THEOVERCLOCKER PRESENTS
10th Anniversary GeForce RTX 2080Ti OC LAB Edition
THE OVERCLOCKER | PRESENTS
INTEL CORE i9
THE OVERCLOCKER
PRESENTS
INTEL CORE i9 10980XE
10980XE
A
nother Issue and another CPU from INTEL. Unlike with the Core i9 9900KS we covered in the previous issue, the Core i9 10980XE finds itself in a challenging market where competition is stiff and options plenty.
Years ago, 36 threads in a single package was mind blowing, but now in 2020 with CPUs offering up to 128 threads it’s almost pedestrian. Such is the march of technology however, and I do not suspect this will change anytime soon. That said, this editorial isn’t about the market or the competition but the actual 10980XE and the case it makes for itself. That there are other options available in the market does little to nothing for you when you’ve already set your sights on this CPU or already invested in the X299 platform. Besides, the platform has never had a faster CPU and that alone has to mean something. As such, the Core i9 10980XE is the pinnacle of what is possible on the ageing platform. It is indeed similar in many ways to the Core i9 7980XE we covered in a previous issue of TheOverclocker. The single largest difference between the older CPU and this one being clock frequencies and of
course retail price. How INTEL managed to extract more performance from their 14nm process is quite astounding and I’m sure there are brilliant minds out there who can speak to that at length. Even if you can’t appreciate that however, what we can all appreciate is the increased performance and the improved thermal characteristics of the CPU. Overclockers and the enthusiasts who invested in the aforementioned Core i9 7980XE will be quick to point out that you can achieve similar if not identical performance figures. That is true, but what is being missed is that achieving whatever overclock, is much easier now than before. For instance, it is entirely possible to operate all 18 cores at a mighty 5GHz. Elmor of ElmorLabs and OCN forums illustrated as much last year when the CPU launched. As is, you’d be hard pressed to find any 7980XE CPU that can do 5GHz with an AIO cooling solution. With every ‘plus’ sign INTEL
adds to the name of their 14nm process, we seem to get even high clock frequencies. This was true for the 9th generation Desktop Core series (9900K/KF/KS etc.) and those advancements have made their way to the HEDT platform as well, ergo the Core i9 10980XE. This approach to scaling performance is generally frowned upon by the vocal enthusiasts on reddit, gaming and overclocking forums. Be it justified or not isn’t important. The reality dictates that when one is dealing with a low-level architectural disadvantage or challenge. The most obvious way to improve performance is to increase the CPU internal clock. This was true for Intel eons ago during the Pentium 4’s lifetime and It was also true for the competition for well over a decade (2006 to say 2017). It was during this time period we came across the first limited production 5GHz CPU (FX-9590). IPC was low, but the high clock frequency did deliver some performance gains albeit small ones to an ecosystem
The Core i9 10980XE can be the fastest gaming CPU you can buy, but also a potent and capable multi-thread work horse. THE OVERCLOCKER PRESENTS INTEL CORE i9 10980XE
that otherwise had no hope of being competitive. Where Intel finds itself today is in a similar position but not as dire, I believe. Simply because the performance discrepancy between the two competing ecosystems can be overcome more readily by clock frequency. Consider that on the competition’s side,
while we can get up to 4.7GHz on some SKUs in single core/ lightly threaded workloads. These clock frequencies are well within reach for all current INTEL CPUs. Through the various Turbo algorithm iterations, clock frequency has scaled all the way to 4.8GHz and of course even higher on the mainstream desktop
platform. Here frequencies go up to 5GHz+ (10700K is said/ rumored to have a peak Turbo frequency of 5.3GHz!). How does all of this affect the Core i9 10980XE? Well, it's to give some context so one can better understand the market within which this CPU exists and its particular value proposition.
