Intel Core i9: Everything we know about Intel's hypercharged PC processor
- Mark Hachman
- Sep 29, 2017
- 3 min read
Intel’s Core i9 processor is what happens when Intel begins to worry that it might not have the baddest chip on the block. If you’re desperate to know how it performs against AMD’s Thread Ripper, you’re in luck—as of Sept. 25, we’ve tested the 18-core Core i9-7980X and the 16-core Core i9-7960XE!
Read on for the speeds, feeds, prices, and reviews of the new Core i9 chips, as well as all the details we have on the underlying technologies. In addition to the new Core i9 specs, we now know how the Core i9 performs as part of our review, and the price and availability of X299 motherboards. We’ll update this post with new information and testing as we receive it.
The latest news
We put the both the 18-core Core i9-7980X and 16-core Core i9-7960X to the test, and the results are in: The i9-7980X is top dog, unquestionably. Yes, AMD Ryzen Thread Ripper fans can be content that those chips cost about $1,000 less, but in both multiple - and single-threaded performance, the i9-7980X comes out on top.
One point the review emphasized is to consider to what purpose you’re putting these chips. The Core i9’s massive core count makes it ideal for “multitasking” ( such as playing, recording, and streaming a game) or content creation. Otherwise, Thread Ripper offers a much more competitive solution.
And, if you haven’t guessed it already, that rounds out the Core i9 product family; all are now currently shipping. That includes the Core i9-7920X, which was slightly delayed. Now, however, you can buy the Core i9-7920X at Amazon for $1304.96—about $200 or so over the shipping price.
Basic specs: Clock speed, core count, prices, ship date, power
The processor specs that matter most concern performance. The raw clock speed determines how fast any one thread can be acted upon, while the core and thread counts control how many threads or tasks can be calculated in parallel. The Core i9 series excels in these metrics. But you’ll pay a hefty premium for that talent.
Finally, Intel has announced all of the clock speeds of the Core i9 family. They’re all unlocked, too—ready and waiting to be overclocked. Here’s a summary of the core counts and prices of the Core i9 chips we do know, including clock speeds where available.
Core i9 Extreme Edition:
Core i9-7980XE: (2.6GHz, 4.4GHz burst) 18 cores/36 threads, $1,999
Core i9:
Core i9-7960X: (2.8GHz, 4.4GHz burst) 16 cores/32 threads, $1,699
Core i9-7940X: (3.1GHz, 4.4GHz burst) 14 cores/28 threads, $1,399
Core i9-7920X: (3.1GHz, 4.4GHz burst) 12 cores/24 threads, $1,199
Core i9-7900X: (3.3GHz, 4.5GHz burst) 10 cores/20 threads, $999
Core i7:
Core i7 7820X (3.6GHz, 4.5GHz burst), 8 cores/16 threads, $599
Core i7-7800X (3.5GHz, 4.0GHz burst), 6 cores/12 threads, $389
Core i7-7740X (4.3GHz, 4.5GHz burst), 4 cores/8 threads, $339
Core i5:
Core i5-7640X (4.0GHz, 4.2GHz burst), 4 cores, 4 threads, $242
As expensive as they are, however, the Core i9s are popular chips. The Core i9-7940X, i9-7960X and i9-7980XE are all listed as backordered or out of stock at popular retailer Newegg. (According to Newegg, the retailer will receive more stock of the Core i9-7940X sometime between Oct. 4 and Oct. 10. As for the 7960X and 7980XE, there's no word.) It looks like the 12-core 7920X is the fastest, widely-available Core i9 at the moment.
You were able to preorder the Core i7 X-series chips and the 10-core Core i9-7900X the week of June 20. The 12-core Core i9-7920X ships August 28 while the 14-, 16-, and 18-core Core i9 chips shipped on September 25.
The new chips will consume 112W or 140W (depending on the chip), requiring a liquid-cooling solution. Intel has said there will be a 165W chip, too, but waited until early August to reveal it—or them, as it turns out. Intel will have three 165-watt chips: the i9-7980XE, the i9-7960X, and the i9-7940X. We tested the Core i9’s power consumption deep within our Core i9 review, and found that it consumes more power than the Thread Ripper, incidentally.
More importantly, all of the Core i9 chips use a new Socket R4, a 2,066-pin LGA socket that will require a brand-new motherboard. Intel’s Core i9 family is not backward-compatible with existing Skylake or Kaby Lake motherboards.
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