The new Intel Core X chips see their frequency increase

Intel is introducing a new line of Core X processors in stores. The main improvement is the increase in the base clock frequency compared to last year's Core X chips. At the top, we see the biggest leap forward with the Intel Core i9-9980XE processor.

Intel Core X chips are the cream of the crop of desktop processors. Since AMD with the Ryzen Threadripper series, Intel has again put the emphasis, the number of hearts is increasing sharply. The Intel Core i9-9980XE, the flagship product, integrates 18 cores with 36 threads and a basic clock speed of 3 GHz. The best Intel model of 2017, the Core i9-7980XE, has a base clock speed of 2.6 GHz.

Other X Series chips benefit from an increase in basic clock speed, L3 cache or PCIe lines more important. Prices remain about the same, although AMD works like a price breaker. This shows that Intel does not worry about AMD and continues to operate as it has always done. The new chips are cooked in the 14 nm ++ process, compared to an older process at 14 nm last year. All new chips support 44 PCIe channels, while those of last year still ranged between 28 and 44.

Limited Profit

Intel claims 14 nm ++ process saves 15% performance. We do not see this gross profit when we analyze various exams at Anandtech, Tom's Hardware and Tech Report. We see an average improvement of five to seven percent of the various benchmarks.

The Turbo mode settings of the Core i9-9980XE are significantly higher than those of the Core i9-7980XE. On all cores, the new chip can reach peaks up to 3.8 GHz without AVX, against 3.4 GHz with its predecessor.

In general, performance gains are very limited for all journals and tests. It should be noted that Intel is still working on a step towards 10 nm and now bears the consequences. AMD is gaining more momentum and can leverage TSMC's 7-nm process to move even further. Meanwhile Intel is publishing a passive upgrade to its Core X series next year or is monitoring AMD more.