INTEL CORE i9 10980XE PRESENTS THE OVERCLOCKER
Specifications for the 10980XE are in the diagram, so I’ll not go over them. What matters is what one can do with this CPU because as I said in the video, the 10980XE is about presenting various performance options for me. One can configure this in a myriad of ways to get the desired performance at reasonable power consumption levels and heat output. For instance, 5GHz is quite possible on this CPU, where it consumes over 500Watts (CineBench R20 load), a more usable frequency range though is between 4.4 to 4.6GHz or perhaps 4.7GHz depending on the quality of that specific CPU. With the CPU that was evaluated, I found that an all core/all thread enabled 4.4GHz was the most plausible setting, with further configuration options of up to 4.7GHz possible. You will note that in the video, the highest frequency tested was 4.6GHz with all 18 cores enabled (HT disabled), but through further tuning it turns out 4.7GHz is also usable. Of course, that
comes with a little more heat and a 40watts more power, but from speaking to a couple of other enthusiasts it seems power draw under 350Watts is acceptable (CPU package power). This is of course in contrast to my personal and self-imposed limit of 300Watts for the CPU package. When I mention the configuration options this CPU presents, I’m talking about what cores you can choose to toggle on and off and of course hyper-threading as well. It is quite possible to have a pseudo 9900K on this CPU by
limiting the core count to eight as per the benchmarks and video. Since one can set per core voltage and multiplier on the 10980XE, one can select only the best eight to do this with. This allows the 10980XE to effectively match the fastest gaming CPU money can buy right now. Yes, the core i9 9900KS has some unique advantages, but it mainly took what was already the fastest gaming CPU on the market and extended
INTEL CORE i9 10980XE
9900KS sells for ($649~ or so) and suddenly this looks like a viable way in which to operate the CPU. Simply stated, you can make a 10980XE behave much like an 9900K, however you can’t make a 9900K perform like a 10980XE. The ability to do this I believe is well worth the asking price. Compared to the 9900K, the 10980XE gives you more than double the threads and twice the memory bandwidth (in theory anyway) at roughly double the price. Even at face value that seems to be a fair exchange. Ultimately, the Core i9 10980XE is the best iteration of the 18 core/36 thread configuration
PRESENTS
in thread count (against the full 36 thread complement) you make up for in increased thermal headroom and resultant increase in clock frequency. At 4.6GHz (and even better now at 4.7GHz) the 10980XE puts out some mighty impressive numbers, which are almost always better than the default numbers with all 36 threads enabled. With the 7980XE and the 9980XE, many were correct in stating that it’s tough convincing someone to pay close to $2,000 USD for a CPU whose cores or threads you’d then disable. However, at half the price ($999 or thereabout), that’s not a lot more than what the Core i9
THE OVERCLOCKER
its lead even farther. This alone illustrates how INTEL’s present situation is anything but identical to what AMD endured for years on end, where even clock frequency couldn’t help. In INTEL’s case this ability to raise operating frequency has kept the products relevant, even in the face of overwhelming competition. This ability to affectively turn your CPU into the best gaming chip money can buy is not to be understated, as I find it only adds to the appeal of the 10980XE. Should you need the additional threads you have the option of simply running 18 cores again with no hyper threading. What you lose out on
Ultimately, the Core i9 10980XE is the best iteration of the 18 core/36 thread configuration we’ve had. party chips increases board costs and as a result make the platform quite expensive.
As stated in the beginning, for those already invested in this platform or ecosystem. This
upgrade makes a lot of sense. In truth, the shortcomings of the platform are more relevant than any perceived or practical limitation of the CPU. The X299 chipset has aged and much of the additional functionality or connectivity options come via the motherboard. The use of 3rd
As it stands, the fastest GPUs on the market are still PCIe 3.0 so for now, there’s not much to be gained. Where I do see some sacrifice would be the inability to maximise on storage performance, as we’ve seen PCIe4.0 M.2 drives whose performance exceeds the possible throughput of PCIe 3.0 connectivity on current Intel platforms. As for USB 3.2, it’s less of an issue as there are 3rd party controllers that can be employed for this. As a last hurrah (Rumoured
22 core CPU could just be that, a rumour) of the platform it is a fine showing. Claims of being the fastest at anything are clearly not applicable as things stand. Consider however, that this CPU does well enough at just about anything one could throw at it that it doesn’t matter. The Core i9 10980XE can be the fastest gaming CPU you can buy, but also a potent and capable multi-thread work horse. Let’s also not forget as well that in the world of extreme overclocking and in
particular in 3D benchmarks. The 10980XE remains KING, even in its 9980XE guise. The Core i9 10980XE when configured appropriately is more than the sum of its parts. It can deliver some of the best gaming performance money can buy while packing enough of a punch to provide a serious boost to your productivity workloads. For 3D Benchmarks, it’ll mostly go unmatched. I don’t think there’s a single CPU outside of this one that can do all this with such proficiency.
It is perhaps only in this way that I find the situation less than ideal for the 10980XE. How vital the more modern platform features are to you is something you will have to decide.
THE OVERCLOCKER
PRESENTS
INTEL CORE i9 10980XE
we’ve had. If at any point there was a case to be made for the 7980XE or 9980XE at $2,000 then surely a higher clocked version at half the price makes even more sense.