Intel Broadwell Thread

[Sweepr]

I must say that I am positively surprised by this. I thought Broadwell-E was going to be basically a useless launch but I guess not.

I hope that they keep the 10C/20T model at $999 and then expand the price range downward to make x99 more attractive/accessible.

+25% cores/threads, slightly better IPC and same base frequency (hopefully Turbo too). Very nice upgrade and bodes well for Skylake-E.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Fair enough.

I'm now wondering how many cores Skylake-E will have and what clockspeeds they will run at.

With Skylake-E it's kind of tricky to call. The efficiency gains of 14nm allowed Intel to pack in more cores in Broadwell-E while keeping the base freq at the "magic" 3GHz.

Skylake-E will have the benefit of a more mature 14nm process than Broadwell-E will have, but at the same time Skylake-E is a much wider machine + it has AVX-512 which should also burn power. Maybe Intel will up the core count to 12 and for non-AVX workloads it might be able to run at 3GHz base (although this might be tricky), but I suspect that for AVX workloads base clock needs to come down (which is why in the Xeon E5/E7 chips today there is regular turbo and AVX-turbo).

Basically Intel is realizing though that gamers are willing to pay big bucks for more performance/cores so they will try to up the core counts as quickly as they can for HEDT going forward, IMO. They have long neglected enthusiasts who are more than eager to hand them their money and I'm glad somebody within the company's marketing organization finally "gets" it.

 

[Sweepr]

Basically Intel is realizing though that gamers are willing to pay big bucks for more performance/cores so they will try to up the core counts as quickly as they can for HEDT going forward, IMO. They have long neglected enthusiasts who are more than eager to hand them their money and I'm glad somebody within the company's marketing organization finally "gets" it.

If Core i7-6950X's Turbo is equal/similar to its predecessor then we're looking at up to ~30% better MT performance. That's better than most of Intel's recent desktop launches.

I wonder if the 8C/16T Core i7-6900K will go down to $575. If you don't need the extra cores and it clocks better than the EE model this one might be the new enthusiast's favourite.

And then there's the Core i7-6800K. I can already see the new threads: 'Core i7-6700K vs Core i7-6800K'

 

[Arachnotronic]

If Core i7-6950X's Turbo is equal/similar to its predecessor then we're looking at up to ~30% better MT performance. That's better than most of Intel's recent desktop launches.

I wonder if the 8C/16T Core i7-6900K will go down to $575. If you don't need the extra cores and it clocks better than the EE model this one might be the new enthusiast's favourite.

And then there's the Core i7-6800K. I can already see the new threads: 'Core i7-6700K vs Core i7-6800K'

If I had to guess, here's what I think pricing will look like

6950X - $999
6900 - $599
6850 - $449
6800 - $379

 

[DrMrLordX]

Anyone seen what PCIe lanes will come with each chip? Are they going to be 40/40/28/28 or what?

 

[jpiniero]

If I had to guess, here's what I think pricing will look like

6950X - $999
6900 - $599
6850 - $449
6800 - $379

Given that Intel raised prices on the 6700K, I can't see them being that charitable. I was thinking more like this:

6950X - $1099
6900 - $899
6850 - $599
6800 -$399

With the 6800 being the only one with the reduced PCIe lanes.

 

[tenks]

If I had to guess, here's what I think pricing will look like

6950X - $999
6900 - $599
6850 - $449
6800 - $379

I hope this is the case, I'd be instantly in for a $600 8core Intel cpu.

But knowing greedy Intel, it's most likely going to create a new price & tier/category. "ultimate extreme" or some bs.

6950UX - $1199
6900X - $999
6850k - $579
6800k - $379

 

[pooptastic]

Well, hopefully if core counts increase more applications and games are programmed to better utilize them all.

I still suspect a lot of stuff out there barely uses 2 cores, let alone 10.

 

[dark zero]

I hope this is the case, I'd be instantly in for a $600 8core Intel cpu.

But knowing greedy Intel, it's most likely going to create a new price & tier/category. "ultimate extreme" or some bs.

