Last week we saw Intel officially announced its next-generation lineup of Core X series enthusiast CPUs along with the accompanying X299 chipset. The chip giant’s brand new top-of-the-shelf desktop platform brings with it a range of CPU SKUs including quad-core Kaby Lake-X parts and all the way up to an 18 core 36 thread Xeon-based flagship.
Intel has confirmed that the new lineup will offer compatibility with its X299 chipset and the new LGA 2066 socket. For the uninitiated, here’s a quick look at some of the important Intel Core X Series specs:
| CPU Name | i9-7980XE | i9-7960X | i9-7940X | i9-7920X | i9-7900X | i7-7820X | i7-7800X | i7-7740X | i7-7640X |
| CPU Process | 14nm+ | 14nm+ | 14nm+ | 14nm+ | 14nm+ | 14nm+ | 14nm+ | 14nm+ | 14nm+ |
| Architecture | SKL-X | SKL-X | SKL-X | SKL-X | SKL-X | SKL-X | SKL-X | KBL-X | KBL-X |
| Cores/Threads | 18/36 | 16/32 | 14/28 | 43093 | 43028 | 42963 | 42898 | 42833 | 42829 |
| Base Clock | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | 3.3 GHz | 3.6 GHz | 3.5 GHz | 4.3 GHz | 4.0 GHz |
| (Turbo Boost 2.0) | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | 4.3 GHz | 4.3 GHz | 4.0 GHz | 4.5 GHz | 4.2 GHz |
| (Turbo Boost Max 3.0) | 4.5 GHz | 4.5 GHz | 4.5 GHz | 4.5 GHz | 4.5 GHz | 4.5 GHz | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| L3 Cache | TBA | TBA | TBA | TBA | 13.75 MB | 11 MB | 8.25 MB | 6 MB | 6 MB |
| L2 Cache | 18 MB | 16 MB | 14 MB | 12 MB | 10 MB | 8 MB | 6 MB | 4 MB | 4 MB |
| Memory | Quad DDR4 | Quad DDR4 | Quad DDR4 | Quad DDR4 | Quad DDR4 | Quad DDR4 | Quad DDR4 | Dual DDR4 | Dual DDR4 |
| PCIe Lanes | 44 | 44 | 44 | 44 | 44 | 28 | 28 | 16 | 16 |
| Socket Type | LGA 2066 | LGA 2066 | LGA 2066 | LGA 2066 | LGA 2066 | LGA 2066 | LGA 2066 | LGA 2066 | LGA 2066 |
| TDP | 165W | 165W | 165W | 140W | 140W | 140W | 140W | 112W | 112W |
| Price | $1999 US | $1699 US | $1399 US | $1189 US | $999 US | $599 US | $389 US | 369 | 242 |
Note that Intel’s new platform is the first-ever to come with CPU bifurcation that allows SKUs based on different processor generations to launch on the same socket. That means the Kaby Lake X family will be based on the same Silicon quad core we have previously seen on the LGA 1151 socket since 2016, albeit with a tiny bit improvement in clock speeds.
The Skylake-X parts, however, are somewhat more interesting. Intel is yet again bifurcating the lineup by confining PCI-Express Gen3 lanes on the Skylake i7 parts to 28 rather than 44.
That’s not the only difference, though! The Skylake-X lineup will also have two different CPI dies including one LCC (low core count) die and one HCC (high core count) die. The LCC die is expected to max out at 12 cores whereas the HCC die will have as many as 18 cores.
All the Skylake-X parts with High Core Count die will hit the store shelves considerably later compared to the ones with LCC. Intel is yet to confirm a probable release date as of yet. However, based on the input from an Asus representative, it seems that Intel’s 18 core CPU won’t be available until next year.