Core i9 9990 xe: Core i9-9990XE — Intel — WikiChip

Core i9-9990XE — Intel — WikiChip

Core i9-9990X is a 64-bit tetradeca-core ultra-high performance x86 desktop microprocessor introduced by Intel in early 2019. This chip, which is based on the Skylake microarchitecture, is fabricated on Intel’s 14 nm process. The i9-9990X operates at 4.0 GHz with a TDP of 255 W and a Turbo Boost frequency of up to 5 GHz with a Turbo Boost Max of 5.1 GHz. The processor supports up to 128 GiB of quad-channel DDR4-2666 memory.

Preliminary Data! Information presented in this article deal with a microprocessor or chip that was recently announced or leaked, thus missing information regarding its features and exact specification. Information may be incomplete and can change by final release.

Contents

• 1 Cache
• 2 Memory controller
• 3 Expansions
• 4 Graphics
• 5 Features
• 6 Frequencies

Main article: Skylake § Cache

[Edit/Modify Cache Info]

Cache Organization Cache is a hardware component containing a relatively small and extremely fast memory designed to speed up the performance of a CPU by preparing ahead of time the data it needs to read from a relatively slower medium such as main memory. The organization and amount of cache can have a large impact on the performance, power consumption, die size, and consequently cost of the IC. Cache is specified by its size, number of sets, associativity, block size, sub-block size, and fetch and write-back policies. Note: All units are in kibibytes and mebibytes.

L1$ 896 KiB 0.875 MiB 917,504 B 8.544922e-4 GiB L1I$ 448 KiB 0.438 MiB 458,752 B 4.272461e-4 GiB 14×32 KiB 8-way set associative   L1D$ 448 KiB 0.438 MiB 458,752 B 4.272461e-4 GiB 14×32 KiB 8-way set associative write-back L2$ 14 MiB 14,336 KiB 14,680,064 B 0.0137 GiB     14×1 MiB 16-way set associative write-back L3$ 19. 25 MiB 19,712 KiB 20,185,088 B 0.0188 GiB     14×1.375 MiB 11-way set associative write-back

Memory controller[edit]

[Edit/Modify Memory Info]

	Integrated Memory Controller
	Max Type DDR4-2666 Supports ECC No Max Mem 128 GiB Channels 4 Max Bandwidth 79.47 GiB/s 138.278 GB/s 81,377.28 MiB/s 0.0776 TiB/s 0.0854 TB/s Bandwidth Single 19.89 GiB/s Double 39.72 GiB/s Quad 79.47 GiB/s

Expansions[edit]

[Edit/Modify Expansions Info]

	Expansion Options
PCIe Revision: 3. 0 Max Lanes: 44 Configuration: x16, x8, x4

Graphics[edit]

This processor has no integrated graphics.

Features[edit]

[Edit/Modify Supported Features]

Supported x86 Extensions & Processor Features

MMX MMX Extension EMMX Extended MMX Extension SSE Streaming SIMD Extensions SSE2 Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 SSE3 Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 SSSE3 Supplemental SSE3 SSE4.1 Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.1 SSE4.2 Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.2 AVX Advanced Vector Extensions AVX2 Advanced Vector Extensions 2 AVX-512 Advanced Vector 512-bit (2 Units) AVX512F AVX-512 Foundation AVX512CD AVX-512 Conflict Detection AVX512BW AVX-512 Byte and Word AVX512DQ AVX-512 Double and Quad AVX512VL AVX-512 Vector Length ABM Advanced Bit Manipulation BMI1 Bit Manipulation Instruction Set 1 BMI2 Bit Manipulation Instruction Set 2 FMA3 3-Operand Fused-Multiply-Add AES AES Encryption Instructions RdRand Hardware RNG ADX Multi-Precision Add-Carry CLMUL Carry-less Multiplication Extension F16C 16-bit Floating Point Conversion x86-16 16-bit x86 x86-32 32-bit x86 x86-64 64-bit x86 Real Real Mode Protected Protected Mode SMM System Management Mode FPU Integrated x87 FPU NX No-eXecute HT Hyper-Threading TBT 2. 0 Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 TBMT 3.0 Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 EIST Enhanced SpeedStep Technology VT-x VT-x (Virtualization) VT-d VT-d (I/O MMU virtualization) TSX Transactional Synchronization Extensions

Frequencies[edit]

See also: Intel’s CPU Frequency Behavior

[Modify Frequency Info]

Mode	Base	Turbo Frequency/Active Cores
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Normal	4,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz

Facts about «Core i9-9990XE — Intel»

