The first Intel dual-core processor appeared in 2005, and the debut of the Quad-core model Core 2 Quad took place a year later. It took more than ten years, but still dual and Quad core solutions account for a major share among the products of the chip maker. During this time, the 90-nanometer process technology was replaced by 14-nanometer processors got integrated graphics core and architecture more or less consistently followed, based on the concept of “tick-tock”. However, in recent times the industry has seen a real stagnation. The examples are not far to seek: the chips Skylake, presented last year, faster decisions last generation Broadwell 5-10%. Broadwell and Haswell performance into the same proverbial 5-10%. The last major leap in performance of the architectures was observed in the transition from the architecture of the Nehalem to Sandy Bridge. The frequency potential of the chip does not grow long and is around 3-4 GHz. The only effective way for a serious performance increase — extensive, as the reduction process allows to increase the number of cores, but stay within a certain teplopaket. The trodden path. First came the first six-core processor Sandy Bridge-E, and two years ago and eight-core Haswell-E. 2016 is the year when Intel released their first desktop decategory — Core i7-6950X.
Evolution processor Extreme Edition
Line of processors Broadwell-E, architecture
Core i7-6950X — main “lot” for Intel this year, not only. Together with the 10-core chip maker has recently introduced a line of desktop processors Broadwell-E. All four of the “stone” for the platform LGA2011-v3, two six-core models and one OCTA core. This is the classic “TIC”solutions in which “trained” architecture moved to a new process technology. Most likely, the Central processors generation Skylake-E will make friends with the new platform. Rumor has it that the socket will receive 3647 kontaktov. Below are the technical characteristics of all four innovations.
Intel Broadwell-E
Core i7-6800K
Core i7-6850K
Core i7-6900K
Core i7-6950X
Process technology
14 nm
Architecture
Broadwell
Socket chipset
LGA2011-v3, X99 Express
The number of cores/threads
6/12
6/12
8/16
10/20
Clock frequency (Turbo Boost)
3,4 (3,6) GHz
3,6 (3,8) GHz
3,2 (3,7) GHz
3,0 (3,5) GHz
Cache in the third level
15 MB
15 MB
20 MB
25 MB
Controller PCI Express 3.0
X28
x40
x40
x40
The memory controller
DDR4-2400, 4-channel, up to 128 GB
TDP
140 W
Price
$434
$617
$1089
$1723
Perhaps the saddest thing in the presented chip is the price of brand-new Broadwell-E. the cost of the Core i7-6950X shocking, but is for the desktop segment there are alternatives? Frankly, I was waiting for “cheap” 8-core. In quotes — because it relied on the price in the range of 700-800 US dollars. Then it would be Core i7-6900K has become an excellent target for all those who wish to preupgrades with six to eight cores. But the miracle, unfortunately, did not happen. Even more: the cheapest Core i7-6800K is worth 38 dollars more expensive Core i7-5820K. Not much difference between these chips is not. The Junior Haswell-E quietly accelerates to 4.5 GHz. So the model Core i7-6800K and Core i7-6850K I see no reason to take at all. Even given their novelty. The difference between these “stones” is not only the frequency but also the number of lines PCI Express 3.0. Note: for Assembly with a fast drive NVMe (PCI Express 3.0 x4), and two video cards Core i7-6800K would be sufficient. And Core i7-5820K.
Intel Core i7-6950X
Structurally, there is nothing special about Broadwell-E no. Intel took the younger line of processors Xeon E5 v4 and turned it into a series of Core i7. In both cases use the same crystal LCC (Low Core Count) with ten nuclei, all sharing one bi-directional ring bus. Perhaps the most important difference from server-side counterparts is to disable Core i7 modules, a control bus QPI.
The Core i7 CPU is a slightly modified Xeon server chips
Ten nuclei and the associated elements located on a chip with an area of 246 mm2. The total number of transistors is 3.2 billion, let me Remind you that the 8-core Core i7-5960X (review) the usable area is 355,5 mm2, and the number of valves 2.6 billion That is the area of the processor has decreased while the number of transistors, on the contrary, increased. The lion’s share of the silicon budget is 25 MB cache in the third level. 5mib more than the 8-core models.
