Quote:The latest version of Intel's desktop client-platform roadmap has been leaked to the web, which reveals timelines and names of the company's upcoming product lines. To begin with, it states that Intel will upgrade its Core X high-end desktop (HEDT) product line only in Q4-2018. The new Core X HEDT processors will be based on the "Cascade Lake-X" silicon. This is the first appearance of the "Cascade Lake" micro-architecture. Intel is probably looking to differentiate its Ringbus-based multi-core processors (eg: "Coffee Lake," "Kaby Lake") from ones that use Mesh Interconnect (eg: "Skylake-X"), so people don't compare the single-threaded / less-parallized application performance between the two blindly.

Quote:Intel is rumored to refresh its high-end desktop (HEDT) platforms this Summer with new products based on the "Cascade Lake" microarchitecture. Intel now has two HEDT platforms, LGA2066 and LGA3647. The new "Cascade Lake-X" silicon will target the LGA2066 platform, and could see the light of the day by June, on the sidelines of Computex 2019. A higher core-count model with 6-channel memory, will be launched for the LGA3647 socket as early as April. So if you've very recently fronted $3,000 on a Xeon W-3175X, here's a bucket of remorse. Both chips will be built on existing 14 nm process, and will bring innovations such as Optane Persistent Memory support, Intel Deep Learning Boost (DLBOOST) extensions with VNNI instruction-set, and hardware mitigation against more variants of "Meltdown" and "Spectre."

Quote:A nameless Cascade Lake-X 10-core, 20-thread processor has mysteriously popped up in SiSoftware's Official Live Ranker database. Judging by the configuration, this processor could be the potential candidate that will replace Intel's Core i9-9900X processor.
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The unidentified processor is equipped with 10 cores, 20 threads, and 19.25MB of L3 cache, which lines up with the Core i9-9900X's specifications. This leads us to think that this Cascade Lake-X chip is the successor to the Core i9-9900X. It apparently features a 4GHz base clock and 4.6GHz boost clock. Basically, we're looking at 14.29 percent and 2.22 percent improvements in base and boost clocks, respectively. But given the nature of the leak, the Cascade Lake-X chip could be an engineering sample, meaning the final operating clocks are likely to vary.

Quote:Intel has revealed the full Cascade Lake 3000-series Xeon W lineup for workstations. The announcement comes as Apple plans to employ the new processors in the company's renewed Mac Pro.
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A simple look at the Cascade Lake W product stack shows that Intel has doubled the cores and cache on the new chips. Intel's decision is probably the result of the constant attacks from AMD's core-heavy Ryzen Threadripper processors. The increased core count comes at a cost, though. In comparison to Skylake W, Cascade Lake W's TDP (thermal design power) has increased significantly between 33 percent to 46 percent. It's worth mentioning that Intel has implemented its Turbo Boost Max 3.0 technology with Cascade Lake W.

While prior entry-level Skylake W parts started at four cores, Cascade Lake W arrives with eight cores as a minimum. Sadly, Intel didn't give the previous flagship Xeon W-2195 18-core processor the same treatment. The chipmaker stopped at 28 cores for this generation's flagship model.

Quote:Today, an unknown 18-core part going by the codename Intel 0000 has shown up in the Geekbench 4 database. Both the Skylake and Cascade Lake families fall under the Intel Family 6 Model 85 identifier. However, the Skylake carries the Stepping 4, and the leaked processor has the Stepping 7 identifier, which means it's a Cascade Lake chip.

The Intel 0000 processor comes equipped with 18 cores, 36 threads and 24.8MB of L3 cache. By the specifications alone, we can deduce that it's most likely the successor for Intel's current flagship Core i9-9980XE processor. Geekbench 4 registered the 18-core Cascade Lake part with a 2.19 GHz base clock and a 3.28 GHz maximum boost clock. The low operating clocks will surely raise many eyebrows but let's not forget that this Cascade Lake chip is probably a very early sample, and there's a big possibility that Geekbench 4 simply didn't identify the operating clocks correctly, or that the chip could still be being tuned. The detection error is evident when you look at the motherboard as Geekbench 4 seems to think that the Cascade Lake chip was housed on an LGA 1151 motherboard.