RDF feed

Has subobject «Has subobject» is a predefined property representing a container construct and is provided by Semantic MediaWiki.	Core i9-9990XE — Intel#pcie +
base frequency	4,000 MHz (4 GHz, 4,000,000 kHz) +
bus links	4 +
bus rate	8,000 MT/s (8 GT/s, 8,000,000 kT/s) +
bus type	DMI 3.0 +
chipset	Lewisburg +
clock multiplier	40 +
core count	14 +
core family	6 +
core model	5 +
core name	Skylake X Refresh +
designer	Intel +
family	Core i9 +
first announced	January 3, 2019 +
first launched	January 3, 2019 +
full page name	intel/core i9/i9-9990xe +
has advanced vector extensions	true +
has advanced vector extensions 2	true +
has advanced vector extensions 512	true +
has ecc memory support	false +
has feature	Advanced Vector Extensions +, Advanced Vector Extensions 2 +, Advanced Vector Extensions 512 +, Advanced Encryption Standard Instruction Set Extension +, Hyper-Threading Technology +, Turbo Boost Technology 2. 0 +, Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 +, Enhanced SpeedStep Technology +, Intel VT-x +, Intel VT-d + and Transactional Synchronization Extensions +
has intel enhanced speedstep technology	true +
has intel turbo boost max technology 3 0	true +
has intel turbo boost technology 2 0	true +
has intel vt-d technology	true +
has intel vt-x technology	true +
has locked clock multiplier	false +
has simultaneous multithreading	true +
has transactional synchronization extensions	true +
has x86 advanced encryption standard instruction set extension	true +
instance of	microprocessor +
isa	x86-64 +
isa family	x86 +
l1$ size	0.875 MiB (896 KiB, 917,504 B, 8.544922e-4 GiB) +
l1d$ description	8-way set associative +
l1d$ size	0. 438 MiB (448 KiB, 458,752 B, 4.272461e-4 GiB) +
l1i$ description	8-way set associative +
l1i$ size	0.438 MiB (448 KiB, 458,752 B, 4.272461e-4 GiB) +
l2$ description	16-way set associative +
l2$ size	14 MiB (14,336 KiB, 14,680,064 B, 0.0137 GiB) +
l3$ description	11-way set associative +
l3$ size	19.25 MiB (19,712 KiB, 20,185,088 B, 0.0188 GiB) +
ldate	3000 +
main image	+
manufacturer	Intel +
market segment	Desktop + and Workstation +
max cpu count	1 +
max memory	131,072 MiB (134,217,728 KiB, 137,438,953,472 B, 128 GiB, 0.125 TiB) +
max memory bandwidth	79.47 GiB/s (138.278 GB/s, 81,377.28 MiB/s, 0.0776 TiB/s, 0.0854 TB/s) +
max memory channels	4 +
max storage temperature	398. 15 K (125 °C, 257 °F, 716.67 °R) +
microarchitecture	Skylake (server) +
min storage temperature	248.15 K (-25 °C, -13 °F, 446.67 °R) +
model number	i9-9990XE +
name	Core i9-9990XE +
number of avx-512 execution units	2 +
package	FCLGA-2066 +
part number	BX80673I99990X +
platform	Basin Falls Refresh +
process	14 nm (0.014 μm, 1.4e-5 mm) +
s-spec	SREZA +
series	i9-9000 +
smp max ways	1 +
socket	Socket R4 +
supported memory type	DDR4-2666 +
tdp	255 W (255,000 mW, 0.342 hp, 0.255 kW) +
technology	CMOS +
thread count	28 +
turbo frequency (14 cores)	5,000 MHz (5 GHz, 5,000,000 kHz) +
turbo frequency (1 core)	5,000 MHz (5 GHz, 5,000,000 kHz) +
word size	64 bit (8 octets, 16 nibbles) +

Core i9-9990XE — Intel — WikiChip

Core i9-9990X is a 64-bit tetradeca-core ultra-high performance x86 desktop microprocessor introduced by Intel in early 2019. This chip, which is based on the Skylake microarchitecture, is fabricated on Intel’s 14 nm process. The i9-9990X operates at 4.0 GHz with a TDP of 255 W and a Turbo Boost frequency of up to 5 GHz with a Turbo Boost Max of 5.1 GHz. The processor supports up to 128 GiB of quad-channel DDR4-2666 memory.

Preliminary Data! Information presented in this article deal with a microprocessor or chip that was recently announced or leaked, thus missing information regarding its features and exact specification. Information may be incomplete and can change by final release.

