Intel Core i9-7980XE: 18-cores for 2000 USD

Intel’s flagship processor for 2017, the Core i9-7980XE, is an 18-core behemoth designed specifically for one reason: to beat AMD’s Threadripper in core count (which is up to 16 cores by the way).

The i9-7980XE is currently the most expensive modern desktop CPU you can find, at least on paper, because it is not yet on sale.

Some lucky tech enthusiasts got their hands on early samples, but we don’t know if those are pre-production samples or retail units. What we do know is that there won’t be many reviews of this CPU, because Intel has no interest in providing samples to all reviewers. The market for this processor is extremely small, in fact, I can’t think of anyone who would actually need such processor as a daily driver. Most content creators are more likely to buy Threadripper 1950X or even i9-7960X, which is 300 USD cheaper and only lacks 2 cores compared to 7980XE. The i9-7980XE just screams desperation from Intel, but is it just a marketing stunt or a true king of high-performance computing?

Intel Core-X vs AMD Threadripper Series Processor Cores/ Threads PCIe Lanes Base Clock Turbo Clock TC 3.0/XFR Price TDP i9-7980XE 18C/36T 44 2.6 GHz 4.2 GHz 4.4 GHz $1999 165W i9-7960X 16C/32T 44 2.8 GHz 4.2 GHz 4.4 GHz $1699 165W i9-7940X 14C/28T 44 3.1 GHz 4.3 GHz 4.4 GHz $1399 165W i9-7920X 12C/24T 44 2.9 GHz 4.3 GHz 4.4 GHz $1199 140W i9-7900X 10C/20T 44 3.3 GHz 4.3 GHz 4.5 GHz $999 140W TR 1950X 16C/32T 64 3.4 GHz 4.0 GHz 4.2 GHz $999 180W TR 1920X 12C/24T 64 3.5 GHz 4.0 GHz 4.2 GHz $799 180W

Intel Core i9-7980XE: early benchmarks

The benchmarks come from Coolenjoy, where we learn that the CPU was tested on ASUS APEX motherboard (designed for overclockers). What was discovered is that the CPU boosts up to 4.2 GHz on all cores during Cinebench. It’s unclear if this is a motherboard-specific feature or this is exactly how it’s supposed to be. Officially the i9-7980X should only boost up to 4.4 GHz on two cores in Turbo Boost Max 3.0 and up to 4.2 GHz in Turbo Max 2.0.

You can see the Cinebench and CPU-Z benchmarks on this video:

The rest of the benchmarks follow. Note that the 7980XE is listed above only with the scores. As noted by the author, nothing except memory XMP profile was touched:

Probably the most interesting result is Cinebench single-core performance, which is exactly the same as for 7900X and 7820X. Seems like a good CPU for single-threaded applications after all. Last time I heard the NDA on 7940-7980 series ends somewhere next week, so I guess we should see the confirmation of these results very soon.

Source: Coolenjoy