Intel Core i9 Cascade Lake-X thread

German Muscle

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So with this chip coming out soon i figured id start a new thread. This chip does indeed look to be like its releasing on X299.

I will update the thread as time goes on with reviews, specs, etc.

It looks like Asus is preparing 3 new boards for this. No real information stating if current boards will support them as they are or with a bios update or even at all. Though i would suspect with how good AMD is doing it wouldnt be a good idea to force a new board when launching a chip on the same chipset for support.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/asus-x299-cascade-lake-x-motherboard-announcement,40196.html

Also looks like the higher end SKUs will get a 4 lane increase.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/cascade-lake-x-10000-series-branding,40202.html
 
It's hard to say if those will support the older CPU's and vice versa. Later iterations of the X299 we already have dropped support for the Core i7 7740X.
 
It's hard to say if those will support the older CPU's and vice versa. Later iterations of the X299 we already have dropped support for the Core i7 7740X.

It might be dependent on the Rom size. Most x299 only have 128 Mb (16MB) Bios size, it may be hard to upgrade. Some of the current x299 bios sizes are 12 MB or more already, so hopefully Cascade does not add alot to the micro code.

I would hope the new x299 boards are 256 Mb like the x570, but I imagine more are concerned with forward compatibility than backwards compatibility.
 
Well x370 supports Zen, Zen+, and Zen 2 with the same bios size, so I can't imagine this would be an issue. They did drop Bristol Ridge to make it happen, but that seems like a much bigger disparity than Skylake to Cascade Lake.
 
im thinking the 44 lane count CCLX cpus will work on current x299 boards. The higher tier CCLX chips will feature the additional 4 lanes and will require the new x299 boards unless this is something that can be updated? If so the 48 lane chips might possibly work on 44 lane boards with the extra 4 lanes disabled.
 
its starting to get interesting thats for sure. Im still interested in what this twice the performance per dollar thing.
 
I'm also curious if these additional PCIE lanes will be usable on existing boards or not.
 
I'm also curious if these additional PCIE lanes will be usable on existing boards or not.

It would depend on how the PCIe lane switching is handled on the board's expansion slots. After that, a BIOS update would be required, but that's a given anyway since the CPU's are different.
 
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https://www.tomshardware.com/news/g...e-lake-x-comet-lake-s-motherboards,40445.html
 
It would depend on how the PCIe lane switching is handled on the board's expansion slots. After that, a BIOS update would be required, but that's a given anyway since the CPU's are different.
So technically if the board is designed to share 4 lanes on 44 lane chips they could write in a BIOS update for that to no longer be shared and spread it out correct?

For example. My X299 Dark has the 1st m.2 drive shared with the two u.2 ports so you can one one or the other and the second m.2 slot is shared with a x4 PCIE Slot on the board. Could a bios update make it so ONE of those is no longer shared? Or is it not that simple?
 
So technically if the board is designed to share 4 lanes on 44 lane chips they could write in a BIOS update for that to no longer be shared and spread it out correct?

For example. My X299 Dark has the 1st m.2 drive shared with the two u.2 ports so you can one one or the other and the second m.2 slot is shared with a x4 PCIE Slot on the board. Could a bios update make it so ONE of those is no longer shared? Or is it not that simple?

It all depends on the PCIe switching design of the board. Firmware comes into play of course, but without the ability to switch the lanes into a configuration that can equal the total in question, it won't happen.
 
It all depends on the PCIe switching design of the board. Firmware comes into play of course, but without the ability to switch the lanes into a configuration that can equal the total in question, it won't happen.
The bios has an option in the bios to switch. Is that what you mean?
 
These prices are VERY aggressive. Focusing on just HEDT parts, I think the 10940x will give AMD the stiffest competition. Since the 16 core desktop is $750, it's safe to say the TR 16 core will be close to the $784 price of the Intel cpu. With the right clocks, it could match AMD in MT and most likely beat it in gaming.
 
wowzers. If they fix the IHS warping issue from the 9 series then ill potentially make the jump.
 
if only they had pci-e 4.0 baked in for nvme performance, id be all over this
 
That 18 core is tempting at that price, especially if the boost clocks actually boost to what they advertise. They still probably won't support ecc though right?
 
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These prices are VERY aggressive. Focusing on just HEDT parts, I think the 10940x will give AMD the stiffest competition. Since the 16 core desktop is $750, it's safe to say the TR 16 core will be close to the $784 price of the Intel cpu. With the right clocks, it could match AMD in MT and most likely beat it in gaming.
AFAIK, isn't 3rd gen TR starting at 24 cores? That being said, maybe it starts at a higher price bracket than 2nd gen, since AM4 is getting a 16core part. Either way, interesting market to be in :)
 
AFAIK, isn't 3rd gen TR starting at 24 cores? That being said, maybe it starts at a higher price bracket than 2nd gen, since AM4 is getting a 16core part. Either way, interesting market to be in :)
yes! thank goodness for competition finally
 
Someone explain my irrational need to want to mess with a high core count HEDT when my 9900KF is more than adequate.
 