Contents

• 1 Cache
• 2 Memory controller
• 3 Expansions
• 4 Graphics
• 5 Features
• 6 Frequencies

Main article: Skylake § Cache

[Edit/Modify Cache Info]

Cache Organization Cache is a hardware component containing a relatively small and extremely fast memory designed to speed up the performance of a CPU by preparing ahead of time the data it needs to read from a relatively slower medium such as main memory. The organization and amount of cache can have a large impact on the performance, power consumption, die size, and consequently cost of the IC. Cache is specified by its size, number of sets, associativity, block size, sub-block size, and fetch and write-back policies. Note: All units are in kibibytes and mebibytes.

L1$ 896 KiB 0.875 MiB 917,504 B 8.544922e-4 GiB L1I$ 448 KiB 0.438 MiB 458,752 B 4.272461e-4 GiB 14×32 KiB 8-way set associative   L1D$ 448 KiB 0.438 MiB 458,752 B 4.272461e-4 GiB 14×32 KiB 8-way set associative write-back L2$ 14 MiB 14,336 KiB 14,680,064 B 0.0137 GiB     14×1 MiB 16-way set associative write-back L3$ 19. 25 MiB 19,712 KiB 20,185,088 B 0.0188 GiB     14×1.375 MiB 11-way set associative write-back

Memory controller[edit]

[Edit/Modify Memory Info]

	Integrated Memory Controller
	Max Type DDR4-2666 Supports ECC No Max Mem 128 GiB Channels 4 Max Bandwidth 79.47 GiB/s 138.278 GB/s 81,377.28 MiB/s 0.0776 TiB/s 0.0854 TB/s Bandwidth Single 19.89 GiB/s Double 39.72 GiB/s Quad 79.47 GiB/s

Expansions[edit]

[Edit/Modify Expansions Info]

	Expansion Options
PCIe Revision: 3. 0 Max Lanes: 44 Configuration: x16, x8, x4

Graphics[edit]

This processor has no integrated graphics.

Features[edit]

[Edit/Modify Supported Features]

Supported x86 Extensions & Processor Features

MMX MMX Extension EMMX Extended MMX Extension SSE Streaming SIMD Extensions SSE2 Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 SSE3 Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 SSSE3 Supplemental SSE3 SSE4.1 Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.1 SSE4.2 Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.2 AVX Advanced Vector Extensions AVX2 Advanced Vector Extensions 2 AVX-512 Advanced Vector 512-bit (2 Units) AVX512F AVX-512 Foundation AVX512CD AVX-512 Conflict Detection AVX512BW AVX-512 Byte and Word AVX512DQ AVX-512 Double and Quad AVX512VL AVX-512 Vector Length ABM Advanced Bit Manipulation BMI1 Bit Manipulation Instruction Set 1 BMI2 Bit Manipulation Instruction Set 2 FMA3 3-Operand Fused-Multiply-Add AES AES Encryption Instructions RdRand Hardware RNG ADX Multi-Precision Add-Carry CLMUL Carry-less Multiplication Extension F16C 16-bit Floating Point Conversion x86-16 16-bit x86 x86-32 32-bit x86 x86-64 64-bit x86 Real Real Mode Protected Protected Mode SMM System Management Mode FPU Integrated x87 FPU NX No-eXecute HT Hyper-Threading TBT 2. 0 Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 TBMT 3.0 Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 EIST Enhanced SpeedStep Technology VT-x VT-x (Virtualization) VT-d VT-d (I/O MMU virtualization) TSX Transactional Synchronization Extensions

Frequencies[edit]

See also: Intel’s CPU Frequency Behavior

[Modify Frequency Info]

Mode	Base	Turbo Frequency/Active Cores
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Normal	4,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz	5,000 MHz

Facts about «Core i9-9990XE — Intel»

