▷ Intel core i9 【all information】

For approximately ten years, the Intel Core series of processors has been divided into three levels of performance: i3, i5 and the high-end i7. After several disappointingly small performance iterations, and the impending launch of AMD's Ryzen Threadripper processor, Intel announced the new King of the Hill Core i9. In this way, Intel Core i9 takes over from Core i7 as the best Intel processor, the most powerful and designed for the most demanding users.

What are Intel Core i9 processors and what is their importance

Core i9 was announced within the new generation of processors for the LGA 2066 platform (Basin Falls), which takes over from LGA 2011. With the Core i9, the new Skylake-X architecture was released, supplemented with some improvements focused on the most demanding. The first model in the Core i9 series, the i9-7900X, offered modest gains over Inte's previous flagship product, the Core i7 6950X. Between the staggering € 1, 000 price tag, and the mandatory upgrade of the motherboard, not to mention the fact that even more powerful and more expensive versions would come, it was better to wait a few months to see how the market developed. Not that AMD offered compelling competition in terms of price.

We recommend reading our post on Intel Core i9-7980XE Review in Spanish

Intel's new high-end desktop platform (HEDT) is designed to be the professional consumer platform, providing all the cores without the extras required by the business community. Until this new generation of 2017, we were treated with three or four CPUs each cycle, made from the smallest enterprise silicon from Intel, slowly going from 6 cores in 2009 to 10 cores in 2015, generally targeting the top model at a price of 1000 euros approximately. With the HEDT 2017 platform, called Basin Falls, this changed.

The new socket and chipset were expected, as Intel updates every two generations, and this update provided much more connectivity than before. The first three Skylake-X processors came built with Intel's smallest enterprise silicon (as before), these range from 6 cores for € 389 to 10 cores for € 1, 000. Basin Falls' second release is Intel's new step that added four more Skylake-X processors, this time with the mid-sized company's silicon. These new processors build on each other by significantly increasing the core count, which means increasing the power requirements to run.

In response to the challenge AMD posed with the 16-core Ryzen Threadripper 1950X, the Core i9 series is driving the total number of cores and threads on all previous Intel consumer processors. The i9-7900X has 10 cores and 20 threads, the same as previous flagships. Then came the i9-7920X, i9-7940X, i9-7960X, and i9-7980XE processors that offer 12, 14, 16, and 18 cores, respectively. At the high end, this should result in a massive boost in both pure processor speed and multitasking capability.

The i9 series also supports four-channel DDR4 memory at speeds of up to 2, 666 MHz, considerably faster than previous Core i7 chips. The same goes for PCI Express lanes, up to 44 or more from the 16 of the LGA 1151 platform. The i9-7900X uses a 3.3GHz base clock being able to reach 4.5GHz with the Turbo Boost 3.0 from Intel in ideal conditions And that's before any kind of end-user overclocking, which is fostered by the unlocked status of the X series. All new chips require the new 2066-pin processor socket, and with a power consumption of 140 watts or Plus, liquid cooling is highly recommended.

The latest generation Intel Core i9 7980XE processor has proven to be the best processor on the market aimed at the consumer market. This monster hides within it no less than 18 cores and 36 threads with Skylake-X architecture, which operate at a base speed of 2.6 GHz, and is capable of reaching 4.2 GHz in turbo mode. Until the arrival of these Core i9s, Intel's high-core processors operated at fairly low clock speeds, limiting their performance in programs that are not capable of using a high number of cores. For example, the core i7 6950X, which is the top of the range of the previous generation, only reaches a maximum frequency of 3.5 GHz, a very low figure compared to the more than 4.5 GHz that the platform chips reach. LGA 1151.

The Core i9 series processors are very fast, there is no doubt about it. But Intel is also aware of its high manufacturing cost, which makes the Core i9 7980XE sell for around 2, 000 euros. AMD Ryzen Threadripper and other Ryzen chips will not dethrone Intel in terms of pure speed, but unless you're building an industrial-grade server or constantly editing 4K videos, you don't really need that much power. For enthusiasts and typical gamers, AMD could win quite a few hearts and minds with competitive performance at much lower prices, as it currently sells its Ryzen Threadripper 2950X processor with 16 cores and 32 threads for a price of 935 euros, it is slower than the Core i9 7980XE, but not too much and its price is approximately half. AMD also sells the 32-core, 64-thread Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX for $ 1, 860, and this processor is superior to the Core i9 7980XE in many cases, though not always.

AMD's flagship series of new processors is all the rage for Intel, not necessarily in terms of pure speed, but an incredible value proposition. The competition for Intel i9 processors is Threadripper, the top-of-the-line AMD Ryzen processor with 12, 16, and 32-core models. Threadripper offers some impressive enhancements to Intel designs, such as an amazing 60-lane connection to PCIe components.

