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TekSpek 's
Intel Core i7-6950X and Broadwell-E
Date issued:
The Intel Core i7-6700K has sated the appetite of enthusiast gamers since August 2015, but if a quad-core chip just doesn't tickle your fancy, you might have been twiddling your thumbs in anticipation of a new HEDT (High End Desktop) part.
It has been a while since Intel last paid attention to this particular segment - the Core i7-5960X will soon be celebrating its two-year anniversary - but the wait for something bigger and better is finally over with today's launch of the flagship Core i7-6950X amid a range of new Broadwell-E processors.
Intel's '-E' range, also known as Extreme, is home to CPUs with six or more cores. The latest iteration, based on a fifth-generation Broadwell architecture, repurposes the existing LGA2011 v3 form factor (meaning compatibility with current X99 motherboards) and arrives in a choice of four parts that range in price from $412 to $1,569.
Here's how the new additions stack up:
Intel High End Desktop (HEDT) Processors |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Cores / Threads | Base Clock (GHz) |
Turbo Clock (GHz) |
Cache | PCIe lanes | DDR Support (MHz) |
TDP | Launch Price (US 1ku) |
|
| Broadwell-E (5th Generation, LGA2011 v3) | |||||||||
| Core i7-6950X | 10 / 20 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 25MB | 40 | Quad 2,400 (DDR4) | 140W | $1,569 | |
| Core i7-6900K | 8 / 16 | 3.2 | 3.7 | 20MB | 40 | Quad 2,400 (DDR4) | 140W | $999 | |
| Core i7-6850K | 6 / 12 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 15MB | 40 | Quad 2,400 (DDR4) | 140W | $587 | |
| Core i7-6800K | 6 / 12 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 15MB | 28 | Quad 2,400 (DDR4) | 140W | $412 | |
| Haswell-E (4th Generation, LGA2011 v3) | |||||||||
| Core i7-5960X | 8 / 16 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 20MB | 40 | Quad 2,133 (DDR4) | 140W | $999 | |
| Core i7-5930K | 6 / 12 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 15MB | 40 | Quad 2,133 (DDR4) | 140W | $583 | |
| Core i7-5820K | 6 / 12 | 3.3 | 3.6 | 15MB | 28 | Quad 2,133 (DDR4) | 140W | $389 | |
| Ivy Bridge-E (3rd Generation, LGA2011) | |||||||||
| Core i7-4960X | 6 / 12 | 3.6 | 4.0 | 15MB | 40 | Quad 1,866 (DDR3) | 130W | $999 | |
| Sandy Bridge-E (2nd Generation, LGA2011) | |||||||||
| Core i7-3970X | 6 / 12 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 15MB | 40 | Quad 1,600 (DDR3) | 150W | $999 | |
Notice something special? Yep, you got it, the Core i7-6950X is the first consumer Intel CPU to feature 10 physical cores. The increase in core count alone suggests a 25 per cent boost in performance over previous-generation parts, yet the use of the Broadwell architecture also guarantees an improvement in each new chip's instructions-per-cycle throughput.
More cores mean more cache, with the Core i7-6950X packing a whopping 25MB, yet Intel has managed to package everything into the same 140W TDP that ultra-high-end users have become accustomed to. Official memory support, meanwhile, has been cranked-up a notch to DDR4-2400, and all Broadwell-E parts pack Turbo Boost Max 3.0 technology, through which performance is increased further by assigning certain applications to the fastest available cores.
Multi-threaded workloads in particular stand to benefit from the Broadwell-E portfolio, however there is a proviso attached to the range-topping Core i7-6950X in the form of a prohibitive $1,569 price tag. That's 57 per cent higher than any previous HEDT processor launch, but then again, this is a unique 10-core proposition and there's nothing else quite like it in the consumer space.
Is the Core i7-6950X the ultimate processor? Well, that depends, and it really isn't as clear cut as the 10-core positioning would suggest. The chip's peak 3.5GHz speed pales in comparison to the 4.2GHz available to the Core i7-6700K, and the latter enjoys the benefits of the very latest Skylake architecture.
Test results from leading benchmark sites highlight the fact that the quad-core Core i7-6700K remains quicker than the deca-core Core i7-6950X in single-threaded workloads such as number-crunching PiFast, pictured above. Then again, single-threaded tasks aren't the Core i7-6950X's raison d'etre...
This is of course a chip that's best suited to multi-threaded workloads, and the Cinebench test is a perfect showcase of the processor's potential. It's a staggering 99 per cent quicker than Core i7-6700K in this scenario, and over 30 per cent faster than the previous-generation Core i7-5960X. The bar has officially been raised.
Summary
Intel has cemented its place as the chief provider of high-end desktop processors with the launch of four new Broadwell-E solutions. Spearheaded by the 10-core, 20-thread Core i7-6950X, the new range has no performance peer in multi-threaded benchmarks and is priced accordingly.
While the 8/10-core composition isn't ideally suited to everyone - gamers in particular may find a quad-core part with higher frequency a better bet - there's fundamentally nothing else on the market as powerful as Broadwell-E. Want the ultimate processor for your next PC? Core i7-6950X is the name.
The entire range of Intel Broadwell-E HEDT processors, including the Intel i7-6950X, are available to purchase at Scan Computers.