RDF feed

Has subobject «Has subobject» is a predefined property representing a container construct and is provided by Semantic MediaWiki.	Core i9-9990XE — Intel#pcie +
base frequency	4,000 MHz (4 GHz, 4,000,000 kHz) +
bus links	4 +
bus rate	8,000 MT/s (8 GT/s, 8,000,000 kT/s) +
bus type	DMI 3.0 +
chipset	Lewisburg +
clock multiplier	40 +
core count	14 +
core family	6 +
core model	5 +
core name	Skylake X Refresh +
designer	Intel +
family	Core i9 +
first announced	January 3, 2019 +
first launched	January 3, 2019 +
full page name	intel/core i9/i9-9990xe +
has advanced vector extensions	true +
has advanced vector extensions 2	true +
has advanced vector extensions 512	true +
has ecc memory support	false +
has feature	Advanced Vector Extensions +, Advanced Vector Extensions 2 +, Advanced Vector Extensions 512 +, Advanced Encryption Standard Instruction Set Extension +, Hyper-Threading Technology +, Turbo Boost Technology 2. 0 +, Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 +, Enhanced SpeedStep Technology +, Intel VT-x +, Intel VT-d + and Transactional Synchronization Extensions +
has intel enhanced speedstep technology	true +
has intel turbo boost max technology 3 0	true +
has intel turbo boost technology 2 0	true +
has intel vt-d technology	true +
has intel vt-x technology	true +
has locked clock multiplier	false +
has simultaneous multithreading	true +
has transactional synchronization extensions	true +
has x86 advanced encryption standard instruction set extension	true +
instance of	microprocessor +
isa	x86-64 +
isa family	x86 +
l1$ size	0.875 MiB (896 KiB, 917,504 B, 8.544922e-4 GiB) +
l1d$ description	8-way set associative +
l1d$ size	0. 438 MiB (448 KiB, 458,752 B, 4.272461e-4 GiB) +
l1i$ description	8-way set associative +
l1i$ size	0.438 MiB (448 KiB, 458,752 B, 4.272461e-4 GiB) +
l2$ description	16-way set associative +
l2$ size	14 MiB (14,336 KiB, 14,680,064 B, 0.0137 GiB) +
l3$ description	11-way set associative +
l3$ size	19.25 MiB (19,712 KiB, 20,185,088 B, 0.0188 GiB) +
ldate	3000 +
main image	+
manufacturer	Intel +
market segment	Desktop + and Workstation +
max cpu count	1 +
max memory	131,072 MiB (134,217,728 KiB, 137,438,953,472 B, 128 GiB, 0.125 TiB) +
max memory bandwidth	79.47 GiB/s (138.278 GB/s, 81,377.28 MiB/s, 0.0776 TiB/s, 0.0854 TB/s) +
max memory channels	4 +
max storage temperature	398. 15 K (125 °C, 257 °F, 716.67 °R) +
microarchitecture	Skylake (server) +
min storage temperature	248.15 K (-25 °C, -13 °F, 446.67 °R) +
model number	i9-9990XE +
name	Core i9-9990XE +
number of avx-512 execution units	2 +
package	FCLGA-2066 +
part number	BX80673I99990X +
platform	Basin Falls Refresh +
process	14 nm (0.014 μm, 1.4e-5 mm) +
s-spec	SREZA +
series	i9-9000 +
smp max ways	1 +
socket	Socket R4 +
supported memory type	DDR4-2666 +
tdp	255 W (255,000 mW, 0.342 hp, 0.255 kW) +
technology	CMOS +
thread count	28 +
turbo frequency (14 cores)	5,000 MHz (5 GHz, 5,000,000 kHz) +
turbo frequency (1 core)	5,000 MHz (5 GHz, 5,000,000 kHz) +
word size	64 bit (8 octets, 16 nibbles) +

Core i9-9990XE with 14 Cores at 5.

0GHz (Part 1) / Sudo Null IT News . There is a lot of noise around the new processor, but not everyone knows that the company already has a processor with a clock speed of 5.0 GHz, and with 14 cores: Core i9-9990XE . This extremely rare item is not available to ordinary consumers: Intel only sells it to selected partners, and only through an auction, once a quarter, and without any guarantees from its side. How much would you pay for such luxury? Well, we managed to get hold of one of these monsters to see how good it is. nine0005

Build and they will come (one of AFI’s 100 famous quotes from American films in 100 years)

Core i9-9990XE is the pinnacle of Intel’s 14nm process technology, a certain limit of possibilities. By the way, Intel can neither guarantee how many processors it will be able to produce, nor provide support in any way. Unlike other mainstream processors, there is no such thing as «EOL». If you win a processor at auction, you will pay prohibitively expensive for it, because that’s the whole point of bidding. Getting 14 cores running at 5.0 GHz is a lot worth joining the «financial race» for. nine0007

This processor is part of the high-end family and runs on some X299 motherboards. It’s also a Core i9, not a Xeon, which means only four memory channels and no ECC support. Technically, it supports overclocking. This is a processor for only one market, and that market is willing to spend a lot of money to take advantage of lower millisecond latency: high-frequency trading.