The 18-core Cascade Lake processor purportedly outperforms the Core i9-9980XE by 3.36% in single-core workloads and around 7.4% in multi-core workloads. This alone tells us that the previously detected operating clocks are inaccurate. Although the performance difference between the two generations of chips looks plausible, you should still take the results with a grain of salt. Being early silicon and all, there is still room for future improvement and tweakings.

Quote:According to the listing for Asus' Prime X299 Edition 30, Intel could market Cascade Lake-X under the 10000-series branding, much like its mainstream Comet Lake (CML) chips. It shouldn't come as a complete surprise considering the chipmaker has was already at the 9000-series for its Skylake-X Refresh processors. Logically, the next step would be the 10000-series, and the recent Asus listing seems to confirm this.

Although many have dubbed Cascade Lake-X as the refresh of the Skylake-X Refresh, the new chips do seem to have some interesting advancements. The Prime X299 Edition 30 seemingly supports up to 256GB of memory, double of what previous X299-based motherboards support. It's safe to assume that Cascade Lake-X will play nice with 256GB of memory, which is a pretty significant upgrade since the last three generations of Intel HEDT (High-End Desktop) chips are only compatible with 128GB of memory. In terms of official memory speeds, we're uncertain at this point if Cascade Lake-X will maintain official support that stops at DDR4-2666.

The other big takeway from the Prime X299 Edition 30's specification table is a hint that Cascade Lake-X may arrive with more PCIe connectivity directly from the processor. Apparently, Cascade Lake features up to 48 PCIe 3.0 lanes, four more than both iterations of Skylake-X. The PCIe lane upgrade will certainly benefit multi-GPU systems and opens the door to massive NVMe SSD arrays as well.

Quote:Intel also hinted at Cascade-Lake X. It didn't commit to a date, but did show a slide suggesting higher performance per-dollar and "Coming Next Month."

Specifically, it said that Cascade Lake-X could get as high as 2.09 times as high in relative performance per dollar compared to Skylake-X, suggesting a price cut.

Quote:Someone has seemingly benchmarked the Intel Core i9-10900X with the Geekbench 4 software. The unreleased processor sports the 10000-series branding, so it's most likely one of Intel's upcoming HEDT (high-end desktop) parts based on the Cascade Lake microarchitecture.

Based on the core count on the posting, we suspect the i9-10900X is the same Cascade Lake-X (CSL-X) chip that surfaced in SiSoftware's database back in April. The processor will most likely serve as the direct replacement for the existing i9-9900X.
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The i9-10900X seemingly delivers up to 5.71% higher performance than the i9-9900X in single-core workloads. When it comes to multi-core workloads, the i9-10900X performs up to 10.34% faster. The difference in performance seems feasible since Cascade Lake-X is somewhat a rewarmed Skylake-X Refresh part. Of course, we should wait until the final products are out before we pass judgement.

Quote:Shortly after Geekbench results claiming to be from the Intel Core i9-10900X appeared, the unreleased Intel Core i9-10980XE entered Geekbench 4's database as well. The CPU, listed as having 18 cores and 36 threads is presumably the flagship SKU for Intel's line of Cascade Lake-X (CSL-X) processors, which will start shipping next month.
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It's important to point out that the Core i9-9980XE system is running faster RAM than the Core i9-10980XE, which we've seen in the past can influence the score. Either way, the Core i9-10980XE lists a single-core score of 5,381, which is around 4% higher than the Core i9-9980XE's score. The performance difference is right along the lines of what we saw with the Geekbench results posted for the Core i9-10900X and Core i9-9900X.