And some entertaining statistics. The flagship of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (review) crystal GP104, produced on 16 nm process has already 7.2 billion silicon elements with useful area of 314 mm2.
Crystal Intel Core i7-6950X
What processors belong to a generation of “TEC”, does not mean that no changes (even cosmetic) in architecture is not possible. Specifically, Broadwell modernization undergone input part of the Executive pipeline. More precisely, has increased the volume of buffer zones. Increased the scheduler window. Exactly one and a half times increased the volume table of associative address translation second level (L2 TLB) — up to 1500 records. Plus the whole scheme of the broadcast acquired a second processor misses. All these changes allowed the Broadwell processors to cope better with the prediction of the complex branches of code.
Architecture Broadwell 5-10% faster than Haswell
The execution speed of multiplication has increased from five cycles to three cycles. The division accelerated the pace through the use of 10-bit divider. Finally, was optimized vector gather instruction from the AVX2 set.
In the end, at the same frequency architecture Broadwell Haswell is faster on average by 5%. Learn more about what I wrote in the review of the CPU Core i5-5675C. Below — comparison of architectures, Haswell, Broadwell and Skylake in CINEBENCH R15, produced at the maximum the same conditions.
Comparison of architectures, Haswell, Broadwell and Skylake
The controller is the same four channel. However, compared to the Haswell-E declared effective frequency slightly increased from 2133 MHz to 2400 MHz. Motherboard MSI X99A GAMING PRO CARBON whales supports up to DDR4-3800. Core i7-5960X runs with the DDR4 modules with the effective frequency is not above 3200 MHz.
Memory supported Intel Core i7-6950X
As I said, the Core i7-5960X and Core i7-6950X the same level of TDP. However, in practice it turns out that a CPU with fewer threads, operates at lower frequency (Turbo Boost at 8-“faced” Haswell-E speed for all cores stays at around 3.3 GHz) consumes a little bit more. All this is the merit of a 14-nm process!
Energy consumption test stand
As I said, the processors Broadwell-E is fully compatible with older motherboards with socket LGA2011-v3 chipset X99 Express. When you upgrade you only need to update the BIOS to the required version. However, almost all leading manufacturers of warning in advance and the announcement rolled out their new products. I got a cute but functional model X99A GAMING PRO CARBON from MSI. Review about it will be released on our website later.
MSI X99A GAMING PRO CARBON
Intel Core i7-6950X — 10 cores under the “hood”
The processor has seriously changed externally. First, Core i7-6950X the heat-spreading lid occupies almost the entire area of the printed substrate. Haswell-E and Broadwell-E looks very easy to distinguish.
Intel Core i7-5960X (left) and Intel Core i7-6950X
But Intel just does anything. A larger cooler is required in connection with the use of thin textolite substrate. Apparently, it’s easier (better) to Broadwell-E 2011 output pins directly to the chip. Such a constructive solution in the Skylake processors at the time led to a small scandal, as when transporting the computer with an overall cooler CPU printed circuit Board may be deformed, and the “stone”, pardon the pun, to turn into a brick.
Broadwell-E looks easy to distinguish from Haswell-E
Between the heat-spreading lid and the chip — solder.
Intel Core i7-5960X (left) and Intel Core i7-6950X
“Abdomens” Core i7-5960X and Core i7-6950X also differ.
Intel Core i7-5960X (left) and Intel Core i7-6950X
10-core processor is a complex device. Including in the distribution of the load on the kernel. It is obvious that the power of all 20 threads of the chip is required not always. Therefore, to save energy, Broadwell-E is using a number-conserving functions. Core i7-6950X as the Core i7-5960X, the claimed low default frequency at 3 GHz. However, at maximum load (given adequate cooling) CPU almost always runs at the speed of 3.4 GHz for all ten cores Turbo Boost 2.0.