Someone explain my irrational need to want to mess with a high core count HEDT when my 9900KF is more than adequate.
JUST ADD MOAR CORES!

But seriously, with the new architecture for TR basically resolving the NUMA issue, I am very interested in TR 3rd gen. It would be even better if the (rumored) new socket is actually smaller, and enables more mATX boards (maybe even a mITX board :D).
 
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Someone explain my irrational need to want to mess with a high core count HEDT when my 9900KF is more than adequate.
sell me your KF for a good price, that way I can help fund your upgrade :punch:
 
Mandatory comment, do you need to disable HT on day 1 or was it patched ?
Lol sorry, competition is good and yeah for end users those security issue may be overlooked but Intel NEED to work on that was faster than they're.

I'll not recommend them until they actually made a serious commitment to security and by that I don't mean an empty mumbo jumbo CEO pre-cooked sentence, I mean actual HW that were thought around security before speed.
Now if you get it for free that's something else.
 
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Someone explain my irrational need to want to mess with a high core count HEDT when my 9900KF is more than adequate.

You might not be the target audience if you can't think of a way to use those cores... Encoding, VM, etc. Yes your processor can handle that on a hobbyist level but some people will make use of the additional cores.
I doubt anyone outside a car salesman type of mentality would recommend those high core counts as #1 CPU for gaming, this is retarded and shows pathetic marketing tactics...
 
You might not be the target audience if you can't think of a way to use those cores... Encoding, VM, etc. Yes your processor can handle that on a hobbyist level but some people will make use of the additional cores.
I doubt anyone outside a car salesman type of mentality would recommend those high core counts as #1 CPU for gaming, this is retarded and shows pathetic marketing tactics...

They are marketing them as gaming CPUs?

For me, I just like tinkering with stuff. I’d be under no impression it’d be faster, although lately the kids have been playing VR and games (Cities Skylines, roblox) at the same time on the same PC lol. 9900KF is enough for that, even.
 
They are marketing them as gaming CPUs?

For me, I just like tinkering with stuff. I’d be under no impression it’d be faster, although lately the kids have been playing VR and games (Cities Skylines, roblox) at the same time on the same PC lol. 9900KF is enough for that, even.

Yeah they're indeed marketing it like that, doesn't mean it's the smart choice lol. Gaming market have wider exposition and will reach much more potential buyer than HEDT, free publicity.
I think HEDT consumer might be a bit more informed on the product than most gaming audience.

Between us, what benefit is there between the 3700 and 3900X variant for gaming ? Why the 9900K is always compared to the 3900X part while the 3700 basically yield the same performance... epeen.
 
Yeah they're indeed marketing it like that, doesn't mean it's the smart choice lol. Gaming market have wider exposition and will reach much more potential buyer than HEDT, free publicity.
I think HEDT consumer might be a bit more informed on the product than most gaming audience.

Between us, what benefit is there between the 3700 and 3900X variant for gaming ? Why the 9900K is always compared to the 3900X part while the 3700 basically yield the same performance... epeen.

tbh i think intel has always missed the point of the hedt market since it started.. not sure if they're just afraid they might lose xeon profit margins or what by claiming it's a workstation cpu first and gaming cpu second but i feel that's one area AMD has been ahead of them on when it came to their threadripper chips, especially the second generation with the WS chips even though they turned out not to be as good as they hoped.
 
As far as it goes it seems there is a great C422 WS Pro ATX motherboard that needs Bios update (not yet on line) to support new Cascade lake X Xeons. And that board is less than 500$. The Cascale Lake X Xeons are juste a little more expensive than Desktop CPU. Thanks to AMD Threadripper supporting ECC and all Raid stuff !
Those Xeons support Registered ECC RAM which is really great. There may be also support of Windows 7 Pro 64 bits as C422 chipset can be found at Gigabyte for their old 2017 C422 motherboard. So high end AM4 and low end Threadrippers have a big contender now regarding price and all value at Intel.
 
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As far as it goes it seems there is a great C422 WS Pro ATX motherboard that needs Bios update (not yet on line) to support new Cascade lake X Xeons. And that board is less than 500$. The Cascale Lake X Xeons are juste a little more expensive than Desktop CPU. Thanks to AMD Threadripper supporting ECC and all Raid stuff !
Those Xeons support Registered ECC RAM which is really great. There may be also support of Windows 7 Pro 64 bits as C422 chipset can be found at Gigabyte for their old 2017 C422 motherboard. So high end AM4 and low end Threadrippers have a big contender now regarding price and all value at Intel.

Yeah I figured my next build would be a TR, but that W-2295 is tempting after the price drop.
 
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