Intel Core i7-6950X (14nm Broadwell)

[QuorTek]

Getting one well the expensive 6 core one of the ones released as it is... why go with this CPU though, well I like the performance and extra junk on the X99 Mobo's that you do not get on the other series, 8 or 10 cores might have to wait with that for 3-4 years or so.

[samer1970]

Hi everyone ,

Hello ,

we all know that games dont use more than 8 threads today ...

so to take advantage of an 8 cores or 10 cores CPU in Gaming you should Disable HT (Hyperthreading) and run the gaming test again to compare it against the 4 cores i7 6700K .

and tes it with SLI as well to reach the i7 6700k bottleneck !

let me put it more simple ,

The i7 6700K has 4 cores and can oc to 4.4 ghz easy . this CPU will give us 8 Virtual cores comparable to 2.2 GHZ clock for each virtual core .

However the 8 Coresi7 6900K , With the HT Turned OFF , will give us 8 cores @ 4.4 ghz EACH !

Thats double the speed of the 4 cores i7 ! if the game uses 8 threads .

EVEN if we dont OC the 8 cores , it would be 3.2GHZ VS 2.2 GHZ !!!

if you ask why Disable HT ? simple because the game will never use 16 Virtual cores !!! and the advantage is LOST .

Please run the test again for games with HT turned off .

and to stress the CPU more , TEST SLI as well , we want the i7 6700K to bottleneck !

THANKS

oh and Intel Should release i5 Broadwel-E CPU , 8 cores without HT , CHEAPER and BETTER for GAMERS

[kalniel]

let me put it more simple ,

The i7 6700K has 4 cores and can oc to 4.4 ghz easy . this CPU will give us 8 Virtual cores comparable to 2.2 GHZ clock for each virtual core .

I'm not sure you understand core count and SMT/hyperthreading.

[DanceswithUnix]

I would like to see this in my DEV PC, when running a build, my CPU is at 100% for some time (i5-2500K).
This could help me...now,where do I find that 1723USD ... :-)

Nah, you want a Xeon for that as I presume in usual Intel fashion they disable ECC memory in the i7

My work development machine does indeed have ECC ram and a 6 core Xeon, my home PC has an Fx chip which also has ECC ram. Not checked the logs at work but I'm told those Dell workstations do get occasional errors corrected, and I know my home PC had one just the other day. They are really rare, too rare to care about for gaming but for work I wouldn't want to risk it.

[Arulmani]

Perfect for a Consumer Workstation without going for Xeon .

[Arulmani]

Best CPU for Consumer workstation without a xeon processor.

[jigger]

It's a £1500 desktop chip...

[qasdfdsaq]

It's a £1500 desktop chip...

Intel HEDT chips have always been a rip off, targeting dumb narcissistic "gamers" who demand the biggest X Y or Z to brag to their neighbors about.

Meanwhile they're selling professional 10-core Broadwell-E(P) chips for $612-$939 and 12 to 14-core Broadwell-E(P) chips for less than $1500.

If you want a gaming chip you get a 6700k for a third the price and higher clocks. If you want ridiculous core counts you get a 14-core Xeon for $1445 or or 16-cores for $1846. Or if you're feeling insane, you can go up to 22 cores in the same motherboard.

The HEDT "Extreme" parts make no sense in either category.

[keithwalton]

Multi gpu's require a lot of pci-e lanes to make the most of them.
Add in M2 drives in raid and the 40 lane cpu starts making sense even for dual sli never mind tri or quad.

For the 'extreme' gamer, I doubt a £1500 cpu would be the most expensive item (eg 3x 1080's)

Would be interesting to see how much an advantage a '-e' cpu is for multi gpu setups

[DanceswithUnix]

PCIe lane drivers are supposed to take quite a lot of power to drive, so it wouldn't be too surprising if they disabled some to get the thermals good enough to boost the base clocks.

[bronan]

LOL another completely useless cpu which adds nothing besides for a few video editors.
These cpu's will not be sold in large numbers, but people with large money pockets will buy them for the bragging anyhow.
Non of these x99 products have proven to be good enough for normal home usage.
Hell even my old 3770K had proven to beat the new 6700K i bought because of the known bottlenecks.
Have you tried running a triple gpu setup .. you'll find it can not perform as good as you expect.
Now with dx12 you could have the best performing setup by putting in as main card a fury x and a 1080 gpu as second. A 6700K will be the best buy for years to come. And lets be honest most people would be better of buying the good old I5 6600K for gaming because most games do not use the hyperthreading of the i7 6700k.

[whatif]

I am happy I was sitting down when I saw the price for these chips.
If the excessive price hike we in Australia get plays out the same, we will see these at well over A$2000, maybe even close to A$2500.
While games are not, in general, taking advantage of all the extra cores, it would really only be worth it to those few people doing specific work loads.
So for me, the cost alone rules out even thinking about buying one.
Hope AMD can come up with some decent competition to help bring the prices down across the new intel processor range.

[Brutos]

Apart from people who render and run multiple vms which I do this by latter is extremely hard to justify the cost of this. I have a 4930k and i doubt i will need to upgrade any time soon.