Unlocked 18-core Haswell-EP Xeon rumored

[lutjens]

Found this today....I'm still shaking...it seems at long last Intel may have heard our pleas...

BTW...Dave, there's nothing to see here...move along..

http://vr-zone.com/articles/computex...ell/77282.html

Please Lord may this be true...pretty pretty please.... If this is true, these chips will be absolute animals...dual unlocked 18-core monsters....drooooooooool......

Intel, I promise not to break them.....pleeeease build these. I'm literally begging (I know it's sad)...but I've been waiting so long for these.

[NKrader]

Found this today....I'm still shaking...it seems at long last Intel may have heard our pleas...

BTW...Dave, there's nothing to see here...move along..

http://vr-zone.com/articles/computex...ell/77282.html

Please Lord may this be true...pretty pretty please.... If this is true, these chips will be absolute animals...dual unlocked 18-core monsters....drooooooooool......

Intel, I promise not to break them.....pleeeease build these. I'm literally begging (I know it's sad)...but I've been waiting so long for these.

mother of god!
you think they will accept a trade of my firstborn son for this?

[urbanfox]

I have a hard time seeing this happening. If it does, I can only assume extreme water setups will be the starting point for cooling.

[Scubar]

Intel need to bloody well make 6 or 8 core CPUs for the desktop affordable first.

[zalbard]

These will likely only cost $5000+ a piece (4P versions). Very practical...

[lutjens]

I have a hard time seeing this happening. If it does, I can only assume extreme water setups will be the starting point for cooling.

Whatever cooling the user wants to use will work...but the amount of overclock possible is directly proportional to how beefy the cooling system it. Better cooling=better overclock... The chips will work perfectly fine at default clocks with regular cooling. But, add a little water and it turns into the Hulk!!

Intel need to bloody well make 6 or 8 core CPUs for the desktop affordable first.

8-core smatecore, gimme 18 unlocked cores of yummy, dual-capable power... These chips are going to be built in any event, the question is whether Intel goes ahead and unlocks them. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to get your cheap 6 or 8 core in a 24 lane version. What I want is the ability to overclock Intel's best CPU and I don't give a rat's posterior what Intel wants to charge for it.

These will likely only cost $5000+ a piece. Very practical...

Probably not that much, but they certainly won't be cheap. It sounds like they will be marketed as normal DP Xeons, perfectly capable of dual operation at their normal clock speed at the specified TDP, and to the high end market, an 18-core DP Xeon will be very worth a good-sized premium and will sell very well. Most chips, even though they are unlocked, will never be overclocked. But those users who want to overclock them in a suitable system will finally have that ability. Those who buy these monstrous chips solely to overclock them will have to ante up for Intel's best. Nice things cost money, always have. But these chips, if they end up materializing, will be worth it. The prices that these chips fetch should definitely buy the ability to use them as the user desires, and these chips promise to finally provide that ability. It's nice to see Intel finally provide a fully unlocked, fully enabled, un-neutered, unfettered top-of-the-heap chip.

I truly hope and pray it comes to pass...

[Nizzen]

face change cooling 24/7

Hope this become true!

[BeepBeep2]

Probably not that much, but they certainly won't be cheap. It sounds like they will be marketed as normal DP Xeons, perfectly capable of dual operation at their normal clock speed at the specified TDP, and to the high end market, an 18-core DP Xeon will be very worth a good-sized premium and will sell very well. Most chips, even though they are unlocked, will never be overclocked. But those users who want to overclock them in a suitable system will finally have that ability. Those who buy these monstrous chips solely to overclock them will have to ante up for Intel's best. Nice things cost money, always have. But these chips, if they end up materializing, will be worth it. The prices that these chips fetch should definitely buy the ability to use them as the user desires, and these chips promise to finally provide that ability. It's nice to see Intel finally provide a fully unlocked, fully enabled, un-neutered, unfettered top-of-the-heap chip.

I truly hope and pray it comes to pass...

You're kidding...

I think an unlocked part would be through the roof. 2697 v2 are already $2600...4657L are $4600. I think a 2P Unlocked 18 core would be in that price range.

[paulbagz]

When pigs fly.

-PB

[NKrader]

Intel need to bloody well make 6 or 8 core CPUs for the desktop affordable first.

they arent already? (6core)

You're kidding...

