Introduction
Intel's X58. Those are the three characters toward which enthusiasts the world over have flocked for the best part of two-and-a-half years.
And with good reason, too, for where else will you find support for triple-channel DDR3 memory, a couple of PCIe slots operating at 16x apiece, flexible base clock overclocking and compatibility with Intel's top-of-the-range, hexa-core Gulftown CPUs - including the insanely-fast 3.33GHz Core i7 980X.
With so much raw performance at hand - and a lack of true ultra-high-end challengers - Intel hasn't yet felt the need to supercede the X58 platform. Instead, the manufacturer is opting to milk every last drop from its premium Gulftown processors with one last hurrah; a new 3.46GHz Core i7 990X.
As the name suggests, the Extreme Edition chip is very much an incremental step up to the discontinued 980X and packs one key upgrade that makes it the fastest consumer processor to date.
The minor change, as you might have guessed, is a step up in out-the-box frequency. By upping the base multiplier from 25x to 26x and the chip's turbo multiplier from 27x to 28x, the multiplier-unlocked Core i7 990X is shipped to run at 3.46GHz with a maximum turbo-boost speed of 3.73GHz. That's 133MHz quicker than the preceding 980X on both fronts, and enough to warrant the $999 price tag traditionally associated with Intel's range-topping processor.
| Model number | Cores / Threads | Clock Speed (GHz) |
Max Turbo (GHz) |
IGP | Process | Die size | Cache | Interface* | Memory channels | TDP | Socket | Price*** |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intel Core i7 990X EE |
6/12 | 3.46 | 3.73 | N/A | 32nm (Westmere) |
239mm² | 1.5MB L2 12MB L3 |
QPI | Triple | 130W | LGA1366 | $999 |
| Intel Core i7 980X EE |
6/12 | 3.33 | 3.60 | N/A | 32nm (Westmere) |
239mm² | 1.5MB L2 12MB L3 |
QPI | Triple | 130W | LGA1366 | EOL** |
| Intel Core i7 970 |
6/12 | 3.20 | 3.46 | N/A | 32nm (Westmere) |
239mm² | 1.5MB L2 12MB L3 |
QPI | Triple | 130W | LGA1366 | $583 |
| Intel Core i7 950 |
4/8 | 3.06 | 3.33 | N/A | 45nm (Bloomfield) |
263mm² | 1MB L2 8MB L3 |
QPI | Triple | 130W | LGA1366 | $294 |
| Intel Core i7 930 |
4/8 | 2.80 | 3.06 | N/A | 45nm (Bloomfield) |
263mm² | 1MB L2 8MB L3 |
QPI | Triple | 130W | LGA1366 | EOL** |
| Intel Core i7 2600K |
4/8 | 3.40 | 3.80 | HD 3000 | 32nm (SandyBridge) |
216mm² | 1MBL2 8MB L3 |
DMI | Dual | 95W | LGA1155 | $317 |
| Intel Core i5 2500K |
4/4 | 3.30 | 3.70 | HD 3000 | 32nm (SandyBridge) |
216mm² | 1MB L2 6MB L3 |
DMI | Dual | 95W | LGA1155 | $216 |
| Intel Core i7 870 |
4/8 | 2.93 | 3.60 | N/A | 45nm (Lynnfield) |
296mm² | 1MB L2 8MB L3 |
DMI | Dual | 95W | LGA1156 | $294 |
| Intel Core i5 760 |
4/4 | 2.80 | 3.33 | N/A | 45nm (Lynnfield) |
296mm² | 1MB L2 8MB L3 |
DMI | Dual | 95W | LGA1156 | $205 |
| Intel Core i5 661 |
2/4 | 3.33 | 3.60 | HD 1000 | 32nm (Clarkdale) |
81mm² | 512KB L2 4MB L3 |
DMI | Dual | 87W | LGA1156 | $196 |
| AMD Phenom II X6 1100T |
6/6 | 3.30 | 3.70 | N/A | 45nm (Thuban) |
346mm² | 3MB L2 6MB L3 |
HT | Dual | 125W | AM3 | $239 |
| AMD Phenom II X6 1090T |
6/6 | 3.20 | 3.60 | N/A | 45nm (Thuban) |
346mm² | 3MB L2 6MB L3 |
HT | Dual | 125W | AM3 | $205 |
| AMD Phenom II X6 1075T |
6/6 | 3.00 | 3.50 | N/A | 45nm (Thuban) |
346mm² | 3MB L2 6MB L3 |
HT | Dual | 125W | AM3 | $195 |
| AMD Phenom II X6 1055T |
6/6 | 2.80 | 3.30 | N/A | 45nm (Thuban) |
346mm² | 3MB L2 6MB L3 |
HT | Dual | 95W | AM3 | $175 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 975 BE |
4/4 | 3.60 | N/A | N/A | 45nm (Deneb) |
258mm² | 2MB L2 6MB L3 |
HT | Dual | 125W | AM3 | $195 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 970 BE |
4/4 | 3.50 | N/A | N/A | 45nm (Deneb) |
258mm² | 2MB L2 6MB L3 |
HT | Dual | 125W | AM3 | $175 |
| * HT = HyperTransport, DMI = Direct Media Interface, QPI = QuickPath Interconnect ** EOL = End of life *** U.S. MSRP in 1000-unit tray quantities |
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It's the clear-cut choice for power users who scoff at the word budget, but for everyone else the Extreme Edition 990X faces stern competition from Intel's own mid-to-high-end newcomer; Sandy Bridge. The second-generation Core processor family, introduced at the turn of the year, officially slots into the Intel hierarchy below X58 and Gulftown but offers a number of architectural improvements that significantly boost performance.
Such is the potency of high-end Sandy Bridge processors that X58 is beginning to look largely redundant. Can 990X prolong the life of the platform, or is it little more than one final salute to the Nehalem-derived Westmere architecture?