At the first auction, we initially knew about three companies that were supposed to take part in it. For those who decided to participate in the auction, the closed auction remained a mystery: it was known only what equipment was offered by Intel, and not the number of units. Of the three companies we spoke to, only one was present without placing any bids, the second got three processors, and the third got the rest. The number of lots and the amounts spent on them are unknown. nine0007

High-frequency trading systems do not shy away from exotic arrangements. I’ve heard stories of companies spending tens of millions to implement line-of-sight lines of microwave transmitters to reduce latency by 3 milliseconds. All major financial traders have servers located as close to the exchange as possible, because the speed of light through optical cable is still not fast enough for them. These companies not only pay for the hardware, but also pay experts and technicians to set up these systems with low latency. This means tweaking the memory, overclocking the CPU, and even implementing custom cooling to get a completely stable yet as fast system as possible. nine0007

So how much would these people pay for a pre-overclocked 14-core 5.0 GHz processor? Some of them may run above this level, as the stock Core i9-9980XE off the shelf can potentially run at this speed. We ended up getting a response from CaseKing, the recipient of the majority of the Core i9-9990XE: $2,800. In fact, the price has gone up to $2,850 since then. Not much compared to the Core i9-9980XE ($1979) or the recently announced Core i9-10980XE ($9). 99) and of course traders will easily spend $1000-2000 more for the lowest latency x86 processor on the market.

So where do you start? We have a sample processor. Technically, we have a whole system from International Computer Concepts, or ICC. They are server experts. We first met them at Supercomputing 2015 where they presented a crazy tower system with 8 different servers. ICC works closely with Intel to provide specific solutions for various market verticals: Oil & Gas, Medical, Computing. And, very importantly, for the financial segment, where they can sell a system overclocked to the limit. nine0007

Unfortunately, due to some proprietary technology, we are unable to show you the inside of the server that was sent to us. This is a standard 1U design with an ASUS X299 motherboard inside and 32GB of custom memory. To keep the hot Core i9-9990XE under control, a liquid cooling system (all copper) is used. For most processors, such cooling is absolutely unnecessary. It’s a 1U form factor system, which means 1.75 inches tall (4.45 cm), meaning the need to house this monstrous processor requires top-class cooling, and ICC doesn’t skimp here. An important point: the system is very noisy. It is unlikely that she will become a comfortable neighbor because of too loud work. More details later in the current review. nine0007

In addition to the standard specifications, ICC has made additional changes to the BIOS to ensure minimal latency and stability. Again, we can’t reveal all the details, but we didn’t update the BIOS for our testing. The 1U server has space for two graphics cards, two M.2 drives, four SATA drives, and comes with a 1200W power supply. We have paid some attention to the power consumption overview below.

Be careful not to drop

At first glance, Core i9-9990XE is a standard LGA2066 chip. It uses the usual 18-core «HCC» Intel Skylake silicon, but is targeted at the «consumer» platform as part of Intel’s product segmentation strategy. The processor does not support error correction memory and is therefore limited to 128 GB of standard DDR4 memory, although you can be sure that any HFT system using this processor will work with high speed memory. The chip has 44 PCIe 3.0 lanes like the other LGA2066s, and since it’s not a Xeon, it doesn’t support RAS or vPro management features. nine0007

This is where one of the problems with this chip comes in: the price tends to be of interest to professional users who need internal control features and other security features to keep their expensive equipment safe and manageable. By labeling the processor as Core i9 rather than Xeon W, Intel is discounting these offers: OEMs who buy and resell the part to end users will have to explain that this rare chip has some limitations. nine0007

At the moment we do not know how many chips Intel is going to put on the market. Intel Corporation holds quarterly auctions where it offers chips that have passed all the tests. Assuming that all OEMs want to buy them for their customers, we can talk about no more than 100 units per year. Because of these product-or-not-product nuances, the Core i9-9990XE has not received its own page in the Intel processor database, and it will never fall under the end-of-life program, as it is not subject to standard ordering and delivery process. All long-term support for the processor ends up in the hands of the company or OEM that buys them. nine0007

Chip and our tests

Essentially, the Core i9-9990XE is a 14-core processor with a base frequency of 4.0GHz and a TDP of 255W at that frequency. The turbo frequency of this processor is 5.0 GHz on all cores. But this poses a bit of a problem when classifying a processor as «all cores clocked at 5.0 GHz».

In our interviews with Intel representatives, we talked about how the turbo should be enabled: how the system enables turbo mode depends on the instructions used and on the motherboard manufacturer. Turbo is determined by the higher level power limit (PL2) and the turbo budget time (Tau). Typically, Intel «suggests» consumption in turbo mode 25% higher than the declared TDP (that is, for a TDP of 255 W, the consumption will be 319W), and from 8 to 200 seconds turbo depending on the platform.

