The Intel Broadwell-E Review: Core i7-6950X, i7-6900K, i7-6850K and i7-6800K Tested
by Ian Cutress on May 31, 2016 2:01 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- Enterprise
- Prosumer
- X99
- 14nm
- Broadwell-E
- HEDT
Catching Up: How Intel Can Re-Align Consumer and HEDT
Earlier in this piece I stated three reasons why the enterprise market has an out of step cadence with the latest CPU microarchitecture: product stability, regular releases, and platform longevity.
To get stability, using Intel’s tried and tested core makes sense, rather than the latest and greatest. The longevity of each enterprise platform is such that each socket and chipset generation must last for two CPU cycles, allowing a potential upgrade path, but also means that customers aren’t ripping out their installations every 12-18 months with fresh new ones in order to beat the competition. Also, by being behind the mainstream platform at a slightly slower refresh rate, it allows the release of enterprise CPUs to compensate for any process delay on the latest architecture.
But at this point, we are now a generation and a year behind the mainstream and latest microarchitecture. There are features in the latest mainstream Skylake CPUs, such as Speed Shift (the ability to react to high priority frequency requests up to 20x faster to save power and improve user experience), that are not in the enterprise and HEDT products. If the out-of-step and slower cadence continues, we could be two generations behind fairly easily. However, Intel has (inadvertently) developed a get-out-of-jail free card here.
Earlier in the year we reported that Intel is changing its processor development strategy due to a combination of factors including the slowing of Moore’s Law and the difficulty in creating a smaller lithography node to create processors. Intel was on their tick-tock strategy for around a decade, alternating between smaller nodes and new microarchitecture designs to give performance increases every cycle (or half-cycle). Tick-tock was well received and provided Intel and its investors with a steady expectation and revenue stream when the new product delivered and if it met expectation. When Intel hit several bumps with 14nm, tick-tock became an extended 'tiiiick-toock', slowly lengthening out the time between updates. Then this year Intel said that, for the CPU product line based on the Core microarchitecture family at least, would move to ‘Process-Architecture-Optimization’, or a three-stage cycle for 14nm (the current node) and 10nm (the next node).
On the mainstream product segment, this means that the 14nm family, originally featuring Broadwell (tick) and Skylake (tock), will become Broadwell (process), Skylake (architecture) and Kaby Lake (optimization). The level of ‘optimization’ that Kaby Lake will provide is unknown at this point, but what used to be a 24-month cycle can now become a 36-month cycle very easily.
But it is not immediately obvious what this means to the enterprise segment. One would naturally expect the segment to follow the PAO implementation, albeit slower. Here’s Intel’s potential trick for the future: depending on the level of ‘optimization’ in the final stage of the cycle, the enterprise segment has the potential to just bypass and ignore it, keeping the cycle length the same and giving Intel an opportunity to realign the microarchitectures. The net product would be 36 month cycles, spanning 3 product generations at the consumer level and 2 product generations at the enterprise/HEDT level.
That being said, it’s a little bit of conjecture. We have spoken to some senior members of Intel about this, and it was acknowledged that it could be a potential strategy, however as expected nothing like this would be confirmed in a casual conversation even if it was decided at a senior level. It will make an interesting point when the enterprise market rolls around to Skylake-E and Skylake-EP based cores and beyond, if Kaby Lake-E will be a ‘thing’ or not.
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piroroadkill - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
Shitty pricing, lame increases in performance.I really hope Zen lights a fire under their ass.
aggrokalle - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
Hi Ian, is the Intel Thermal Solution TS13A compatible with the thinner package of the Broadwell-E? I didn't find any informations on the intel website. Don't wonna break my shiny new toy :pGodofmosquitos - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
Honestly - as the article itself mentions, the EE-line of CPU's have just fallen too far behind to be considered serious options for enthusiasts. At least imo. I still have a 980X clocked at 4GHz. And it runs everything with stellar performance. That was the last time Intel had an EE-CPU which was ahead of the curve. Also, as PCI-E 4.0 will seemingly require a new platform, due to lacking backwards compatibility of PCI-E 4.0 cards with 3.0 slots, I seriously cannot see anything justifying an upgrade before '18, when PCI-E 4.0 is out, we're on 10nm, and Intel Optane disks are readily available.Godofmosquitos - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
Or well, for "the average" enthusiast at least ^^Impulses - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
What I really don't get is why the 6800K is still saddled with a lower lane count... Aren't the price hikes and the lag to market enough of an HEDT differentiator? Is the lower lane count something that helps yields?They've gone backwards, from having an attractively priced 5820K that could lure some Z170/6700K buyers to basically making HEDT as irrelevant as possible unless you absolutely need the extra cores.
A lot of enthusiasts that don't NEED 6+ cores but COULD benefit from it (photo/video work in the side etc) would be all over a more attractive and less ignored HEDT lineup.
rhysiam - Wednesday, June 1, 2016 - link
I totally agree. I'm due for an upgrade and put myself exactly in that category of photo + video work on the side and being "lured" towards a 5820K. But the price hikes, lag to market and practically 0 performance seems to have pushed the "HEDT" line from enthusiast to niche. Reading this review I don't want anything to do with it.We've waited almost 2 years since the Haswell-E launch and the "update" offers significantly worse price/performance ratios.
Especially with Skylake having plenty of PCIe lanes, with the right motherboard you're covered for 2 graphics cards (or 1 plus a RAID controller), several PCIe SSDs and a 10GBps NIC... plenty for the foreseeable future. Intel is making the cost of these 6+ core CPUs (both in terms of $$s and in the sacrifice you have to make in single threaded performance) larger and larger.
My worry is that pushing up HEDT prices will allow them to bump up the prices of high end mainstream CPUs. Let's see how much the overclockable Kaby Lake i7 costs shall we? I sure hope Zen can shake things up.
adamod - Wednesday, June 1, 2016 - link
market segmentation....no other reasonmapesdhs - Thursday, June 9, 2016 - link
Doubly backwards given the 4820K was a 40-lane chip, whereas the 5820K isn't. It means a 4820K/X79 can do things for gaming with SLI/CF (and still have lanes for storage and other stuff) which a 5820K and 6800K can't.rodmunch69 - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
I had a 980x and then upgraded to a 3930k... 4 years ago. The 2 extra cores were great and useful, but otherwise there wasn't a big difference between the chips. Reading this it doesn't seem like the base 6800k is really much of an upgrade over a 3930k. I've been wanting to upgrade if there was a reason to do so, but Intel again isn't giving me one. One thing however with the 980x is the motherboards and the related chipsets, that's where you'd see a big difference going with something like a 6800k and it would be the reason I'd move off a 980x, but only if I was looking for a reason to move.rodmunch69 - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
I've had a 3930k for 4 years now and I still don't feel much of a need to upgrade. What is going on with Intel? They seriously need a competitor to kick them in the rear and push them ahead.