17-07-2017, 09:57 AM
Rising to the challenge AMD has established with the 16-core Threadripper, the i9 series is pushing the full core and thread count on all previous Intel consumer grade processors. The i9-7900X introducer has 10 cores and 20 threads (same as the previous ones), with the largest and best improvements in the i9-7920X, i9-7940X, i9-7960X and i9-7980XE processors offering 12, 14, 16 , And 18 cores, respectively. At the upper end, it should result in a massive boost in pure processor speed and multitasking capability.
Although everything might seem like an excess, Intel says its Core i9 line was boosted by the astounding demand for last year's 10-core chip. "Broadwell-E was a kind of experiment," an Intel spokesman told Engadget. "It was sold ... showing that our enthusiast community will go after the best of the best ... Yes, we are adding a higher core count, but we are also introducing lower core counts."
As you can imagine, filling more cores in a processor leads to some important heat problems. For that reason, Intel developed its own liquid cooling solution, which will work through these new chips, as well as some previous generations. All new Core i9 processors, along with 6-core and 8-core i7 chips, boast 140 hot hot design points (TDP), the maximum amount of energy they will draw. That's the same as last year's 10-core CPU, but it's still way above the more affordable Intel i7-7700K 91 W TDP.
In recent years, Intel's notebook chips have been far more interesting than their desktop CPUs. In part, this is because the rise of ultra portable and convertible laptops has shifted its focus from delivering the highest computing power possible to delivering a reasonable amount of processing power efficiently. The new Core i9 X-series processors may not be feasible for most consumers, but for hardware geeks who treat their platforms like hot rods, they are a dream come true.