On the 1U server we were given for testing, ICC turned on the turbo in «unlimited power for unlimited time» mode (technically up to 4096 seconds, I believe) because they want the CPU to run at 5.0 GHz all the time on all cores. This, as mentioned above, requires very efficient cooling. A star challenge for ICC, given the 1U form factor, a proprietary cooling technology has been developed to solve it. nine0007

Technically, this chip supports Turbo Max 3.0, which allows Intel to determine the most powerful cores to use even higher turbo frequencies. In our case, out of 14, the 10th core was determined to be the best. On Windows, the ACPI interface detects the key software (or identifies it by the active window) and will attempt to run it on these «better» cores with an additional boost (+100 MHz or so). As far as our system is concerned, since the TBM3 and ACPI interface fixed the software on certain cores, we did not see an increase in frequency due to this way of configuring the system. One of the key features for users of ICC systems is consistent low latency. In order not to change this consistency, TBM 3.0 does not affect processor frequencies in our testing. nine0007

Other features of the chip are support for quad-channel DDR4-2666 memory in single rank mode. ICC shipped our system with custom memory modules and matching heatsinks, and the system ran DDR4-3600 CL16. This chip also has 44 PCIe 3.0 lanes, like other Intel HEDT 9-series processors.

The Core i9-9990XE is surrounded by competitors.

The first of these is the upcoming Core i9-9900KS, an octa-core processor that supports all eight cores at 5.0GHz. This chip uses standard consumer silicon and therefore only has two memory channels and 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes. nine0007

Another competitor is Cascade Lake-X’s new 18-core flagship, the Core i9-10980XE, priced at $999. This is the latest high performance desktop processor with (we believe) the latest security patches from Intel, as well as some clock speed improvements over the Core i9-9980XE. It ends up having four more cores than the 9990XE, but lower frequencies and is cheaper. A user lucky enough to get a good sample can overclock it to 9990XE. The Core i9-10980XE has four more PCIe 3.0 lanes and the same number of memory channels.

From AMD’s side, the November 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X is just the first of its competitors. Being built at 7nm it’s certainly more power efficient and the Zen 2 microarchitecture has a higher IPC than Intel chips, but the CPU won’t be able to reach the same high frequencies. It is designed for home PCs, and is equipped with 24 PCIe 4.0 lanes and two memory channels. Given an MSRP of 749dollars, it will certainly cost much less than an Intel processor.

It is necessary to pay attention to the launch of AMD’s new generation of Threadripper, based on the same Zen 2 and 7 nm. We don’t have many details at the moment other than that AMD has announced that the line will be coming out in November and the line will start with a 24-core processor. It is expected to have four memory channels, 64 PCIe lanes and be able to run at around 4.0GHz. It still won’t be able to reach as high clock speeds as Intel’s, and its price and power consumption are still unknown. nine0007

In addition, AMD released the EPYC 7002 series Zen 2 server hardware. Instead of looking at a high-frequency 14-core processor, users can consider a 32-core CPU with eight memory channels, high IPC, and 128 PCIe 4.0 lanes. Again, they will face a frequency deficit, which is a very important parameter for HPC traders. The EPYC 7502P sells for around $3,400 and on the right server, this could be an option if an HPC trader needs to scale. nine0007

Whatever we compare it to, it’s undeniable that the Core i9-9990XE pushes the boundaries of Intel’s 14nm process. That’s why it doesn’t have an MSRP, and why Intel can’t predict how many will be released next quarter. It’s not for nothing that CaseKing put it up for sale (with a one-year OEM warranty) for €2,849, because it’s way above any other Intel desktop processor, and for good reason.

Our test bench

It should be noted right away that the latest Intel updates regarding Specter, Meltdown and ZombieLoad may affect performance. Based on the data we got from Intel, security mitigation measures are the least damaging to the latest hardware (compared to, say, Broadwell). The system provided by ICC does not have built-in protections in the firmware, however, we used an OS version that had some software security patches applied. ICC has made it clear that some of its clients, while concerned about these issues, often just want the fastest system possible, depending on how they use those systems. nine0007

As a result, our results do not match our previous reviews. Due to the fact that it uses a custom BIOS with overclocking options locked, the benchmark data will not necessarily reflect the performance of a freshly purchased processor on your home PC, but rather will demonstrate its performance on a system built specifically for it, which is ultimately the expected use for these chips. As a result, we put an asterisk next to our results to indicate that the test environment for this chip was different. nine0007

• CPU: Intel Core i9-9990XE, 14 Cores, 4.0 GHz Base, 5.0 GHz Turbo, 255W TDP, $Auction
• DRAM: 4×8 GB Custom ICC Modules, DDR4-3600 CL16
• Motherboard: ASUS X299
• GPU: Sapphire Radeon RX460 2GB
• Cooling: ICC Proprietary Liquid Cooling
• Power Supply: Dual 1200W 1U Redundant Supplies
• Storage: Micron MX500 1TB SSD
• Chassis: 1U Rack Server

In our reviews, we usually test outdoors, with powerful cooling, a high-end motherboard, DRAM at manufacturer-supported frequencies, and the latest public BIOS version for this motherboard.

