How does it line up?
Here's how the Westmere-hewn Core i7 980X EE fits in.| Model number | Cores/threads | Clockspeed | Turbo Boost (max) | Process | Die size | Transistors | Cache | Interface | Memory
controller |
Official
memory support |
TDP |
Socket | Price (as of today) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phenom II X4 965 BE | 4/4 | 3.40 | N/A | 45nm (Deneb) | 258mm² | 758m | 2MB
L2 6MB L3 |
HT | Dual-channel | DDR3-1,333+ | 125W | AM3 | £145 |
| Core i5 661 (IGP) | 2/4 | 3.33 | 3.60 | 32nm (Clarkdale) | 81mm² | 382m | 512KB
L2 4MB L3 |
DMI | Dual-channel | DDR3-1,333 | 87W | LGA1156 | £160 |
| Core i5 750 | 4/4 | 2.67 | 3.20 | 45nm (Lynnfield) | 296mm² | 774m | 1MB
L2 8MB L3 |
DMI | Dual-channel | DDR3-1,333 | 95W | LGA1156 | £160 |
| Core i7 860 | 4/8 | 2.80 | 3.46 | 45nm (Lynnfield) | 296mm² | 774m | 1MB
L2 8MB L3 |
DMI | Dual-channel | DDR3-1,333 | 95W | LGA1156 | £230 |
| Core i7 870 |
4/8 | 2.93 | 3.60 | 45nm (Lynnfield) | 296mm² | 774m | 1MB
L2 8MB L3 |
DMI | Dual-channel | DDR3-1,333 | 95W | LGA1156 | £445 |
| Core i7 920 | 4/8 | 2.67 | 2.93 | 45nm (Bloomfield) | 263mm² | 731m | 1MB
L2 8MB L3 |
QPI | Triple-channel | DDR3-1066 | 130W | LGA1366 | £215 |
| Core i7 975 EE | 4/8 | 3.33 | 3.60 | 45nm (Bloomfield) | 263mm² | 731m | 1MB
L2 8MB L3 |
QPI | Triple-channel | DDR3-1066 | 130W | LGA1366 | £765 |
| Core i7 980X EE | 6/12 | 3.33 | 3.60 | 32nm (Westmere) | 248mm² | 1,170m | 1.5MB
L2 12MB L3 |
QPI | Triple-channel | DDR3-1066 | 130W | LGA1366 | £765 |
Examination
As a recap, the Core i7 980X EE's architecture is a superset of Nehalem/Bloomfield's. This means that it has the same feature-set as present Core i7 9xx yet is augmented by hardware-based AES encryption/decryption. Intel is using the 32nm process to bring about a few other improvements, most notably with respect to power-saving.
Let's pull some interesting numbers from the table. Comparing directly against the quad-core Core i7 975 EE - the performance champion of 2009 - the new chip ships with exactly the same frequencies. We're impressed that Intel hasn't gone for the safe option with the six-core chip and released it at, say, 2.67GHz.
Core i7 980X EE is 50 per cent 'better' in terms of cores and L2/L3 caches. The upshot is that the transistor-count balloons from 731m to 1,170m (60 per cent increase, incidentally), but the die-size is actually smaller. It's made possible by the switch from 45nm to 32nm production, clearly, and Intel would not have been able to debut a six-core chip based on 45nm technology without making some serious frequency compromises.
980X EE retains a triple-channel memory-controller and official support for DDR3-1,066MHz memory. It also fits into the same 130W thermal envelope as other Core i7 900-series chips, and Intel can, once again, thank the 32nm process for that.
Presented in the now-familiar LGA1366 form factor that's supported by the X58 chipset, most motherboards will require a simple BIOS update to take advantage of the new processor.
Server CPU masquerading as a desktop chip
The new chip represents an awful lot of work for a single product in the high-end desktop environment, right? The truth of the matter is that six-core Westmere has been designed, almost exclusively, for the server/workstation market, where compute density is paramount. Give or take a few features, most notably a second QPI link for dual-processing systems and a different form factor, this chip will also be known as the Xeon X5680.
The Westmere architecture will pervade the server, desktop and mobile segments, so we're not in the least bit surprised to see one chip that ostensibly crosses two markets.
