I had intended to publish an article prior to Intel's Fall Desktop launch event which would have covered X299, X399, Z399, X499, X599 and various rumours about the HEDT landscape from both Intel and AMD as well as predictions on what could come next.
After Intel's Fall Desktop event, it's safe to say Chipzilla struck back.
So, let's recap what actually happened at Intel's Fall Desktop event.
After Intel's Fall Desktop event, it's safe to say Chipzilla struck back.
So, let's recap what actually happened at Intel's Fall Desktop event.
9th Gen Coffee Lake Refresh
Intel finally announced the highly anticipated 9th Gen Coffee Lake Refresh CPUs, alongside the Z390 platform. Three models were announced, the 6c/6t i5-9600K, the 8c/8t i7-9700K and the 8c/16t i9-9900K. Clock speeds, TDP, Cache, Pricing and other details are included below.
All 9th Gen CFL-R CPUs are soldered, the first mainstream Intel CPU(s) since Sandy Bridge to receive such treatment. Mainstream Intel CPUs post Sandy Bridge and up-until now had regular thermal paste in-between the die and the IHS, which made de-lidding practically a necessity if one wished to overclock said parts, while maintaining reasonable temps and noise levels; you'd also void your warranty as well.
Overall the 9th Gen CFL-R launch was as expected, if we're honest most of this details were leaked months in advance anyway. The only downside is the pricing, while Amazon US briefly had the i9-9900K listed at $499, it was quickly changed to $529, and in many retailers encroaches on $600; prices are even more inflated in the UK, Europe and other regions.
A plethora of Z390 motherboards were also on display, many of which have already received preview/unboxing videos, or have official product pages listed, so I won't bother showing any here.
Basin Falls Skylake-X Refresh
Intel also announced a refresh to their LGA2066/X299 Basin Falls platform, all refresh SKUs are based on the HCC die, which allows for more L3 cache per core (for some models), based on 14nm++ instead of 14nm+ , all models have the full 44 PCIE Gen3 lanes, all models are now rated with a 165W TDP and as with the 9th Gen CFL-R lineup, all SKUs are soldered.
68 platform PCIE lanes includes the 24 the X299 chipset provides, 44 CPU lanes + 24 PCH lanes.
68 platform PCIE lanes includes the 24 the X299 chipset provides, 44 CPU lanes + 24 PCH lanes.
The most disappointing part is the pricing, the prices per part are nearly identical to that of the original Basin Falls, Skylake-X parts which were released over a year ago. It's like Intel have made no attempt to compete with Threadripper Gen2 on value, or optimise pricing for this segment.
A few X299 Refresh motherboards were shown off, here are a few. It's safe to say these X299 refresh motherboards will feature support for these new CPUs right out the box, without needing a BIOS update and they should come equipped with better VRMs and VRM cooling to better handle the higher clock speeds, TDPs and of course overclocking.
Asus Prime X299 Deluxe II (image from Benchlife)
Gigabyte X299 AORUS MASTER (image from Benchlife)
There will no doubt be more X299 refresh boards announced as we come closer to the launch of the Skylake-X Refresh parts, which is sometime in November 2018.
The Unlocked Xeon W-3175X
The biggest surprise of the event was the announcement of the unlocked Xeon W-3175X, this is an unlocked 28c/56t CPU with six channel memory support, up-to 68 platform PCIE lanes (48 from the CPU, 20 from the C621 chipset) and with ECC support. This part is based on Intel's fully enabled XCC die.
Unfortunately this specific SKU isn't soldered, likely due to the fact no other LGA3647 part is soldered, and such a niche platform probably wouldn't make it financially viable for Intel to do.
This sole CPU is situated on LGA3647 motherboards with the C621 chipset, one has to wonder if other SKUs will be announced, as basing an entire platform on a single SKU is nuts. As of right now we know of two companies working on motherboards for this platform (Asus and Gigabyte), no pricing was announced.
GIGABYTE SKL-SP1S (image from Benchlife)
Asus ROG Dominus Extreme (image from Benchlife)
I'd like to assume there will be more motherboards available at launch for this product, which is sometime in December 2018, but being that this will be an incredibly niche platform, with a very high asking price, I wouldn't expect to be spoilt for choice.