6950UX - $1199
6900X - $999
6850k - $579
6800k - $379

That seems real.... hey... that 6800 is too cheap!
6950UX - $1199
6900X - $899
6850k - $699
6800k - $449

 

[Braxos]

6800k 6900k on z170, more cores with less pci lanes or maybe a new hybrid board z170 with 28 pci lanes? And 6850 and 6950 on x99 with 40 lanes or more for dedicated lanes on new storage solutions? Maybe?????

 

[cbn]

If I had to guess, here's what I think pricing will look like

6950X - $999
6900 - $599
6850 - $449
6800 - $379

Here is what I think it will be:

6950X - $999
6900 - $599
6850 - $389
6800 - $299 (This one will have 28 PCIe lanes)

 

[cbn]

I wonder if the 8C/16T Core i7-6900K will go down to $575. If you don't need the extra cores and it clocks better than the EE model this one might be the new enthusiast's favourite.

If the 8C/16T price does drop that low, then I wonder if a set-up like the one I am linking below becomes more popular:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuJYMCbIbPk

Then for gaming at a remote location in the house, a person could just stream to something like the Steam Link or an old Laptop/desktop (Windows or Linux) with the Steam client on it.

 

[cbn]

I wonder if they are relying on MCM designs, or if they are rolling out a new die.

You cant MCM them.

New die it is, then! Should be interesting to see its size.

The Xeon-D die (with eight cores, dual channel DDR4, 24 PCIe lanes, usb 3.0) is 160mm2.

So does this sixteen core chip keep the dual channel? And 24 PCIe lanes? Same number usb 3.0? If so, then it might be a pretty small chip considering I measured the Broadwell cores (without L3 cache) on the 2C/GT2, 2C/GT3, 4C/GT3 chips at 6.8mm2 to 6.9mm2:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2433600

 

[ShintaiDK]

Here is what I think it will be:

6950X - $999
6900 - $599
6850 - $389
6800 - $299 (This one will have 28 PCIe lanes)

Sounds possible. However the X (box) will be 1059$ like it is today. Its only the tray that is 999$.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

6800k 6900k on z170, more cores with less pci lanes or maybe a new hybrid board z170 with 28 pci lanes? And 6850 and 6950 on x99 with 40 lanes or more for dedicated lanes on new storage solutions? Maybe?????

I think they're all going to be on x99. Speaking of which, is it safe to assume that we can just drop these into existing x99 boards and just update the BIOS? Also, are we still on track for a Q1/Q2 release?

EDIT: NM about the board/BIOS question - saw it was answered earlier.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Here is what I think it will be:

6950X - $999
6900 - $599
6850 - $389
6800 - $299 (This one will have 28 PCIe lanes)

Cant see the 6800 costing less than the quad i7. I am assuming all the HEDT chips will have hyperthreading enabled.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Cant see the 6800 costing less than the quad i7. I am assuming all the HEDT chips will have hyperthreading enabled.

I can't see a processor with model number 6800k being cheaper than one called 6700k from the same vendor.

 

[cbn]

Cant see the 6800 costing less than the quad i7. I am assuming all the HEDT chips will have hyperthreading enabled.

It has lower clocks and no iGPU though.

 

[cbn]

I can't see a processor with model number 6800k being cheaper than one called 6700k from the same vendor.

I can.

Example: i7 3820 vs i7 3770K.

 

[cbn]

i7 4820K vs. i7 4770K and i7 4790K too.

 

[moonbogg]

10 cores is great news. That might put the 8 core versions in the $500 price range, which would be a sick new platform for gaming for both broadwell and skylake-E. Is it possible that we have Zen to thank for this?

 

[Arachnotronic]

I can.

Example: i7 3820 vs i7 3770K.

K versus non-K

 

[cbn]

K versus non-K

If you want a K vs K comparison then look at i7 4820K which was cheaper than both the i7 4770K and i7 4790K.

 

[crashtech]

The 5820K and 4790K are about $45 retail apart, therefore I am predicting $425 or so for the 6800K.

 

[utahraptor]

How will the new nvme drives fair with these CPUs on the x99 platform? Will they be limited in pci express lanes and be hobbled?