Skylake-X (Core i9) - Lineup, Specifications and Reviews!

Does the X299 platform have any upgrade path?

In theory it has, but we will have to wait and see, they could add 6+ core kaby lakes to the line up and in time also coffee lake is a possibility, would it be worth is since the IPC is almost identical? that's another question.

Also if you start on lower core CPU's you could Always add a higher core count CPU is you have use for that.
 
Cascade Lake is the upgrade path. Its already out for select DC customers. SKL-X/SKL-SP on 14nm++.
 
I bought my i9-7980XE from Micro Center $1,999.00
20171119_112855.jpg
 

Now that's what I call VRM cooling! (Also 2x8 pin for CPU which is nice)

Allocated the 4 extra dimm slots to the cutout for 24-pin, diagnostics LEDs, power and reset buttons, and fan headers.

Extremely odd choice.
 
Shintai mentioned Casxade Lake but that might be just for servers. I would imagine they would have some sort of x299 upgrade, just not sure if the name or ig it is 14nm++, 10nm, or 10nm+. I wouldnt expect anything until after icelake, though.
 
Is anyone using Intel Optane (in "cache mode") with these boards? Do you notice any difference, or is it just visible when running benchmarks? Compared to just running a single SSD as OS/programs drive.
 
Shintai mentioned Casxade Lake but that might be just for servers. I would imagine they would have some sort of x299 upgrade, just not sure if the name or ig it is 14nm++, 10nm, or 10nm+. I wouldnt expect anything until after icelake, though.

Icelake server is a 2019 official product, tho shipping for big customes in 2018. Cascade Lake is the upgrade for X299 and like CFL, its huge due to 14nm++. Its amazing for servers :)
 
Allocated the 4 extra dimm slots to the cutout for 24-pin, diagnostics LEDs, power and reset buttons, and fan headers.

Extremely odd choice.
ram ocing easier with fewer sticks and open slots lower signal integrity
 
Yeah, waiting to see what they bring to the table next year. 2018 for Intel 10nm and AMD is Ryzen 2 12nm?
 
Yeah, waiting to see what they bring to the table next year. 2018 for Intel 10nm and AMD is Ryzen 2 12nm?

12nm is a renamed node. 14nm is denser. 12FN for Volta is also just a renamed 4th generation 16nm node that's really a 20nm node.
 
Nice, how is your cooling set up?

Just a regular Corsair H115 AIO - I run the fans at a fixed profile of 60%, which is kind of loud, but given that there are several other computers in the room, it sort of gets drowned out.
 
That's nice...

Now what happens when you actually use the thing?

I wanna see that picture of Core Temp when you fire up two instances of x265 and have been encoding videos for at least ten minutes ;)
 
Allocated the 4 extra dimm slots to the cutout for 24-pin, diagnostics LEDs, power and reset buttons, and fan headers.

Extremely odd choice.

I thought the same thing after looking at the photo. Curious about the performance with that design. If you didn't really need more than 32gb quad channel it might be practical.
 
I thought the same thing after looking at the photo. Curious about the performance with that design. If you didn't really need more than 32gb quad channel it might be practical.

What is stopping you from using 64Gb? My Trident Z 64Gb kit is 4 X 16GB and I know that going to 128GB RAM will not be as simple as adding another 4X16GB kit - high chance it won't work unless it is part of the same kit. Unless you are going to fill all 8x DIMM slots at once either for capacity or RGB reasons (yes people do it) you are not going to miss them.
 
What is stopping you from using 64Gb? My Trident Z 64Gb kit is 4 X 16GB and I know that going to 128GB RAM will not be as simple as adding another 4X16GB kit - high chance it won't work unless it is part of the same kit. Unless you are going to fill all 8x DIMM slots at once either for capacity or RGB reasons (yes people do it) you are not going to miss them.

Actually after checking the price the 16gb modules aren't actually that much more expensive, but that was my primary reason when I did my build a few months back. I am using 4x8gb Trident Z 3200 and I got quad channel to work just fine with 2 separate kits. I think it really comes down to the memory modules having the same timings and OEM (Samsung/Hynix).
 
Actually after checking the price the 16gb modules aren't actually that much more expensive, but that was my primary reason when I did my build a few months back. I am using 4x8gb Trident Z 3200 and I got quad channel to work just fine with 2 separate kits. I think it really comes down to the memory modules having the same timings and OEM (Samsung/Hynix).

Well mixing two kits of the same RAM model is not a certain fail but it is not recommended by the manufacturers. While researching for RAM I dug into G.Skill and Asus fora and there was clear advice there from reps and users to get all the RAM you need in one kit or else there is no guarantee it will work.

G.Skill specifically stated that you might run into incompatibilities and while possible to overcome it you would have to manually tweak which might get complex as XMP profiles might not work.

So while I could certainly be 100% fine with 32GBs of RAM (especially at these prices) I went for 64GB for fear of running into problems in the future. I got a quad kit of 4X 16GB sticks of Trident Z RGB that I have yet to use since I am still waiting on the final parts of my new PC.
 