Current Intel Core i9 processors

The Core i9 family currently includes the 7900X, 7920X, 7940X, 7960X, and 7980XE processors. The first of these is created with low-core silicon, while all the others are based on high-core silicon. The Core i9 9900K has recently been announced, the first Core i9 processor for the LGA 1151 platform, this and Core i9 9850HK are the only ones that are not based on the Skylake-X architecture, since they are Coffe Lake S and Coffe Lake respectively.

The following table summarizes the most important features of these new Intel Core i9 processors:

Intel Core i9
	Core i9 9850HK	Core i9 9900K	7900X	7920X	7940X	7960X	7980XE
Platform	Laptops	LGA 1151	LGA 2066	LGA 2066	LGA 2066	LGA 2066	LGA 2066
Cores / threads	6/12	8/16	10/20	12/24	14/28	16/32	18/36
Base frequency (GHz)	2.9	3.6	3.3	2.9	3.1	2.8	2.6
Turbo frequency (GHz)	4.9	4.9	4.3	4.3	4.3	4.2	4.2
TurboMax (GHz)	-	-	4.5	4.4	4.4	4.4	4.4
L3 cache	12 MB	12 MB	1, 375 MB / core
PCIe Lanes	16	16	44
Memory channels	two	two	4
Memory frequency	DDR4-2666	DDR4-2666	2666 MHz
TDP	45W	95W	140W	165W
Price	$ 583		$ 999	$ 1199	$ 1399	$ 1699	$ 1999

The Core i9 7920X, 7940X, 7960X, and 7980XE processors are almost physically identical, apart from the active core count. All four use the same base design, all four support factory DDR4-2666 memory , and all four support 44 PCIe 3.0 lines. The first three have a TDP of 165W, while Core i9 7920X has a TDP of 140W. There's some variation in frequencies: While all four parts will support 4.4 GHz as their top TurboMax clock, the Turbo 2.0 frequencies are all 4.3 GHz except for the top two processors, and the base clock frequencies generally decrease as it goes up. nucleus count. This makes sense, physically because to maintain the same TDP as cores are added, the processor will reduce the base clock frequency to meet the same goal.

Despite the low base frequencies, each processor will still be above 3.4 GHz. The base frequency number is essentially Intel's guarantee under normal conditions, this is the highest frequency that Intel will guarantee. When using the AVX or AVX2 / AVX512 instructions, the frequencies will be lower than those listed due to the power density of these compact instructions, but still above the base frequency, and offering higher overall performance than using the same ones. Math in AVX Formats.

Hyperthreading

All Intel Core i9 processors have Hyper-Threading technology, this is a technology used by Intel that allows a single microprocessor to act as two separate processors for the operating system, and the application programs that use it. It is a feature of Intel's IA-32 processor architecture.

With Hyper-Threading, each processor core can execute two concurrent streams or threads of instructions sent by the operating system. Having two streams of execution units to work with allows the processor to do more work during each clock cycle. To the operating system, the Hyper-Threading microprocessor appears to be two separate processors. Like most current operating systems like Windows and Linux, they are able to divide their workload among multiple processors, the operating system simply acts as if the Hyper-Threading processor were a set of two processors.

Intel notes that existing code will run correctly on a Hyper-Threading processor, but some relatively simple code modifications are recommended for optimal benefit. This means that the software must be adapted to work with this technology if you want to get the most out of it.

What's new in Core i9 and Skylake-X

The Intel Core i9 processors and their new Intel Skylake-X microarchitecture have received some new features to improve their capabilities and make the new chips even better. Intel's HEDT platform is usually the place where the best Intel news arrives first, and this time it's been no exception.

Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0

The first novelty introduced in these new Core i9 processors is Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0 technology, which really existed at Broadwell-E but has received one more twist to make it more attractive if possible. This advanced technology is responsible for detecting the two best processor cores, to be used in the case of applications that do not make use of all the cores. This is very important, since silicon chips are never perfect so not all cores have the same quality.

By using the best two, higher operating frequencies can be achieved than would be achieved with the other cores, frequencies that can even exceed the turbo speed of the processor. This is a good way to take processor performance to a new level for applications that only use one or two cores. Of course the parameters are very controlled, and it is a totally safe process so there is nothing to worry about.

New AVX512 instruction

The introduction of AVX512 has been one of the most interesting novelties of this Skylake-X architecture. The instructions are part of the microarchitecture of the processor and are the source of its performance, that is why it is so important that Intel and AMD continue working day after day to add new instruction sets to their best processors.

AVX512 is a new instruction especially useful for vectorization. This new instruction is very powerful in compression tasks, although it needs developers to make use of the new compiler developed by Intel so that it can be used. That is why it will take time for it to be fully exploited. Surely it will not happen until it also reaches the LGA 1151 platform.

Intel Speed ​​Shift

Intel Speed ​​Shift is intended to increase the speed at which processors exit their idle states, meaning that it makes you ready for the most demanding tasks as quickly as possible. A shorter reaction time means an increase in the final performance of the processor.

Idle states are very important in current processors, as they allow greatly reducing their power consumption levels when an application that makes intensive use is not being used, or the equipment is at rest or even in suspension.

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