We suspect the multi-core test results are incorrect. They claim the Core i9-10980XE is less than 1% faster than the Core i9-9980XE in multi-core workloads; however, the Core i9-10980XE was running faster than the Core i9-9980XE. Geekbench 4 reported the Core i9-9980XE as having a minimum frequency of 4,041 MHz and a maximum frequency of 4,460 MHz. Even with the difference in memory speeds, the Core i9-10980XE should put up a more respectable multi-core score.

Quote:There's little doubt that AMD's Threadripper lineup has wreaked havoc on Intel's high-end desktop (HEDT) lineup, and with today's Intel Cascade Lake-X announcement we see the impact in sharp relief: Intel has cut pricing of its chips by up to 50% in preparation for AMD's next-gen Threadripper chips. The price cut is also needed to deal with AMD's delayed 16-core 32-thread Ryzen 9 3950X that will land for a mere $750 on mainstream platforms.

The new Cascade Lake-X processors feature higher clock speeds and a new Turbo Boost 3.0 implementation, support more RAM capacity at faster speeds, and bring more PCIe lanes. The chips will be available in November 2019 and also come with some notable technology additions at both the chip and the platform level. Intel has also infused more of its hardware-based security mitigations into the silicon.
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AMD's Threadripper has caused Intel considerable pain on the high end desktop, and the pending 16-core 32-thread Ryzen 9 3950X only exacerbates the issue, especially given that it slots into price-friendly mainstream motherboards. AMD also has its next-gen Threadripper lineup in the works, which should bring even lower per-core pricing to the table, so it's clear Intel had to react.
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Intel acknowledges here that the price-to-performance ratio of its existing Skylake-X lineup is inferior to AMD's Threadripper processors, which is a shocking admission when those are the best products Intel has on the shelves. Brand equity is powerful, and one of Intel's key advantages that comes as a byproduct of a decade of dominance. Intel's admission that the competition has a better value proposition is unheard of, but delivers the message that the company knows it has to become more competitive.

And that it has. These gen-on-gen price reductions are unprecedented for Intel, but they also have the side effect of radically devaluing previous-gen chips, which is something Intel typically avoids. There's no doubt that Intel's silicon has historically held its resale value much better than AMD's, largely because each new lineup of AMD chips foreshadows massive price cuts on previous-gen models. With a price war forming, it appears that Intel is now willing to take more risks with devaluing its previous-gen models.

Quote:It’s not clear how AMD will adjust its own pricing from this point. When AMD announced the 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X, it declared the CPU would cost $750. This would seem to put a floor on the price of any introductory Threadripper, since there’s no reason for AMD to charge less for a 16-core TR than it would charge for a 16-core Ryzen. AMD still has some room to adjust its own positioning here, both before TR launch and before the debut of any Ryzen, but it’ll be interesting to see if Team Red adjusts its own product SKUs after these astronomical price cuts from Intel.

Intel expects to launch its Cascade Lake X family of products in November. We’ll have coverage when they debut.

Quote:The Core i9-10900XE is your gateway to the series. This 10-core/20-thread chip comes with a fascinating price-tag of just USD $590, a significant drop from the $999 price for the previous-generation 10-core chip, the i9-9900X. It's clocked higher, with 3.70 GHz nominal, 4.50 GHz Turbo Boost 2.0, 4.70 GHz Turbo Boost Max 3.0 and 4.30 GHz all-core Turbo. The chip is endowed with 1 MB of dedicated L2 cache per core, and 19.25 MB of shared L3 cache.

The Core i9-10920XE is a $689 12-core/24-thread chip priced under AMD's upcoming flagship AM4 model, the Ryzen 9 3950X. It's marginally faster than its predecessor, the i9-9920X, with 3.50 GHz base clocks (same), 4.60 GHz Turbo Boost 2.0, 4.80 GHz Turbo Boost Max 3.0, and 4.30 GHz all-core turbo. Interestingly, the increase in core-count doesn't bring additional L3 cache, you get the same 19.25 MB.