Well mixing two kits of the same RAM model is not a certain fail but it is not recommended by the manufacturers. While researching for RAM I dug into G.Skill and Asus fora and there was clear advice there from reps and users to get all the RAM you need in one kit or else there is no guarantee it will work.

G.Skill specifically stated that you might run into incompatibilities and while possible to overcome it you would have to manually tweak which might get complex as XMP profiles might not work.

So while I could certainly be 100% fine with 32GBs of RAM (especially at these prices) I went for 64GB for fear of running into problems in the future. I got a quad kit of 4X 16GB sticks of Trident Z RGB that I have yet to use since I am still waiting on the final parts of my new PC.


Yeah I have done the same things in the past before too, always made sure using one kit per system.

Interestingly I had to do this with my gaming system, I'm using Forza Geil Evo 64 gigs, 16 x 4 (2 16x 2 kits). The first kit worked perfectly, the second kit one stick was bad, RMA'ed it, the RMA's kit one stick was bad, then I put in the good stick from each set, and everything worked perfectly, overclocking, undervolting everything works perfectly. Ended up keeping it that way and sent them the two bad sticks. I got three different sets now, but as long as things are working the way I want them to, can't complain.
 
The Stilt has updated his evaluation of Skylake-X now with the Meltdown/Spectre patches.

Skylake-X has 14.6--28% higher IPC than Ryzen [1].

The 28% is the average IPC including all the workloads in his suite (30 workloads). Excluding outliers the IPC gap is reduced to 23.6%. Excluding all the 256/512 bit AVX workloads, the IPC gap is reduced to 14.6% [2].
 
Fake news !

(sorry :dead:)

Speculative execution affects everybody.This will be an issue for years, on both sides.Time to de-hype this.It's global , therefore just a security issue.

My Intel Xeon golds don't mind.
Niether do my buddy's Epycs.

(y)
 
The Stilt has updated his evaluation of Skylake-X now with the Meltdown/Spectre patches.

Skylake-X has 14.6--28% higher IPC than Ryzen [1].

The 28% is the average IPC including all the workloads in his suite (30 workloads). Excluding outliers the IPC gap is reduced to 23.6%. Excluding all the 256/512 bit AVX workloads, the IPC gap is reduced to 14.6% [2].

15% sounds about right, overall (minus AVX). The Stilt is usually a pretty fair-minded guy, too. Throw in a frequency advantage, and this is why Zen requires extra cores/threads to compete with Intel at any given level. Still... it's not like the Bulldozer days, at least. And AMD has designed around a lot of their limitations. The CCX was concept was a pretty clever workaround for them. Hopefully the 2700X (and its future Threadripper brethren) can overclock well enough, make up some frequency gap. And hopefully Zen 2 addresses some of the IPC gap.

We'll see. I'm less hopeful about the 2700X than I was. What we've seen so far hasn't impressed much.
 
10--20% (aka about 15%) is what I have been saying for a while. This 15% IPC gap (added to the clock gap) is the reason why a 6-core Coffee is able to match 8-core Ryzen on multithreaded workloads.

It is also the reason why a 10-core Skylake is able to beat a 12-core ThreadRipper.
 
That's fine, so long as the AMD products are priced right - at or less than equivalent Intel parts with less cores. 2700X priced at $369 list (with included cooler) is about right. It's a hair less than the 8700k list price, and includes a cooler for a little extra value. Multithreaded performance will be generally a bit faster (probably - given what we've seen) and single thread obviously still slower - but not as bad with a more aggressive turbo. Fair money.

Same with a 16 core Threadripper being a hair cheaper than the 10 core Skylake-X (at least on Newegg, at last look). Similar story in performance, too.
 
So...I clearly lost the silicon lottery with my 7820x (delidded). 4.6GHz at 1.29v is the most it can do. Any higher and my cooling can't keep up. During stress testing the cpu on its own use ~310 watts. How much does a 7900x use with a similar overclock? Considering it can manage with a lower vcore. I'm sure some of you guys know by experience ;)
 
So I delidded my 7820X today, I also bought the Der8auer direct die kit from Performancepcs.com. At 4.5GHz @ 1.20v I am hitting a max temp of 73C in Cinebench. Before delidding and direct-die I was at 95C with the same overclock and voltage. Using a Thermaltake Riing 360mm rad for the CPU

From 95C to 73C load with Cinebench.

eHBhNHO.jpg

TwaAnoX.png
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20180726_145016.jpg
    IMG_20180726_145016.jpg
    559.5 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:
Nice drop, I plan on delidding my 7940X sometime in the future but as long as I do not need the extra performance no harm to keep it under warranty. Bad damn trying to raise the clocks to 4.7Ghz for all cores DOES raise the temps to the 100s even with a high end custom watercooling loop.
 
have my 8700k delidded. Runs at 4928 at 1.28v under load. Set at 1.304v in bios. Delidded and put liquid metal and temps are about 20C lower with thermaltake floe ring 360. Temps stay in the 60s with 76c ambient temp. Never really pushed for 5ghz. No need to put extra volts on it for another 72mhz.
 
Back
Top