes, and four-channel DDR4-2666 memory support. It has a TDP of 140W and is priced at $999.
Core i9
There are four more parts left, the i9-7920X, i9-7940X, i9-7960X, and i9-7980XE, however, not a lot of information has been revealed about them. All we know for now is that they have 12/24, 14/28, 16/32, and 18/36 core/thread count, and that they are priced at $1199, $1399, $1699, and $1999, respectively.
The Core i9-7980XE slots in as the extreme high-end product for $1,999. Intel touts that it is the first desktop Teraflop CPU. It accommodates AVX-512, and, like the rest of the X-Series, supports Optane memory.