The next step in this series is the $784 Core i9-10940XE, a 14-core/28-thread processor clocked at 3.30 GHz, with 4.60 GHz Turbo Boost 2.0, 4.80 GHz Turbo Boost Max 3.0, and 4.10 GHz all-core turbo. Yet again, you get just 19.25 MB of shared L3 cache. Interestingly, Intel did not plan a 16-core/32-thread model in this series, you jump straight to the flagship.

Leading the pack is the Core i9-10980XE, an 18-core/36-thread processor priced at a mouth-watering $979, which is less than half that of the previous-generation Core i9-9980XE. It ticks at 3.00 GHz, with 4.60 GHz Turbo Boost 2.0, 4.80 GHz Turbo Boost Max 3.0, and 3.80 GHz all-core turbo. You get a larger 24.75 MB of shared L3 cache. All four chips have their TDP rated at 165 W.

Quote:Intel's main trade-call for these processors? Taking another stab at AMD for falling short on boost frequency in the hands of consumers. "The chip that hits frequency benchmarks as promised, our new #CoreX -series processor, provides a stable, high-performance platform for visual creators everywhere," reads the Intel tweet, as if to suggest that reaching the "promised" clock speed results in stability. AMD was confronted with alarming statistics of consumers whose 3rd generation Ryzen processors wouldn't reach their advertised boost frequencies. The company released an updated AGESA microcode that fixed this.

Quote:One of the first reviews of Intel's new flagship HEDT processor, the Core i9-10980XE, just hit the web. Lab501.ro got their hands on a freshly minted i9-10980XE and put it through their test bench. Based on the "Cascade Lake-X" silicon, the i9-10980XE offers almost identical IPC to "Skylake-X," but succeeds the older generation with AI-accelerating DLBoost instruction-set, an improved multi-core boosting algorithm, higher clock speeds, and most importantly, a doubling in price-performance achieved by cutting the cores-per-Dollar metric by half, across the board.

Armed with 18 cores, the i9-10980XE is ahead of the 12-core Ryzen 9 3900X in rendering and simulation tests, although not by much (for a chip that has 50% more cores). This is probably attributed to the competing AMD chip being able to sustain higher all-core boost clock speeds. In tests that not only scale with cores, but are also hungry for memory bandwidth, such as 7-zip and Media, Intel extends its lead thanks to its quad-channel memory interface that's able to feed its cores with datasets faster.

Quote:Intel announced its 10th generation Core i9 XE "Cascade Lake-X" HEDT processor family in October. At the time, market availability of these chips was slated for November 2019, although a date wasn't specified. A report by Chinese tech publication PCDIY sheds more light. According to the report, market availability of these chips could begin from 25th November, 2019, which would be 49 days or 7 weeks following its October 7 product announcement. Intel's lean 10th gen Core HEDT processor lineup includes 10-core, 12-core, 14-core, and 18-core SKUs at price-points ranging from roughly-$600 to $1,000.

Quote:Intel is readying a microcode update specially for its X299 Express chipset, to enhance the overclocking capabilities of its 10th generation Core i9 XE "Cascade Lake-X" processors. News of the update was put out in an MSI press release that speaks of the company encapsulating the new microcode in BIOS updates for its entire socket LGA2066 motherboard lineup.

Quote:Intel's tactic of slowly bumping up clock speeds and adding more features across its product stack, like Hyper-Threading, has proven to be a good-enough strategy to fend off AMD's increasing pressure with the first-gen Zen chips, but the arrival of Zen 2 and the 7nm process blow that approach out of the water. It's quite shocking to see Intel thoroughly unprepared to attack AMD's high end Threadripper parts, and we're not convinced that bringing the high core count Xeon W parts down to the standard HEDT segment would help.