I think an unlocked part would be through the roof. 2697 v2 are already $2600...4657L are $4600. I think a 2P Unlocked 18 core would be in that price range.

yeah, i could easily see it over 5k each

[lutjens]

they arent already? (6core)



yeah, i could easily see it over 5k each

The top unlocked chip will cost no more than the top Xeon, because they're one and the same. The SKU stack will remain the same as it would originally, except that the top chips will now be unlocked where they weren't before. Intel's not going to charge an extra $2k just because they decided to unlock the top bin chips. It'll just be a new feature present on the top chips, usuable by those who want to use it and those who don't want to don't have to.

I highly doubt there will be a special SKU (although a high TDP SKU is possible for water cooling as the article says) and expect the price to be $3000 or so for the top 18-core chip, $2000 or so for the top 12-core and $2500 or so for the top 14-core. If the top bins of the E5-4000 series chips are unlocked as well, there will be a premium for those chips due to their quad processor ability.

[SoulsCollective]

My word that's a lot of cores. I'm struggling to imagine many applications where it'd be commercial to have that many unlocked cores per socket.

[lutjens]

My word that's a lot of cores. I'm struggling to imagine many applications where it'd be commercial to have that many unlocked cores per socket.

It's simply a matter of being able to do more at once, without buying additional machines. Video encoding stands to take a big leap forward here, as well as those who multi-task with a large number of demanding application or who run a number of virtual machines.

The real benefit to having all those cores unlocked is that you can throw a large amount of cooling at it to negate the drop in single threaded performance that such a CPU normally incurs. The best of both worlds...a multi-tasking monster that still has the ability to perform as well as a lower core count CPU in single threaded tasks.

I've been waiting for such a CPU for a long time...

[SoulsCollective]

Not quite the point I was making - in such applications it is usually far more commercial to simply throw more machines into a farm to do the job. While we don't have any pricing information I think we can all agree this will be rather expensive, probably so much so that the price of one chip starts to approach or even exceed the price of an entire bare-metal unit.

[zalbard]

The top unlocked chip will cost no more than the top Xeon, because they're one and the same. The SKU stack will remain the same as it would originally, except that the top chips will now be unlocked where they weren't before. Intel's not going to charge an extra $2k just because they decided to unlock the top bin chips. It'll just be a new feature present on the top chips, usuable by those who want to use it and those who don't want to don't have to.

That's true - dual-socket chips cost less. However...

Intel's top 12 core Ivy-EP costs $2340. How much do you think is an 18 core Hw-EP (bigger, more difficult to manufacture) chip going to cost? And an unlocked version of that chip? $3000+, easily. Could be even $4000 - there's no competition.

And no, I don't see them unlocking mid-tier chips. If they do it at all, it will happen to top-of-the-line chips.

I also wouldn't expect any boards with great overclocking support... This offer is more directed at custom datacenter builders like Facebook or Google.

[lutjens]

Current top of the line 12-core Ivy Bridge-EP (two way E5-2600 V2 flagship) is the E5-2697 V2, which currently has an MSRP of $2618 USD for the retail boxed version and $2614 for the OEM tray version.

http://ark.intel.com/products/75283/...Cache-2_70-GHz

I'd expect Intel to charge a modest premium on top of this for an 18-core chip, in line with the predictions I made above.


The price you quoted was for the E5-4600 V2 flagship, which is a different animal. It's a four way chip and Intel charges a significant premium for that ability.

Here is the link for the E5-4657L (current 4P E5-4600 V2 flagship):

http://ark.intel.com/products/75290/...q=e5-4657%20v2

[AbortRetryFail?]

... Video encoding stands to take a big leap forward here ...

Video encoding across cores/hyperthreads increases output by percents.

GPU acceleration increases output by multiples.

[lutjens]

Not quite the point I was making - in such applications it is usually far more commercial to simply throw more machines into a farm to do the job. While we don't have any pricing information I think we can all agree this will be rather expensive, probably so much so that the price of one chip starts to approach or even exceed the price of an entire bare-metal unit.