For tests, we used our standard set of processors. Due to the 1U form factor, and the nature of the application of this chip, we did not use a large graphics card for gaming tests. Users who want to get this system and link it to a large CUDA map for financial modeling will most likely have to work hard. And for games, it’s best to wait for the release of the Core i9-9900KS.

Contents of this review:

• Analysis and competition
• Core i9-9990XE:

Compilation Champion

• Processor Performance: Rendering Tests
• Processor performance: encoding tests
• Processor Performance: System Tests
• Processor performance: office tests
• Processor Performance: Web and Legacy Tests
• Power input and thermal properties
• Conclusions and closing words

Compilation Champion, Windows VC++ and Chrome

Many of AnandTech’s readers are software developers who are interested in hardware performance on the tasks they are used to. While compiling the Linux kernel is the «standard» for reviewers who compile frequently, our test is a bit more variant — we use the Windows instructions to compile Chrome, more specifically the March 2017 build of Chrome 56, as it has been since this test was first used. Google gives pretty detailed instructions on how to compile under Windows, along with the ability to download 400k files for the repository. This is by far one of our most popular benchmarks and is a good measure of core performance, multithreading performance, and memory access speed. nine0007

In this test, following Google’s instructions, we use the MSVC compiler and the Ninja developer tools to manage compilation. As you might expect, this test is multi-threaded, with some DRAM dependency, where faster caches provide an advantage. The data obtained as a result of testing is the compilation time, which we convert into the number of compilations per day. The test takes from one hour on a fast, high-performance desktop processor to several hours on the slowest PCs. nine0007

In this test, two processors fought for supremacy almost on par: the 16-core Ryzen Threadripper 2950X and the 8-core i9-9900K. Armed with six more cores, a much higher frequency, and an additional two memory channels, the Core i9-9990XE easily passes this test, compiling in 42 minutes and 10 seconds, and is the only processor to break the 50-minute mark (not to mention 45-minutes). minute).

Rendering Tests

In a professional environment, rendering is often the main CPU workload. It is used in a variety of formats, from 3D rendering to rasterization, in applications such as games or ray tracing, and uses the software’s ability to manage meshes, textures, collisions, aliases, and physics (in animation). Most renderers offer code for the CPU, while some of them use GPUs and choose environments that use FPGAs or specialized ASICs. However, for large studios, processors are still the main hardware. nine0007

Blender 2.79b: 3D Creation Suite

A high-end rendering tool, Blender is an open source product with many settings and configurations used by many high-end animation studios around the world. The organization recently released a Blender test suite, a couple of weeks after we decided to reduce the use of the Blender test in our new suite, however the new test can take over an hour. To get our results, we run one of the subtests in this package via the command line, a standard «bmw27» scene in CPU-only mode, and measure the render completion time. nine0007

Blender can take advantage of more cores, and while the 9990XE’s clock speed is better than the 7940X’s, it’s still not enough to outperform 18-core hardware.

LuxMark v3.1: LuxRender via different code paths

As stated above, there are many different ways to handle render data: CPU, GPU, Accelerator, and more. In addition, there are many frameworks and APIs in which one can program, depending on how the software will be used. LuxMark, a benchmark developed using the LuxRender engine, offers several different scenes and APIs. nine0007

In our test, we run a simple «Ball» scene in C++ and OpenCL code, but in CPU mode. This scene starts with a rough render and slowly improves over the course of two minutes, resulting in a final score that can be called «an average of thousands of rays per second».

We see a slight performance lag compared to the 7940X, which is interesting. I wonder if the 2.4GHz fixed mesh is the limiting factor? nine0007

POV-Ray 3.7.1: ray tracing

The Persistence of Vision ray tracing engine is another well-known benchmarking tool that was dormant for a while until AMD released their Zen processors, when all of a sudden both Intel and AMD started pushing code to the main open source branch of the project. For our test, we use the built-in test for all cores, called from the command line.

Encoding Tests

With the growth of streams, vlogs and video content in general, encoding and transcoding tests are becoming increasingly important. Not only are there more and more home users and gamers involved in converting video files and video streams, but servers processing data streams need on-the-fly encryption, as well as log compression and decompression. Our coding tests target such scenarios and take into account community feedback to ensure the most up-to-date results. nine0007

Handbrake 1.1.0: streaming and archival video transcoding

A popular open source tool, Handbrake is a software for converting videos in any way possible that is, in a sense, a benchmark. The danger here lies in version numbers and optimizations. For example, recent versions of software may take advantage of AVX-512 and OpenCL to speed up certain types of transcoding and certain algorithms. The version we are using is pure CPU work, with standard transcoding options. nine0007

We divided Handbrake into several tests using a Logitech C920 1080p60 native webcam (essentially a stream recording). The recording will be converted to two types of streaming formats and one for archiving. Output settings used:

• 720p60 at 6000 kbps constant bit rate, fast setting, high profile
• 1080p60 at 3500 kbps constant bit rate, faster setting, main profile
• 1080p60 HEVC at 3500 kbps variable bit rate, fast setting, main profile

Our encoding tests require a good balance of cores and frequency, with 14-core 5. 0GHz hardware easily outperforming the 7940X and showing that having 28 cores is not always a winner.

