Why It Matters: Knowing very well that AMD would show a 32-core Threadripper CPU at the Computex 2018, Intel created a diversion to steal a little earlier thunder. AMD, showing unreal Cinebench numbers of a suspicious 28-core processor of 5 GHz that is not a real product.
After a busy week at Computex 2018, looking back, we can say that there were not a lot of big ads at the show, but maybe one of the revelations the more exciting was the next 32-core 2nd-gen Threadripper processor should be released in a few months.
But the day before the AMD press event in Taipei, Intel came out on stage and introduced a suspicious 28-core CPU running at 5 GHz on all the cores, which caused a wave of the internet. It seemed that Intel was showing a future product, they said it themselves, but later we discovered that it was not the case.
It 's worth talking about this CPU and Intel' s announcement because it shows the difference between Intel 's current high - end desktop and desktop workstations. ; AMD. One company is talking about real consumer equipment, while the other is demonstrating ridiculous trash cans that serve no purpose other than generating titles.
So back to the initial revelation of the 28-core Intel 5GHz processor. During their Computex 2018 keynote, they showed this massive processor running at 5 GHz on the 28 cores, and they managed to run a multithreaded Cinebench workload that produced a huge score. People went crazy because of this and the titles were generated everywhere, which is exactly what Intel meant, knowing very well that AMD would crush them the next day with a 32-core Threadripper.
When this news was announced, we had doubts about how Intel managed to run this 28-core processor at 5 GHz. It could not be a consumer product, and not something that would ever reach the market, at least at the frequencies that Intel was exploiting on stage. Intel said that the presented CPU was a prototype and that it would be released in the fourth quarter, but I will come back to it later.
After the Intel demonstration, various outlets like Paul's Hardware are switched over to Gigabyte and have exposed the Intel test system presented on stage. And low and here, the processor in question is cooled with the aid of a massive air conditioner that reduces the liquid cooling system temperatures to levels below room temperature. It's the number one red flag.
Then you look at the motherboard that they use. This is a massive enterprise card using the LGA3647 socket, which is normally used for Intel's high-end Xeon processors. And at the top of the table is an outrageous VRM solution in 28 phases (or so) with a huge heat sink and additional cooling, clearly capable of delivering massive amounts of energy to this prototype processor. This is the second red flag.
Now, when you join the dots together, it becomes obvious that it's just an existing high-end Xeon processor (like the Xeon Platinum 8180 at 28-core $ 10,000), embedded in a card capable of provide extreme power, then overclocked to the absolute maximum. Presumably, this Xeon chip was also tidied to a ridiculous degree so that an overclock of 5 GHz all-core could be achieved. In fact, later, Intel would confirm to AnandTech that the demo was using an overclocked CPU and was intended to be an overclocking demo ... not that the company had mentioned it on stage.
Overclocking experiments using exotic cooling are great and something we see constantly doing, but it's pretty hypocritical to say that this CPU is coming on the market in the fourth quarter. There is absolutely no way to get a 5GHz 28-core processor as part of a desktop or server part. Maybe we'll get a 28-core processor that hits 5GHz as a single-core, but 5-GHz all-core Turbo frequency when the current Xeon Platinum 8180 flagship finishes at 3.2GHz all-core? Yes, this is not the case.
What Intel did at Computex is equivalent to saying that an i7-8700K is a 7 GHz processor. Of course, it can reach 7 GHz as an overclocked part on extremely high end motherboards with exotic cooling like LN2, but no consumer buying an 8700K reaches 7 GHz in typical scenarios. They will be able to overclock it above the Intel rated specifications, but not as much as possible with chillers bolted to the CPU.
This is a stark contrast to the AMD announcement for Threadripper 2. Their 32-core processor is a real product and is expected to hit the market in August. It will be available to consumers, they will be able to put it in the existing X399 cards, and they will be able to achieve the AMD performance showed on stage. The AMD demo clocked the CPU with a base frequency of 3.0 GHz and an all-core 3.4 GHz amplification, running through air cooling with the Wraith Ripper.
This is a reasonable configuration for enthusiastic users and users of the AMD Threadripper platform. The 32-core prototype processor had a TDP of 250W, while the Intel 5GHz 28-core could easily reach 500W or even 1 kW with the overclock used. This is not even in the same state of mind: the launch of Threadripper 2 from AMD was a reflection of reality; a real CPU with real specifications that you can buy. The 5GHz 28-core CPU showcase from Intel was pure fantasy.
And basically, it 's here that things are happening now with the Intel and AMD HEDT platforms. AMD had the ability to push up to 32 cores with Threadripper 2 on the existing TR4 plug and the X399 platform. After all, they already have 32 core Epyc processors on the market, so it was not difficult for them to bring this technology to HEDT. They do not need to reinvent anything: they simply increased the number of active dice on Threadripper from 2 to 4 - and boom - there is a mainstream desktop processor 32 -core. The multi-die approach of AMD with the Infinity Fabric Interconnect allows to go directly from 16 to 32 cores; their development work on Infinity Fabric is now paying off, ready to be used as an incredibly powerful desktop processor.
On the other hand, Intel has virtually tied hands on the HEDT segment. Their high-end Core i9-7980XE pushes 18 cores on the X299 and LGA2011 platforms, pushing this platform to the limit in terms of the number of cores. Their server chips do not exceed 28 cores on a single massive die, with low yields, on a completely different platform and platform, priced at over $ 8,000.
To compete with Threadripper 2, Intel would be forced to extract the LGA3647 socket from its Xeon server line and embed it in high-end desktop motherboards. Then take their ultra-expensive Xeon 28-core chip and perhaps push the clocks even higher, while remaining competitive on price.
But will they do it? Or rather, should they do it?
We were pleasantly surprised last year when Intel reacted to Ryzen by offering competitive processors at all levels, and we are very interested to see what Intel is doing with its HEDT line towards the end of this year. No matter what their "5-GHz 28-core" processor actually becomes for consumers, we do not expect it to come close to what they've introduced to Computex.
For now, it's clear that Intel wanted to create a diversion and steal some of AMD's thunder a day earlier, showing Cinebench numbers so ridiculous that Threadripper 2nd-gen did not seem threatening. But when the time comes and only one of the two companies delivers the goods you can actually buy, you can vote with your wallet. We can not say that we liked the deceptive demo, but hey, the CPU wars are back and that's just good news for consumers.
Mast Face Image: Sam Chen, Personalized PC Magazine
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