 "Intel Core i9 Skylake-X revealed: Here are the prices for the CPUs that will take on Threadripper")
As we all know by now, Intel is scrambling to find an answer to AMD Ryzen. For now,
that answer appears to be Skylake-X
. [caption id=“attachment_3906369” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
The Intel Core i9 X-series chip[/caption] With Ryzen, AMD essentially introduced CPUs with at least twice the number of cores Intel was offering at the same price. Granted, Ryzen’s single-core performance and IPC
isn’t comparable to Intel’s just yet
, but the extra cores means that Ryzen is suddenly a lot more appealing to users who value computational power. AMD’s former lack of capable high-end offerings meant that Intel maintained a stranglehold on the market. Ryzen has changed that. The biggest threat to Intel right now is Threadripper, and yes, the ominous connotations of that name are not lost on Intel. Essentially, AMD’s Threadripper offers up to 16 cores and 32 threads on a single CPU at rock-bottom prices, undercutting Intel’s equivalent offerings by as much as 50 percent. Skylake-X doesn’t suddenly halve Intel CPU prices, but at least it’s offering more cores to everyone.
| Intel i9 7800X | Intel i9 7820X | Intel i9 7900X | Intel i9 7920X | Intel i9 7940X | Intel i9 7960X | Intel i9 7980XE | AMD Ryzen 1950X | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform | X299 | X299 | X299 | X299 | X299 | X299 | X299 | X399 |
| Socket | LGA2006 | LGA2006 | LGA2006 | LGA2006 | LGA2006 | LGA2006 | LGA2006 | TR4 |
| Core / Threads | 6/12 | 8/16 | 10/20 | 12/24 | 14/28 | 16/32 | 18/36 | 16/32 |
| Base Clock (GHz) | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.3 | 2.9 | 3.1 | 2.8 | 2.6 | 3.4 |
| Turbo Clock (GHz) | 4 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4 |
| TurboMax Clock (GHz) | NA | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 | NA |
| L3 Cache (MB) | 8.25 | 11 | 13.75 | 16.5 | 19.25 | 22 | 24.75 | 32 |
| PCIe Lanes | 28 | 28 | 44 | 44 | 44 | 44 | 44 | 60 |
| Memory Channels | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Memory frequency (GHz) | 2.4 | 2.66 | 2.66 | 2.66 | 2.66 | 2.66 | 2.66 | 2.66 |
| TDP (W) | 140 | 140 | 140 | 140 | 165 | 165 | 165 | 180 |
| Price (USD) | $389 | $599 | $999 | $1,199 | $1,399 | $1,699 | $1,999 | $999 |
The CPU lineup was unveiled at Computex 2017 , but that was just a sneak peak of the lineup. The above data is courtesy of Anandtech and provides a deeper insight into the specifications of the upcoming processors. Anandtech reports that the new Intel CPUs will hit a maximum TDP of 165 W. As expected, the CPU clock also comes down as the number of cores go up, but AMD has managed to offer a higher base clock than Intel for the same core count. Threadripper also offers more PCIe lanes (necessary for multi-GPU systems and other peripherals) than Intel. Do note that despite the sky-high price of Skylake-X, these are still consumer-grade CPUs. As Anandtech points out yet again, Xeon offers higher base clock speeds and more PCIe lanes. Ryzen’s mettle in the enterprise space is still to be tested.