Intel says it will have 10nm parts for the desktop soon, but we don't know where those products will land yet, and they certainly won't attack the HEDT market for at least another year, meaning the company has ceded the high end to AMD.

So what's left? Competing on price by dropping Cascade Lake-X pricing roughly 50% across the entire stack, thus dealing with AMD's lesser-equipped processors. That does improve Intel's value proposition, but AMD still looms large.

The refined 14nm process equates to faster clocks speeds, and thus performance, at lower overall power consumption. The Core i9-10980XE also has much higher overclocking headroom than its predecessor, but Intel's textbook incrementalism is no longer enough to fend off AMD in the 7nm Zen 2 era.

Quote:Alleged screenshots offering insight to specs of the unreleased Intel Core i9-10990XE have emerged on the Chinese Chiphell forums. If the images are legit, it would appear that Intel is preparing the direct replacement for last year's i9-9980XE.
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Intel utilizes the HCC (High Core Count) design for its Core X-series processors that max out at 18 cores. However, the rumored i9-10990XE is expected to have 22 cores, which would mean Intel is most likely cramming the XCC (Extreme Core Count) design with two removed memory channels into the chip. In short, the i9-10990XE, therefore, wouldn't feature a new die or design, but just a slight change in packaging.

The TDP (thermal design power) value is what really stands out from the CPU-Z screenshot. The i9-10990XE is seemingly rated with a 380W TDP, the highest we've ever seen on any processor, even the 64-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X monster at 280W.

At first glance, the i9-10990XE's 380W TDP might look ludicrous, but the math pans out. The i9-9990XE rocks 14 cores at 5 GHz with a 255W TDP. This works out to around 18.2W per core. If we multiply that value by 22 cores, it puts the i9-10990XE at around 400.4W. Therefore, 380W seems plausible.

An unverified screenshot of an i9-10990XE Cinebench R20 score shows the 22-core chip reaping 14,005 points. This would put the i9-10990XE on the same level as the 24-Core Threadripper 3960X for this specific benchmark.

Quote:Intel introduced its new lineup of Cascade Lake Refresh Xeon server parts today and they bring along remarkable price reductions compared to the existing Xeon lineup, with the top-line changes to the company's flagship models amounting to a ~60% reduction in per-core pricing in exchange for the inability to scale beyond two sockets. Paired with Intel's other recent price adjustments, a 28-core SKU that used to weigh in at $13,012 now retails for a mere $3,950.

Intel also introduced more subtle changes to its mid-range processors with dual-socket models that feature more cores, cache, and higher frequencies at the same price points as previous-gen models that support more sockets, along with several new workload-optimized parts.
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Overall, Intel says the Cascade Lake Refresh processors offer an average of 36% more performance and 42% better performance-per-dollar compared to the first-gen Xeon Gold lineup, serving as an obvious counterblow to AMD's EPYC Rome data center processors.
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Intel has been besieged by a seemingly-never-ending shortage of 14nm production, but has focused on ensuring supply of its margin-rich Xeon products above all others. The company says it has adequate supply of the new Cascade Lake Refresh processors, which are available now at OEMs and ODMs worldwide. The company also announced that it has increased the number of Intel Select Solutions, a pre-validated server platform, by 60% and doubled the number of partners producing the systems.

The somewhat odd timing of the Cascade Lake Refresh might lead some to question Intel's progress on its Cooper Lake processors that will top out at 56 cores for general-purpose platforms and come with new features like second-gen DL Boost acceleration, but Intel says it remains on track for production of the first processors for the Whitley platform.

Quote:A roadmap slide from an Intel Partner Connect presentation suggests that the company's client-segment processor lineup will be unchanged for the rest of 2020, with the company briskly launching its 10th generation "Comet Lake-S" desktop processor lineup through May-June, and "Comet Lake-H" a month prior. The Core X "Cascade Lake-X" processor lineup will continue to lead the company in the high core-count HEDT segment, with no indications of new models, at least none higher than 18 cores.