7-zip v1805: popular open source archiver

Of all our archive/unzip tests, 7-zip is the most requested, and has a built-in benchmark. We added the latest version of this software to our test suite, and we run the benchmark from the command line. The results of archiving and unzipping are displayed as a single total score. nine0007

This test clearly shows that modern multi-die processors have a big difference in performance between compression and decompression: they perform well in one, and poorly in the other. In addition, we have active discussions about how the Windows Scheduler implements each thread. When we get more results, we will be happy to share our thoughts on this.

Please note that if you plan to publish the compression data anywhere, please include the results of the decompression as well. Otherwise, you will provide only half of the result. nine0105

The presence of 28 cores shows its strength here, and the additional frequency cannot tip the scales.

WinRAR 5.60b3: Archiver

When I need a compression tool, I usually choose WinRAR. Many users of my generation used it over two decades ago. The interface has not changed much, although the integration with Windows right-click commands is a nice plus. It doesn’t have a built-in benchmark, so we run compression on a directory containing over thirty 60-second video files and 2000 small web files at normal compression speed. nine0007

WinRAR is variable multi-threaded and caching intensive, so in our test we run it 10 times and average the last five runs to test CPU performance only.

WinRAR is one of the tests with variable multithreading, so the combination of number of cores and frequency is important here. Interestingly, the 9990XE, despite its higher frequency, is slightly slower than the 7940X. It is possible that the extra power required to overclock the cores to peak frequency may cause additional delays when working with a large number of small files. nine0007

AES Encryption: File Protection

Some platforms, especially mobile devices, encrypt file systems by default to protect content. Windows-based devices often use BitLocker or third-party software for encryption. In the AES encryption test, we used the discontinued TrueCrypt benchmark, which tests several encryption algorithms directly in memory.

Data from this test is AES combined encryption/decryption performance, measured in gigabytes per second. The software uses AES instructions if the processor allows it, but does not use AVX-512. nine0007

Unaffordable luxury from Intel: Core i9-9990XE with 14 cores at 5.0 GHz (Part 2)

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Intel Core i9-9990XE still appeared in retail, but much more expensive than Core i9-9980XE

We’ve already reported several times about the Intel Core i9-9990XE, which sits above the 18-core Core i9-9980XE (test) but only offers 14 cores at 5GHz Boost. Roman Harthurng «der8auer» tested the Core i9-9990XE and confirmed that the CPU with Intel’s claimed 225W TDP does consume significant power under load.

Previously known about the Core i9-9990XE processor is that it will not be available in retail, Intel plans to only provide CPUs to PC builders through auctions to provide the necessary cooling and power to the systems. And ordinary consumers may not have the qualifications for this. But now Core i9-9990XE still appeared in retail, namely in the Caseking store.

The price is €2.999 (218.000 ₽), which is a decent €1.000 more than the Core i9-9980XE (from 141.000 ₽), which has four cores more, but runs at a lower Boost frequency.

Below is a comparison of the specifications of the two processors.

processors

nine0264 255 W

Comparison of X-Series

Model	Base frequency	Frequency Boost 3.0	Cores/Threads	Cache	PCIe lanes	TDP	Price
Core i9-9990XE	4. 0 GHz	5.1 GHz	14 / 28	19.25 MB	44	2.999 euros
Core i9-9980XE	3.0 GHz	4.5 GHz	18 / 36	24.75MB	44	165 W	from 141.000 ₽ 1.949 euros

Caseking sells the Core i9-9990XE in the OEM version (tray), that is, without a cooler. However, a boxed cooler would still not be suitable for cooling such a processor. Here, at a minimum, a water cooling system is required. nine0007

The Core i9-9990XE is a carefully selected model of the Core i9-9940X. Moreover, Roman emphasizes the scrupulousness of the selection: none of the tested Core i9-9940X could work in the Core i9-9990XE mode. In tests, the potential of 14 very fast cores is really noticeable. In some applications, the Core i9-9990XE leaves behind even processors with a large number of cores.

I would like to emphasize once again that you should not blindly focus on the number of cores.