Introduction
At Computex this year Intel announced its new high-end desktop (HEDT) platform. All the architecture changes meant that Intel needed a new socket, Socket 2066. The new X299 platform brings a number of new features and enhancements over the previous X99 platform. It also brings with it a new line of processors. They range from 4 cores all the way up to 18 cores. Skylake-X handles the 6 core to 18 core variants, while Kaby Lake-X handles the 4 core models.
The previous generation processors, Broadwell-E were rather expensive and received much criticism as such. Skylake-X offers better performance at a much better price level across the lineup. Fans rejoiced at the announcement.
The new Core i9 series processors are based up-on the older Skylake socket 1151 processors, but offer more cores and a quad channel memory controller. IPC is said to improve over the previous Broadwell processors. According to Intel, Skylake-X will see an up-to 8% performance increase in IPC. To create even a larger performance gain, Intel tweaked the processor cache. Many of the new processors also feature increased clock speeds, especially in Turbo mode.
Intel’s take on the 7th Generation Core HEDT processors
