New Intel Core i9-9990XE Sheds Cores in Favor of High Clock Speeds, Benchmarked

[btarunr]

Intel is giving final touches to a new socket LGA2066 high-end desktop processor with an interesting model number for its specifications. The new Core i9-9990XE is positioned above the current flagship i9-9980XE. Normally you'd expect it to be the same 18-core "Skylake-X" chip with a speed-bump, however, the i9-9990XE is a unique proposition. It sheds cores in favor of significantly higher clock-speeds than the i9-9980XE.

The i9-9990XE is a 14-core/28-thread processor, based on a binned "Skylake-X" HCC (high core count) die, and uses STIM (soldered thermal interface material) between the die and integrated heatspreader (IHS). It features some aggressive clock-speeds, with 4.00 GHz nominal clock-speeds, and a massive 5.10 GHz maximum Turbo Boost frequency that beats even the Core i9-9900K. Besides 14 cores, the i9-9990XE is configured with 19.25 MB of shared L3 cache, and 1 MB of L2 cache per core. The four disabled cores alone don't help Intel's efforts to dial up clock-speeds. Intel has increased the chip's rated TDP all the way up to 255 Watts!



Intel hasn't revealed a price for the Core i9-9990XE yet, and there are indications of the chip being OEM-exclusive. Workstation integrator Puget Systems has put out a handful benchmarks for this chip, in which it beats the i9-9980XE in some HEDT-relevant benchmarks despite 4 fewer cores:



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Wavetrex]

Intel:
"We've already lost the cores war, let's at least keep winning the clocks war !"

AMD 7nm chiplet:
"Hold my beer"

 

[Vya Domus]

Even with 4 less cores the TDP went up by 50% and they are usually pretty liberal with these ratings. That 14nm process is at it's absolute limit.

 

[eidairaman1]

Hedt pricing is still stupid.

 

[Vayra86]

Intel's FX 9590 is here at last.

 

[efikkan]

I can certainly see the appeal for some users, but if the rumor of this chip being an exclusive is true, then it doesn't really matter. A product needs to be widely available to be considered by customers.

 

[notb]

I can certainly see the appeal for some users, but if the rumor of this chip being an exclusive is true, then it doesn't really matter. A product needs to be widely available to be considered by customers.

Most people use OEM PCs so I literally have no idea what you mean by "widely available".

 

[Assimilator]

That 14nm process is at it's absolute limit.

I think it's the Skylake architecture more than the process.

Intel's FX 9590 is here at last.

Nope, that's the Xeon W-3175X.

 

[Vayra86]

Nope, that's the Xeon W-3175X.

Nope, it lacks a sufficient amount of 9's and its not over 9000

 

[cyneater]

whats with less cache ?

 

[arnold_al_qadr]

whats with less cache ?

less core

 

[CandymanGR]

255 watt tdp.

lol.

 

[Zubasa]

255 watt tdp.

lol.

And that is before all the MCE that are basically Intel approved factory OC
Depending on the board some 9900Ks are already pulling around that much with MCE.

 

[phill]

Well they'll be releasing a CPU in the 10000 region soon I'm sure as they are all out of 9000 models now... I mean this is just mental... I wonder if it needs to have the Asus special motherboard to run it as well.....

Intel:
"We've already lost the cores war, let's at least keep winning the clocks war !"

AMD 7nm chiplet:
"Hold my beer"

Absolutely, spot on

 

[oxidized]

Even with 4 less cores the TDP went up by 50% and they are usually pretty liberal with these ratings. That 14nm process is at it's absolute limit.

its*

Sorry, goodbye.

 

[HTC]

@btarunr

There seems to be something missing in this line:

The four disabled cores alone don't Intel's efforts to dial up clock-speeds.

 

[R0H1T]

This is ridiculous, what happened to all the people crying about efficiency of AMD GPUs

 

[kastriot]

What what, what what?

 

[bug]

Intel:
"We've already lost the cores war, let's at least keep winning the clocks war !"

AMD 7nm chiplet:
"Hold my beer"

Cores war makes as much sense as the GHz war made back in the day.
But that power draw...

 

[ArbitraryAffection]

Just overclock the 9980XE... Oc to oc this will be slower... I guess it's for stock comparison but still...

 

[theGryphon]

So, it's a factory overclocked 9940X. Got it

 

[Assimilator]

This is essentially a really binned i9-9940X, so no surprise numbers will be limited.

Just overclock the 9980XE... Oc to oc this will be slower... I guess it's for stock comparison but still...

9980 won't clock anywhere near as high as this puppy. 4 fewer cores will mean its already high clocks can be pushed even further.

 

[Aquinus]

255 Watt TDP? What is this, a freaking Bulldozer?!

 

[ArbitraryAffection]

This is essentially a really binned i9-9940X, so no surprise numbers will be limited.



9980 won't clock anywhere near as high as this puppy. 4 fewer cores will mean its already high clocks can be pushed even further.

Yes but 9980XE with 8 more threads at , like 4.6-4.8 GHz will still be faster in multicore workloads than this at 5 Ghz all core, can it even reach that though? I just dont see the point.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

255 watt tdp.

lol.

That’s probably just the 4.0ghz all-core TDP—it just goes up from there.