Features Intel Core i7-6950X
So “stone” functions, that is, out of the box. For Broadwell-E, Intel programmers wrote a special driver that enables Turbo Boost technology 3.0 Max Technology. Her goal is to “pull” multi-core Core i7-6950X and Core i7-6900K in tasks that do not require large amounts of threads to the same Core i7-4790K and Core i7-6700K working at a high nominal frequency of 4 GHz.
Work Turbo Boost Technology 3.0 Max configurable in a small menu. In the first place put the quick “head.” In my case it is the sixth nucleus. The user can create a list of applications that will be redistributed load.
Intel Turbo Boost Technology Driver Max 3.0
Processors Haswell-E do not support Turbo Boost Technology 3.0 Max because they do not have the ability to independently control the frequency of individual cores. Overclocking Broadwell-E I will devote the second part of the review since Intel has implemented, in my opinion, a very interesting algorithm, the decoupling enthusiasts hands and increase the flexibility of system operation under load.
Features Intel Core i7-6950X
Is the use of Turbo Boost Technology 3.0 Max definitely there. Unless the application uses many threads, the frequency of the Core i7-6950X automatically rises above the claimed figure of Turbo Boost 2.0. Up To 4 GHz. In the benchmark wPrime 1.55 32m, for example, when using a single core Turbo Boost Technology 3.0 Max accelerated operation of the chip by 7% compared with Turbo Boost 2.0. Good result.
The results of testing Intel Core i7-6950X in wPrime 1.55
Testing
Test stand:
- CPU: Intel Core i7-6950X, 3 GHz
- Cooling: Corsair H110i GT
- Motherboard: MSI X99A GAMING PRO CARBON
- Video: AMD Radeon R9 Nano, 4 GB
- RAM: DDR4-2400 (15-15-15-36), 4x 4GB
- Storage: SSD 480 GB
- Power supply: Corsair HX850i, 850W
- Operating system: Windows 10 x64
In a couple of Core i7-6950X and Core i7-5960X, I added the flagship of the LGA1151 platform — Core i7-6700K (review). He only has eight threads, but the processor is functioning at a very high clock frequency of 4 GHz.
As I said, integrated memory controller natively supports faster memory DDR4-2400. This explains the small gap Core i7-6950X over the Core i7-5960X. Also AIDA64 understands and perceives the work of memory in 4-channel mode. Therefore, Haswell-E and Broadwell-E could outperform Skylake, which, as you know, dual-channel memory controller DDR4-2133.
The results of testing Intel Core i7-6950X in AIDA64
WinRAR is a good example of when a performance increase is a disproportionate increase in the number of cores. At least, this pattern is observed in the release 5.2, although the archiver supports multi-threaded work. The fact that when data compression algorithms WinRAR load on the engine and the flow is distributed evenly, but the CPU is not loaded 100%. In the end, Core i7-6950X in the built-in benchmark is ahead of the Core i7-5960X is only 4%. But the Core i7-6700K seriously behind the 8-core and 10-core chips. Impact including the difference in the volume cache of the third level. A large part of the dictionary used for the compression of data placed in SRAM, so the system rarely accesses memory.
The results of testing Intel Core i7-6950X in WinRAR
The results of testing Intel Core i7-6950X in WinRAR
But the scene rendering package from MAXON Cinema 4D arranges all the chips into place. Core i7-6950X faster Core i7-5960X 33.7% and faster Core i7-6700K on 98,3%. Due to the difference in the number of cores/threads but higher frequency, as well as the architectural differences between generations, Broadwell-E and Haswell-E.
The results of testing Intel Core i7-6950X in CINEBENCH R15
In LuxMark — the same picture. Only this time the gap Core i7-6950X Core i7-6700K was truly enormous — 107%! Core i7-5960X fell behind the newly made king by 30.6%.