So that about wraps up the recap, 9th Gen CFL-R CPUs and Z390 motherboards, Skylake-X refresh CPUs based on 14nm++ on X299 motherboards and an unlocked Xeon on motherboards based on the C621 chipset.
This event leaves me with more questions than answers.
What happened to X599, the chipset that was rumoured to accompany the Skylake-A 28 core part -- well, either this rumour was flat out false, Intel decided to just keep the C621 name (instead of renaming/forking it to X599), or it's possible X599 is some future HEDT chipset, possibly for LGA3647 HEDT parts without ECC/RAS support or some other HEDT platform in 2019/2020, possibly based on the Cooper-Lake/Ice Lake LGA4189 socket.
You may also be asking what happened to the rumoured Z399 chipset, alongside the rumoured 20 and 22 core LGA2066 Skylake-X refresh parts, which would have worked on existing X299 motherboards with a BIOS update.
Well, 20 and 22 core LGA2066 parts were always doubtful in my mind, the HCC die maxes out at 18 cores, 20 and 22 core dies would have required Intel to use the XCC die on the LGA2066 socket and package, which could be a tight fit to say the least, the XCC measures in at 698mm2, a whopping 214mm2 bigger than the HCC die, it could also pose thermal and power issues, unless clock speeds were kept down low.
It's possible Z399 could be the Glacier Falls platform, which according to Intel's leaked roadmap will be arriving in Q3 2019, although I've heard this could be brought forward to Q2 2019. Such a chipset would likely assume all the benefits Z390 brings over Z370/X299, such as a quad core audio DSP, integrated USB 3.1 Gen2 support, better WiFi and Thunderbold support and more.
This could also be where the 20 and 22 core rumours originate from, being a new platform, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume Glacier Falls could come with a different socket and CPU package to support larger dies and thus larger core counts. Generally an Intel HEDT platform will span two product generations, presumably Cascade Lake-X and Ice Lake-X; one can make the connection with Glacier and Ice -- assuming 10nm faces no further delays.
So that about sums up the article, while it seems Intel is finally starting to address many of the concerns enthusiasts have, it still feels like more could be done - and if AMD do end up bringing a 64c/128t, 8 channel, PCIE 4.0 HEDT platform to market in 2019, which is a possibility, one has to wonder how Intel could respond; but that's an article for another day.
Thank you for reading.
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So that about wraps up the recap, 9th Gen CFL-R CPUs and Z390 motherboards, Skylake-X refresh CPUs based on 14nm++ on X299 motherboards and an unlocked Xeon on motherboards based on the C621 chipset.
This event leaves me with more questions than answers.
What happened to X599, the chipset that was rumoured to accompany the Skylake-A 28 core part -- well, either this rumour was flat out false, Intel decided to just keep the C621 name (instead of renaming/forking it to X599), or it's possible X599 is some future HEDT chipset, possibly for LGA3647 HEDT parts without ECC/RAS support or some other HEDT platform in 2019/2020, possibly based on the Cooper-Lake/Ice Lake LGA4189 socket.
You may also be asking what happened to the rumoured Z399 chipset, alongside the rumoured 20 and 22 core LGA2066 Skylake-X refresh parts, which would have worked on existing X299 motherboards with a BIOS update.
Well, 20 and 22 core LGA2066 parts were always doubtful in my mind, the HCC die maxes out at 18 cores, 20 and 22 core dies would have required Intel to use the XCC die on the LGA2066 socket and package, which could be a tight fit to say the least, the XCC measures in at 698mm2, a whopping 214mm2 bigger than the HCC die, it could also pose thermal and power issues, unless clock speeds were kept down low.
It's possible Z399 could be the Glacier Falls platform, which according to Intel's leaked roadmap will be arriving in Q3 2019, although I've heard this could be brought forward to Q2 2019. Such a chipset would likely assume all the benefits Z390 brings over Z370/X299, such as a quad core audio DSP, integrated USB 3.1 Gen2 support, better WiFi and Thunderbold support and more.
This could also be where the 20 and 22 core rumours originate from, being a new platform, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume Glacier Falls could come with a different socket and CPU package to support larger dies and thus larger core counts. Generally an Intel HEDT platform will span two product generations, presumably Cascade Lake-X and Ice Lake-X; one can make the connection with Glacier and Ice -- assuming 10nm faces no further delays.
Thank you for reading.
My Twitter
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