Actually, no, it's not. Additional machines incur significant addition infrastructure costs, such as increased power consumption, increased cooling costs and higher management costs as well. These processors, in their stock form, will go quite some ways toward reducing the footprint of the average datacenter. If the applications warrant it (ie: aren't ultra-critical or life and death) I'd expect further optimization to be possible by companies like BOXX selling pre-overclocked (and pre-validated) servers and workstations. These wouldn't be aggressively overclocked to the limit of their stability, far from it. The additional headroom in the processor would be exploited with water cooling that's already available from companies like CoolIT, which has a very nice rackmount water cooling system for datacenters. This may understandably cause a significant degree of trepidation when it comes to stability concerns from server buyers, which is why Intel may release validated SKUs that are optimized for water cooling (as was stated in the article).

This additional performance from a modest increase in clock speed (10-20% is reasonable to expect) will help contribute to additional performance and further consolidation of data centers, while giving ultra high-end enthusiasts a succulent, beautiful, shiny, butt-kicking new toy to play with.

This is an incredibly wise decision on the part of Intel to make the high core count (HCC) Xeons more flexible and will help push performance upward on the single-threaded side of the equation, in addition to adding more cores.

[lutjens]

Video encoding across cores/hyperthreads increases output by percents.

GPU acceleration increases output by multiples.

For encoders that are re-written to accomodate a GPU, yes. But, why not have both...a workstation with 36 cores clocked to 4.0-4.5GHz with 256GB of DDR4 RAM and a couple of Titan Zs under water to handle the CUDA optimized apps?

What these CPUs promise is enough cores and threads to destroy most multi-threaded workloads, a high enough clock speed to excel in single-threaded apps, and the Titan Zs available (if the buyer needs to go that route) to take care of the CUDA apps...the best of ALL worlds...

[PatRaceTin]

Oh bench score may be sky rocket.

[lutjens]

Oh bench score may be sky rocket.

Yep, they will. I shudder to think of what a couple of these monsters will do under phase change cooling...droool.

Over 5 GHz+36 cores=

Even under good water, thse chips should do quite well, probably 4.0-4.5GHz, albeit with a rather large power draw and TDP. Now we have to deal with the wait until Computex...which is way worse than waiting for Christmas when I was a kid....

I hope we get a good CPU-Z or something out of Computex....something to drool over until launch...

[urbanfox]

Whatever cooling the user wants to use will work...but the amount of overclock possible is directly proportional to how beefy the cooling system it. Better cooling=better overclock... The chips will work perfectly fine at default clocks with regular cooling. But, add a little water and it turns into the Hulk!!

I was referring strictly to overclocking. Even with the mildest of OC's these things are going to draw insane power.

[lutjens]

I was referring strictly to overclocking. Even with the mildest of OC's these things are going to draw insane power.

I'd agree that the consumption of power will increase significantly faster with an unlocked 18-core CPU than with a CPU that has fewer cores, but the onus is on the user to ensure that necessary generous cooling is supplied as required (which is no biggie). My main concern is that the motherboards supporting these monsters will have the VRM capacity necessary to satiate their above-average power appetites when the newly added clock speed knob is nudged upward...water blocks for VRMs may just become more popular with X99...

[urbanfox]

I'd agree that the consumption of power will increase significantly faster with an unlocked 18-core CPU than with a CPU that has fewer cores, but the onus is on the user to ensure that necessary generous cooling is supplied as required (which is no biggie). My main concern is that the motherboards supporting these monsters will have the VRM capacity necessary to satiate their above-average power appetites when the newly added clock speed knob is nudged upward...water blocks for VRMs may just become more popular with X99...

True, and if they build it, they will come lol. I guess if someone has the money to burn for one or two of these bad boys then the cost of a MB or cooling won't be an issue lol.

[lutjens]

True, and if they build it, they will come lol. I guess if someone has the money to burn for one or two of these bad boys then the cost of a MB or cooling won't be an issue lol.

Indeed. The main market and usage of the CPU will be unchanged, but it'll now have the option to be turned up in speed should the purchaser decide to, and this new ability has the potential to grow the market considerably for pre-validated ultra-high performance servers and workstations with the necessary upgraded cooling to run at elevated clock speeds. An end user that uses one in a build will be responsible for ensuring adequate cooling and yes, if they can afford one of these chips, they can afford the top-notch cooling required to keep it happy.

Personally, if these CPUs are for real, I'll be making a call to CoolIT for one of these:

http://www.coolitsystems.com/index.p...-dclc-ahx.html

Easy, peasy...enterprise reliability, no part hunting, fabrication or jury-rigging required.

I wonder if they have video card modules for this system as well...