The results of testing Intel Core i7-6950X in LuxMark 2.0
In multi-threaded programs that handle computer graphics, 10-core Broadwell-E shows all its power. We saw it in the same CINEBENCH R15. Any additional comments, I think, unnecessary.
The results of testing Intel Core i7-6950X in 3Ds Max
The results of testing Intel Core i7-6950X in Blender
The results of testing Intel Core i7-6950X in Fryrender
But in Photoshop the difference between ten, eight and four, but a very quick “heads” are observed. The program distributes the work across the cores, and then reduces the load on the threads.
The results of testing Intel Core i7-6950X in Adobe Photoshop CS5
Video encoding, encryption in these tasks, the processors once again lined up in a chain, based on the number of cores/threads CPUs.
The results of testing Intel Core i7-6950X when encoding video
The results of testing Intel Core i7-6950X when encoding video
The results of testing Intel Core i7-6950X in TrueCrypt
Unfortunately, to determine processorepiemonte Core i7-6700K had to be replaced by Core i7-4790K. But in fact the two chip platforms and LGA1150 LGA1151 in games demonstrate practically the same results. As testing shows, the modern (and not) games is enough eight threads, operates at high frequency of 4 GHz. In the test presented very protsessorostroeniya application. In General, the Core i7-5960X and Core i7-6950X somewhat behind the Core i7-4790K. This is especially noticeable in Far Cry 4, which is known to be optimized for eight threads. However, all three of the “stone” is ideal for gaming builds. We just have a little podrzavati Core i7-6950X.
Processorswith Intel Core i7-6950X
In conclusion
I occasionally hear the disgruntled cries on the theme that Intel “zadolbali” with their two/Quad Core i3/i5/i7 with integrated graphics. Like, let’s is useless integrated video (do not share this opinion, sorry) spend transistor budget chip to more cores and cache. And all will be well. Only here such a platform for enthusiasts exist for a long time — a small excursion into the history I already had. Now the list includes four Intel shestiyadernik, two osmeteria and one decategory. All without a built-in video. Is that enough? Another thing is that for such solutions the silicon giant is asking significantly more than any existing mainstream chips generation Core. This applies not only to processors, but the platform as a whole. Why the manufacturer behaves in a similar way? It’s very simple: because he can. Because there is no competition. So the cost of the first Board 10-core CPU (that Board, as 10 nuclear Xeon’AMI today is hardly surprising) first plunges into shock, and then comes the understanding that there is no alternative to the word “all”. I think that’s why the new line of processors Broadwell-E are somewhat removed from “mere mortals”. The younger 6 – and 8-core chips do not have any appreciable advantages in performance, but significantly increased in price.
In megapolice Core i7-6950X very fast. Even against the backdrop of the last king — the Core i7-5960X. Extensive way of development is bearing fruit: 20 threads perform any task swiftly, but the better performance is additionally affected by more efficient Broadwell architecture and higher clock frequency. As a result, in some applications, the lead 10-core Broadwell-E from fastest Haswell-E reaches 30-35%. It’s been a while, right?
In everyday tasks showed himself the Turbo Boost technology 3.0 Max Technology, increases the frequency of one core up to 4 GHz. According to testing, the Core i7-6950X suitable to build as a powerful workstation, and no less productive gaming computer. The platform features a assembling of system units with multiple graphics cards and the fastest drives. If possible, replace the eight-core Haswell-E on the “chervonets” Broadwell-E definitely makes sense. More opportunities to upgrade for the platform LGA2011-v3 is not. Chips Skylake-E will get its own socket and chipset.
The new line of processors Broadwell-E will definitely be of interest to overclockers, as now the chips are subjected to more fine-tuning. And for different types of tasks. However, this will be discussed in the second part of the review. And while Core i7-6950X receives the award “editor’s Choice”.
Intel Core i7-6950X
Pros:
Cons:
- the fastest desktop processor
- unlocked multiplier
- no need to change the platform
- the effectiveness of Turbo Boost Technology 3.0 Max
- the price is very high
- the high cost of the whole platform