Intel To Launch Xeon E7 Ivytown ?Ivy Bridge-EX? Processor With 15 Cores and 30 Thread

[MadHacker]

An arm for the low-frequency version, and a leg for the high-frequency one.

I was worried it would be an arm and a leg for just 1 CPU...

[Tenknics]

I remember reading very specifically that one of the improvements with Ivy-E and its relatives over Sandy-E was that it's cores were completely modular and independent. They said they could configure any core amount they wanted, and they weren't harvesting dies to make certain #s like they did with Sandy-E die harvesting/disabling of cores. The 6 core Ivy-E had a huge reduction in die size because its now a native 6core part instead of a harvesting 8-core.

I'm pretty sure this is 15 cores, nothing disabled, no 2 dies merged together, or whatever anyone else has said.

[lutjens]

I don't think this is aimed at general consumers lol. Eitherway, I'm sure if you called Intel you could probably get an unlocked one directly through them (it may end up being an engineering sample though)

You probably could....if your name was Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Dell, Bill Gates, or Larry Page. For the rest of us, Intel would simply laugh. An unlocked Xeon with 8 cores or greater has never been seen in the wild that I'm aware of. I've never seen a screenshot of such a chip or any benchmarks of one. I have on good authority, however, that they do exist, but are for internal Intel use only and that usage is VERY tightly controlled.

I remember reading very specifically that one of the improvements with Ivy-E and its relatives over Sandy-E was that it's cores were completely modular and independent. They said they could configure any core amount they wanted, and they weren't harvesting dies to make certain #s like they did with Sandy-E die harvesting/disabling of cores. The 6 core Ivy-E had a huge reduction in die size because its now a native 6core part instead of a harvesting 8-core.

I'm pretty sure this is 15 cores, nothing disabled, no 2 dies merged together, or whatever anyone else has said.

Intel does actively use harvesting...some of the 6 and 8 core Xeons are harvested 10 core dies and this is done to provide the full 25MB cache.

The dies aren't merged together for the 12 cores, but I think that the 12 core versions do have three cores disabled. If you look at the depiction of the different dies that Intel released back in September, there is the 6 core version, the 10 core version and the 12 core version. The 12 core version was 4 cores, cache, 4 more cores, more cache and then the last 4 cores, with QPI and memory controllers on the top and bottom of this "sandwich". Three stacks of four cores. It's not really a stretch to extrapolate a possible harvesting scenario where the 15 core die is the actual full version, with one core removed from each of the three stacks to make a 12 core. I could be wrong, but given Intel's refusal to release a die shot of the 12 core chips, the 12 cores actually coming from a harvested 15 core CPU is a distinct possibility.

[hecktic]

An arm for the low-frequency version, and a leg for the high-frequency one.

lol no seriously tell me what the price is going to be haha

i may use this in my next workstation build

[lutjens]

$7K is no exaggeration...

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...rt-saving-boys

The one peculiar thing (IMO) is that there isn't much of a jump from the 2P versions to the 8P versions (everything else being the same).

[AliG]

You probably could....if your name was Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Dell, Bill Gates, or Larry Page. For the rest of us, Intel would simply laugh. An unlocked Xeon with 8 cores or greater has never been seen in the wild that I'm aware of. I've never seen a screenshot of such a chip or any benchmarks of one. I have on good authority, however, that they do exist, but are for internal Intel use only and that usage is VERY tightly controlled.

I think you underestimate just how much you can accomplish just by asking the right way. Most human beings are rather empathetic; I think if you used the right phrasing ("I'm spending x thousand dollars as an enthuasist...") I bet you could pull it off

$7K is no exaggeration...

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...rt-saving-boys

The one peculiar thing (IMO) is that there isn't much of a jump from the 2P versions to the 8P versions (everything else being the same).

Even for extreme systems, $7k for a cpu is extreme lol

[lutjens]

I think you underestimate just how much you can accomplish just by asking the right way. Most human beings are rather empathetic; I think if you used the right phrasing ("I'm spending x thousand dollars as an enthuasist...") I bet you could pull it off

I have asked the right way, as well as sending numerous letters to top people at Intel regarding the issue and asking very politely to have the top Xeons unlocked. The response (at least I did get a response) was, "Thanks for your feedback." Also, given the number of folks on these boards that have way better contacts at Intel than myself who've been unable to get an unlocked Xeon, as well as the complete absence of such a chip in the wild tells me that Intel doesn't want to have their DP Xeons with 8 cores or more unlocked in any form. They won't even unlock the top ES chips, which have also been hard locked since the earliest 2011 ES sample surfaced, and although I can certainly understand why, it does highlight Intel's complete and adamant refusal to have unlocked DP Xeons anywhere but in their sample drawer of internal CPUs.

Even for extreme systems, $7k for a cpu is extreme lol

Sure, it's an extreme price, but taken in the context of what such a processor offers to some people, an argument can be made that a 15 core CPU's price is at leat somewhat justified. A typical dual system offering 30 cores of processing power a 1P to 2P footprint, in a standard TDP envelope is very valuable to many people. Given the licensing costs of some software packages, moving to fewer systems with a higher core density can be cost effective because licensing costs are reduced, while at the same time maintaining or improving performance. Unlocking these HCC Xeons would simply add a degree of flexibility to those who wished to utilize it, with 99.9% of the chips being run at default speeds in servers. The few folks that have a need (or desire) for such a chip and are willing to pay for it should have the flexibility to increase the clock speed if desired, especially at that price.

[Olivon]

http://vr-zone.com/articles/broadwel...nce/66845.html

[lutjens]

http://vr-zone.com/articles/broadwel...nce/66845.html

I'd be very surprised if we actually end up seeing these in the Fall of 2015...maybe the Fall of 2016, if we're lucky. They may begin production on schedule, but only for their large partners and for supercomputers. By the time we proles (end users, normal IT depts, small businesses and other purchasers that buy from the channel) are permitted access, it'll certainly be well into 2016, with Fall being most likely. The core count of the desktop chips will almost certainly be unchanged as well...

I bet Intel is kicking themselves hard for releasing the i7-980x and i7-990x chips as hex cores back a few years ago...if they had offered only quad cores, they could have kept Sandy Bridge-E and Ivy Bridge-E "Extreme" chips as quad cores and increment up to six cores with Haswell-E and play it up to be a big deal. I guess the complacency and arrogance they're exibiting today hadn't fully set in when they released the i7-980x, though. Unfortunately, those traits show little sign of abating and indeed may become more acute over the next few years.

Unless Jim Keller can pull a very large, very fluffy rabbit out of his hat over at AMD, enthusiasts who want to overclock are stuck with the status quo for the foreseeable future...