Intel’s new Cascade Lake-X processors for high-end desktop computers are coming in November. At launch the lineup ranges from a 10-core/20-thread Core i9-1090X processor to an 18-core/36-thread Core i9-10980XE.
Unsurprisingly, Intel is promising a number of improvements over the its previous-gen Skylake-X chips. But what is a little surprising is that the company is pretty much cutting prices in half.
The new chips have list prices of $590 to $979, compared to the $989 – $1979 range for Skylake-X.
The move is likely due to increased competition from AMD, which sells a line of Ryzen Threadripper chips with similar features at much lower prices.
The upcoming Ryzen 9 3950X, for example, is expected to be a 16-core processor with a $749 price tag.
So it’s also interesting to note that Microsoft’s Cascade Lake-X lineup doesn’t include a 16-core processor at all, making it a little tougher to do an oranges-to-oranges comparison.
Here are the first Cascade-Lake X chips:
| Cores/Threads | Base | All Core turbo | Turbo Boost 2.0 | Turbo Boost 3.0 | TDP | Price | |
| Core i9-10980XE | 18C / 36T | 3.0 | 3.8 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 165 W | $979 |
| Core i9-10940X | 14C / 28T | 3.3 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 165 W | $784 |
| Core i9-10920X | 12C / 24T | 3.5 | 4.3 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 165 W | $689 |
| Core i9-10900X | 10C / 20T | 3.7 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 165 W | $590 |
Aside from the more affordable prices, here are some of the other changes:
- Support for up to 256GB of quad-channel memory (up from 128GB)
- 48 lanes of PCIe 3.0 (up from 44)
- Platform support for WiFi 6 AX200 and 2.5G Ethernet (additional hardware required)
Intel says all of the chips are 165 watt processors that are unlocked for folks that want to overclock their chips.
via TechPowerUp, Engadget, and AnandTech
Lots of people have been suggesting that the new Mac Pro is actually a rather fair price, but that’s because people have been estimating its CPU price based on the previous generation pricing. As it turns out, the CPU is far cheaper than we thought.
Good that intel is finally feeling the heat from AMD. Now if only AMD got its act together and did the same in mobile.
God I love competition! Now if we could only have more in the ISP market.
The most competitive in that stack seems to be the 10920X.
Having 12-cores matches AMD’s 3900X, and they’re both clocked at the same 4.3GHz frequency. However, the Zen2 CPUs do have a slightly better IPC, so its expected to win overall. AMD would win some of the single-thread tasks as well, but I think its going to get chocked at 4.5GHz for a single-core boosting, whereas the Intel can push it to 4.8GHz and making the win. However, the AMD system will still run cooler, quieter, and use less power. Despite that, Intel wants to charge an extra +$200 on top of AMD’s offering. Sounds pretty stupid.
The upcoming 16-core 3950X CPU should smash the 14-core Intel, and be matched by the 18-core Intel. However they’re asking for a pretty steep price there at a thousand bucks. I expect AMD to again undercut them by -$200.
Even with these things aren’t looking too good for Intel….