Review: Intel Core i9 7900X processor

We analyze the Intel Core i9 7900X processor, belonging to the Intel Basins Falls family of processors and developed under the Skylake-X architecture, which has ten cores and twenty processing threads.

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INTRODUCTION

Intel's new bet for the professional range, focused on Workstations and the like, based on the Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X architecture are already a reality. These new processors arrive to replace the Broadwell-E processors for this segment. These Intel Basins Falls processors are an excellent solution for those who are dedicated to programming, photo retouching, cartography or editing 3D projects. Specifically, we will analyze the Intel i9 7900X processor, which has ten cores and twenty processing threads.

As we mentioned, the i9 7900X belongs to Intel's Basins Falls family, which is divided into seven processors based on Skylake-X and two on Kaby Lake-X. This ten-core processor is not the top of the Skylake-X family of processors, since the maximum representative is the i9 7980XE, which will have eighteen cores and thirty-six processing threads. Returning to the Skylake-X processor, we have to bear in mind that it is a high-end processor not intended for gaming.

Intel i9 7900X has been developed in a 14nm Tri-Gate manufacturing process, counting this with ten cores and twenty processing threads, which works at a frequency of 3.3GHz. The Skylake-X processors have Turbo Boost 2.0, which will be 4.3GHz and also the new Turbo Boost 3.0, which offers a frequency of 4.5GHz. Regarding cache memory, it offers 10MB of L2 cache and 13.75MB of L3 cache. This processor offers support for Quad Channel DDR4 memory, has a total of 44 PCIe lanes, has an LGA 2066 socket and the TDP of the processor is 140W.

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CHIPSET

A new processor platform requires new chipsets and Intel has developed a solution called Halo for these new Basins Falls, which has support for new technologies. The first thing that this chipset offers us is the overclocking capacity and is that all Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X processors, in principle, have overclocking capacity. It has support for Intel Turbo Boost 3.0, which is characterized by increasing the frequency of the two best processor cores, which allows to improve performance significantly. The chipset also allows us to balance consumption and thus keep temperatures at bay, making them not as high as in other solutions.

Basically it has been developed for the control of advanced computer systems and for overclocking, although this platform being compatible with gaming, these processors have not been thought of as a gamer solution. This new chipset offers us total control for Intel's XMP 2.0 profiles, which allows us to develop various memory profiles according to the practice that we are going to carry out and load it in a simple way, without having to configure the frequencies by hand, each time. In addition, it offers support for the Xtreme Tuning Utility and introduces a protection system, which has been called Performance Tuning Protection Package Plan, which allows you to see the capabilities of the system and the processor, without major problems.

Intel X299 also offers us quality technical characteristics, with a large number of PCI Express lanes. It should be noted that the processor lines are intended, in principle, for graphics cards, while the chipset offers us 24 PCIe 3.0 lines, intended for different elements. X299 offers us support for M.2, U.2, NVMe, Intel Optane and RAID configurations, in addition to supporting up to 8 SATA 6Gbps ports. In addition, in the field of connectivity, it offers support for USB 3.1 Gen1, allowing a maximum of ten and also fourteen USB 2.0 ports.

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INTEL VROC

Intel VROC technology is the first time it has been deployed and will only be supported on Skylake-X processors. This technology, still unknown and for which there is little data, is based on a direct configuration of RAID systems in direct connection with the processor, improving transfer rates. This technology allows us to develop a RAID configuration of up to 20 M.2 SSD units, not as was done so far, using a chipset, but directly with the processor, without bridges, of course, using the PCIe x16 ports that the motherboard incorporates .

Natively, all processors allow RAID 0 through VROC, therefore, we can have a huge storage unit, something that goes very well for professionals of video or photo editing, who work with very large files. It also allows RAID 1/5/10 configurations, although these additional RAID configurations are not natively enabled, we need a kind of key that is installed on the motherboard (the motherboard must have the specific connector) and these three are directly enabled settings.

