At Computex, Intel Demos A 28-Core Processor Clocked At 5GHz

[PaulAlcorn]

Intel demonstrates a 28-core processor at 5.0 GHz at Computex.

At Computex, Intel Demos A 28-Core Processor Clocked At 5GHz : Read more

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

Did they make tea with the water they boiled cooling the thing?

"Thanks for watching our demo! Complimentary tea?"

That said, it is an impressive demo. Kudos to Intel for finally ramping it up and showing us some real performance gains in their CPUs.

 

[Aspiring techie]

I bet this thing will cost an arm, a leg, and a kidney.
But seriously, that is sweet. Finally, Intel is getting off their lazy tails and giving some meaningful improvements, at least in HEDT.

 

[derekullo]

If we extrapolate the TDP from the performance on Cinebench with the Core i9-7960X having a TDP of 400 watts ...

7344 / 4136 = 1.77 x 400 watts = 710 estimated TDP.

This is in the range of portable space heaters ...

800 Watt Soleil Infrared Dish Electric Space Heater
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Soleil-Infrared-Dish-Electric-Space-Heater-Black-DF1015/119424847

 

[delaro]

And the price tag is what? $5000+?

 

[redgarl]

Finally something that Intel make and made me say wow. I hope they used solder...

 

[acasel03]

Wow

 

[ammaross]

You know for a fact this 28 core CPU isn't 5.0Ghz all-core. Their 18-core can't even do that. Their server-grade 28-core CPUs don't even get near that. This CPU is 2.7Ghz base-clock, so maybe will be 4.4+Ghz single-core turbo at stock. They likely OCed it under LN2 to give a "best case" shocker score. Still impressed none-the-less, but I'll wait patiently to see where real life scenarios rank this costly beast (just look at 28-core Xeons to see where the price will fall [hint: $8000+]).

 

[Ilya__]

Intel flexing its manufacturing muscle

 

[InvalidError]

You know for a fact this 28 core CPU isn't 5.0Ghz all-core. Their 18-core can't even do that.

Intel has had another year to tune 14nm and the architecture. Part of Skylake-(E)X somewhat low clock frequencies is also likely due to Intel rushing the launches to counter Ryzen, ThreadRipper and EPYC, so the chips may have not performed quite up to par with Intel's original plans.

I agree this is unlikely to be stock. However, I wouldn't be surprised if stock clocks turned up much higher than Skylake-(E)X.

 

[PaulAlcorn]

You know for a fact this 28 core CPU isn't 5.0Ghz all-core. Their 18-core can't even do that.

Intel has had another year to tune 14nm and the architecture. Part of Skylake-(E)X somewhat low clock frequencies is also likely due to Intel rushing the launches to counter Ryzen, ThreadRipper and EPYC, so the chips may have not performed quite up to par with Intel's original plans.

I agree this is unlikely to be stock. However, I wouldn't be surprised if stock clocks turned up much higher than Skylake-(E)X.

Check out the image and the updated text I just added. Most definitely NOT at stock. tsk tsk.

 

[Martell1977]

So, everyone is waiting for their 10nm parts and Intel delivers a 28-core 14++nm. While it is impressive, it kind of signals how much trouble they are having with the 10nm process.

I find it funny that years ago an Intel official said that they didn't want to get caught up in a "core race" with AMD they way the got caught up in the "ghz race"...So much for that.

 

[Karadjgne]

Wonder where they hid the fishtank + chiller....

 

[jaber2]

Finally a very fast CPU all of us can afford

 

[hannibal]

It is very big and very expensive sub zero cooler.
Something like this
http://www.ldcooling.com/shop/ld-pc-v2/191-ld-pc-v2-phase-change-black-xl-suction.html
Or this
https://www.alphacool.com/detail/index/sArticle/21410

So extreme overclocking... not for normal use!

 

[BulkZerker]

" This means the processor could be a variant of the $8,700 Xeon Platinum Scalable processor we reviewed here, albeit with an unlocked multiplier."

@delaro

Add 20%at least for the privilege of overclocking an Intel processor. I'm wagering north of $9000 if it comes to market.

Also this performance was probably done with a completely naked chip, anything that could lower the speed of heat transfer could potentially make the rig fail to benchmark. This was a very expensive (for a non business of their size) advertising stunt.

 

[redgarl]

HAHAHAHA... sub-zero cooling... okay then, totally impractical in real-life, next...

 

[stdragon]

Intel givith - Spectre takes away.

 

[bananaforscale]

Add 20% to 8700 and you don't get 9000, you get 10440. And since it is what it is probably cost even more.

 

[bit_user]

Finally something that Intel make and made me say wow. I hope they used solder...

Most likely it's de-lidded.

 

[bit_user]

So, everyone is waiting for their 10nm parts and Intel delivers a 28-core 14++nm. While it is impressive, it kind of signals how much trouble they are having with the 10nm process.

Intel had 28-core CPUs since Q3 of 2017:

https://ark.intel.com/products/series/125191/Intel-Xeon-Scalable-Processors

and nowhere does it say the CPU being shown was made on the 14++ nm process. Paul just wrote that to indicate what we know is currently possible on smaller chips.

 

[Thom457]

By the standards of a 28 Core Intel running at what is said to be 5 GHZ that score isn't impressive. Something is clearly holding it back which is likely that the total of 28 Cores running full till exceeds some pathway to support that.

 

[bit_user]

By the standards of a 28 Core Intel running at what is said to be 5 GHZ that score isn't impressive. Something is clearly holding it back which is likely that the total of 28 Cores running full till exceeds some pathway to support that.

Hmmm... 6-channel memory for 28 full-speed cores, when 2-channel memory is normally paired with only 6 cores at such speeds.

The highest base clock of their standard 28-core CPUs is actually just half of this, at 2.5 GHz. Had they designed the socket to accommodate 28 cores @ 5 GHz, one would assume they'd have gone to at least 8-channel.

Caches and the on-chip communications mesh, are two other likely hotspots of sub-linear scaling.

 

[TJ Hooker]

@Thom457 how do you figure? If you linearly extrapolate from other Intel CPUs in the chart provided in the article based on core count and frequency, the 28 core 5GHz score is quite close (within a few percent) to what you calculate.

For example, starting from the score for an OCd 7820x:

2034*(28/8)*(5/4.6)=7738, only 5% off from the actual score for the 28 core CPU. I'd say that's very good scaling.