Intel has recently released its enthusiast lineup of i9, i7 and i5 CPUs. The Core i9-7980XE is the fastest CPU ever released by Intel, and it compares very well against AMD’s Threadripper. Here’s our previous article on Threadripper which includes a performance comparison against the i9-7900X.
Price and Where To Buy
The Intel Core i9-7980XE is priced at $1999. In India, Pricing can be expected around the ₹1,60,000 mark.
Because the CPU is relatively new, demand is high. This means prices would be higher. Newegg has the CPU available on their site for $1999 but it is currently out of stock. For Indian buyers, keep checking sites like MDComputers, PrimeABGB, ITDepot, etc.
Specifications, Performance and Cooling
Specifications
The Core i9-7980XE is clocked at 2.6GHz, with a Turbo Boost of 4.2GHz with Boost Technology 2.0 and 4.4GHz with Boost Technology 3.0. It has 18 Cores, which is 36 threads through Intel’s Hyper Threading Technology. The TDP is rated at 165W.
The CPU is supported by the X299 Chipset by Intel. It uses the LGA 2066 Socket R4. Quad Channel 2666MHz DDR4 RAM is supported on this platform. It supports up to 44 PCI Express 3.0 Lanes.
Other specs including comparison with other X-Series Processors is included in the image below.
Performance
Here are performance benchmarks done by LinusTechTips on the Core i9-7980XE.
As you can see, overall performance is better than the AMD Threadripper CPU lineup. Threadripper is better at ASUS RealBench Image Editing Tests though.
Gaming Performance
As far as gaming is concerned, you will be way better off with CPUs offering higher clock speeds, like the Core i7-7700K and Ryzen 7 & 5 CPUs. These CPUs come at a fraction of the cost of the Core i9 and Threadripper CPUs but are better in Gaming.
Here are some more tests done by LinusTechTips.
What about Cooling?
Intel Core i9-7980XE has very high temperatures on air cooling solutions. You will have to use liquid cooling for this processor.
Intel has also released a High-Performance Liquid Cooling Solution for Enthusiasts which uses Propylene Glycol as its Cooling Liquid, called the Intel Liquid Cooling TS13X. The TS13X will be priced in the $85 to $100 Range. Other specifications of this cooling solution :-
Value for Money?
Short Answer? No.
The expensive price of the Core i9-7980XE makes it a Lower Performance per dollar CPU compared to Threadripper CPUs. Here’s a comparision by LinusTechTips :-
Conclusion
In conclusion, Intel has released an amazing and expensive processor. It is better than Threadripper CPUs in most benchmarks, but in Gaming falls behind.
In terms of value for money, the Core i9-7980XE falls behind. Then again if pricing isn’t a concern, it’s a different story.
In the end it comes down to your need.