We must bear in mind that one thing is the RAID 0/1/5/10 offered by the chipset, which is still completely open and operational, with the RAID VROC, which is completely different and is directly under the processor. This solution, as we have commented, has been designed for professionals in photo and video editing, programmers, etc., people who make use of very heavy files and that surely gives a good account of the rates of work speeds that they can be given.

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CONFLICT-FREE

Something very interesting about Intel that it is implementing in its processors is that they have started a Conflict Free policy, which is an incentive. Freeing its mineral processors from countries in conflict, represents an important change, since it ends with the exploitation of less favored people, who were born in countries in conflict or where they are exploited. This means that they only acquire minerals to make the processors, who come from countries free of conflict, which means that they offer greater economic opportunities and above all, security for miners and their families.

Tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold often come from countries where there is conflict and exploitation. These elements are essential for the development of different technologies, on which we depend on a daily basis and that we can find in laptops, desktops, tablets, vehicles, airplanes, jewelry, lighting, etc. They are militias and rebel groups, who in the Congo exploit those who work the land to obtain these materials and who have caused a genocide of nearly five million people since 1998.

Intel has launched a project to obtain minerals without the need for exploitation, improving the lives of workers and their families. The minerals in this case are extracted by companies that have been audited by third companies, thus obtaining materials without conflicts and receiving a fair salary to support their families. What is also sought is that the workers who mine these materials work with a good work environment and with the greatest possible safety.

Currently, thanks to this project, more than 200 mines can be found in eastern Congo without conflict. Mining in Congo has long been a world without law and full of violence, but thanks to NGOs like Enough Project and companies like Intel, the mines no longer have the problem of armed conflict and it also allows to receive a decent wage and allows work in a peaceful and more comfortable environment.

Devices and components containing materials obtained free of minerals obtained in conflict zones have been developed to brand. Right now Intel is the one starting to use this practice and these materials are sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Conflict Free brand allows you to see the commitment to creating products with materials without conflict. Intel is also proud to say that its products carry conflict ready materials and that they are working on extending it to all of the company's products.

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BENCHMARK

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[nextpage title=»CONCLUSION» ]

CONCLUSION

The Intel i9 7900X is a brutal, huge, impressive processor from another planet, capable of the impossible, groundbreaking and all the qualifications you want to put it. Ten cores and twenty threads of raw power to the beast. We see how in all the benchmarks it destroys the eight-core AMD Ryzen 7, without even messing up. If we look at the CPU-Z, with the stock frequencies, it surpasses the Ryzen 2000 7X by almost 1700 points and with a little overclocking the difference easily exceeds 2400 points, that in multicore, because in single core it also sweeps without problems.

Cinebench R15 leaves us some impressive data, far surpassing AMD's Ryzen processors and in Geekbench 4 the difference exceeds 9000 points, which is a real outrage. That's best understood in the WinRAR data, where it gives 23.303kB / s, which is about the same as the i7 7740X and Ryzen 7 1700X add up. Undoubtedly, in the silent benchmarks made, this Intel Core i9 7900X is a true monstrosity and clearly, any professional who gets one of these processors will see the rendering time of photos and videos significantly reduced, the reduction of the time of compilation of programs, etc.

The data is brutal, but it has a problem, it is extremely hot. We have mounted it with an NH-D15, which is not suspected of being a bad heatsink and in stock frequencies the minimum is 33ºC and the maximum reaches 94ºC, being extremely high temperatures, which indicates that it needs liquid cooling to don't go so rushed in temperatures. The truth is that it got out of hand when we have raised it from 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz, reaching a minimum temperature of 40ºC and a maximum temperature of 99ºC, reaching peaks of 104ºC. Without a doubt, that is its big problem, the temperature, which with an RL, should be well controlled.

We know that this Intel Core i9 7900X is around € 1000 and the motherboards for these processors are not exactly cheap and the RAM is absurdly through the roof, but despite all this and the temperature problem, which is solved with good cooling Liquid AIO 240mm, we have a processor that anyone who is dedicated to programming, wants to set up a server at home, stream video games, edit photos and videos, etc.

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