Intel's New Core i9-9900K / i7-9700K 8 Core Processors - 5GHz With 4.7GHz All-Core Boost

[SSD]

Interesting article about Intel's next generation of CPUs

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/antonyleather/2018/07/24/intels-monster-core-i9-9900k-8-core-processor-will-reach-a-massive-5ghz-with-4-7ghz-all-core-boost/#7d2fb1e57222

 

Appears that the new i7s are going to drop hyperthreading. They are anticipated to release an 8 core / 8 thread i7-9700K at about $350. An i9-9900K will be a similar 8 core / 16 thread CPU for about $450. Speeds are expected to be 5GHz with few cores active, and 4.7GHz with all active! Very fast.

 

Seems they are going to solder the IHS, fixing a big problem with CPUs from past generations that used lousy thermal compound and resulted in poor heat transference, and therefore CPU throttling under load. 

More threads is not nearly as good as more cores - so an 8 "real core" CPU is going to be quite a bit faster than a 6 "real core" CPU hyperthreaded or not. In fact that article implies that hyperthreading is a marginal performance boost that has been overblown by Intel, but convincing the public may be a different matter.

 

Seems the new 8 core CPUS might be appealing to those looking to stick with Intel and wanting a significant upgrade from a 4 core (or less) server, and were underwhelmed by 6 core options. They should have iGPU and be able be able to do hardware transcodes, but may need to confirm once product is officially announced. On a 4 core server, 1 core is sort of reserved for unRAID so only 3 are available for VMs. WIth an 8 core server 7 are available for VMs. Some of the 5-series Xeons people have been looking at with high core counts have much slower cores - in the 2-3GHz range. These are ~2x the speed. So an 8 core 9700K might be more powerful as a 16 core Xeon 5 series. Also, many apps are not multi-threaded, so the faster cores can make a big performance difference for such apps.
 

I would mention I am very happy with my X series i9-7920x. No iGPU but 12 cores / 24 threads. With Silicon Lottery delidding, it runs 12 cores each at 4.5GHz. Its a bit pricier, but I expect a very long life from this CPU. That and the fact that the i9-7960x (16 core) and i9-7980xe (18 core) versions are just a CPU upgrade away for a 33-50% boost in a few years when used ones appear on eBay. But my 7920x is fast enough to do 4k transcodes in software, so the loss of iGPU / quickview is not painful.

 

Lots of exciting options for server upgrades these days!

[Hoopster]

3 hours ago, SSD said:

Lots of exciting options for server upgrades these days! 

 

For those who like entry-level Xeon chips, there will also be the recently announced Xeon E-2100 line (replaces the old E3/E5 branding) based on the Coffee Lake architecture.  At the high end, they will have both hyperthreading and iGPUs, so 6 cores/12 threads and P630 graphics.  These are expected to ship in Q3 this year.

 

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/273248-intel-announces-new-entry-level-xeon-e-2100-family273248

 

Of course, even though they are socket 1151 chips, new motherboards based on the C246 chipset will be required as they will not work with existing socket 1151 C236 motherboards.

 

I would love to see a Xeon CPU  based on the i9-9900K; 8-cores/16 threads with an iGPU @4.7/5GHz and priced around $480-$500 would be enough to entice me to upgrade.  That is probably at least a year away based on how long it took the Coffee Lake architecture to make it into the Xeon family.

Edited July 26, 2018 by Hoopster

[Mikecdm]

I've been thinking about possibly upgrading my server to one of these 8 core chips.  I don't think I really need it at the moment for what I do, but I always like upgrading stuff.  I'm currently using a 4770k and don't do much other than plex.  It's either that or swap hardware with my daily machine.  Pretty much it'd be trading a 5960x for a 9900k and use newer architecture.  Maybe just leave things alone and not spend any money.  Who knows.