The Intel Core i9-7980XE and Core i9-7960X CPU Review Part 1: Workstation
by Ian Cutress on September 25, 2017 3:01 AM ESTBenchmarking Performance: SPECwpc v2.1
Anyone can run wPrime (why would you?) or Geekbench, but more often than not these pre-built synthetic tests are not representative of any user’s workload. This applies even more to professional environments or prosumer workloads, where time is money: if someone interested in hardware cannot pinpoint exactly how the new hardware is going to benefit them, that is $20 of billable time down the drain.
One of the difficulties of a benchmark reviewer is finding relevant benchmarks for the audience at hand. I’ve discussed what AnandTech is and our audience to several high profile software vendors who are in the business of supplying professional grade, critical programs that top technology companies use to produce the next $700 smartphone. These engineers are our readers, and it only seems best that we benchmark something that can assist them in accelerating our workflow. Unfortunately, the almost blanket response from these ISVs is negative, even if the request is for a limited software license in exchange for repeated discussion of the software on AnandTech (and third party benchmark data to assist their customers in hardware purchasing). My last discussions with two major ISVs led to a ‘interesting but we don’t see the value’ response and a ‘we’re doing our own in-house thing’ response respectively. No-one wants to know. Unless you work at one of these companies and want to get in touch.
The fall-back position in this case is to call on SPEC for their Workstation benchmark series. SPECwpc has existed in one form or another for several years, using pre-compiled binaries for a mix of medical, oil-and-gas, engineering, visualization and system level benchmarks. There are over 30 benchmarks, some running multiple copies to keep all the cores busy, and repeated runs offer very good consistency. A full run can take over six hours, making a sizeable increase to even our CPU workflow.
We’re reporting almost all of the subset scores in our benchmarking. Some tests require a GPU, and so we maintain the same RX 460 graphics card on each processor we test, along with the same screen resolution and driver. Ideally we would use professional graphics cards, like AMD’s FirePro range or NVIDIA’s Quadro range, however we currently use four identical RX 460 cards to keep the benchmarks on our test beds continually flowing, and sourcing four of the same pro card on long-term loan is actually fairly difficult.
Because SPECwpc takes so long and is fairly new, we only have results for a few processors so far. This should expand as we continue using this test. We’re likely to limit this test to HEDT processors and above, along with one or two mainstream processors (i7-K, Ryzen 7). For this review, out of the two Intel processors in the title, we only had time to run it on the Core i9-7980XE.
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IGTrading - Tuesday, September 26, 2017 - link
Thanks man , after 21 years in IT hardware I don't know ;)Have a fun life and enjoy your "wisdom" :)
whatevs - Tuesday, September 26, 2017 - link
Seeing these new cpus released, sold and used I think Intel has a better idea of what it is doing than you.Good luck competing with Intel in your "experience in the industry" category.
0ldman79 - Wednesday, September 27, 2017 - link
I'm sure he'll be fine.He was here before the "165W" chip and I'm sure he'll be here long after it is gone, same as me.
ZeDestructor - Monday, September 25, 2017 - link
Laptops and tablets break TDP all the time under Turbo loads. I don't see anyone bitching there...0ldman79 - Wednesday, September 27, 2017 - link
It's really no different than if a car was sold with inadequate cooling."Average" heat production at normal speeds is fine, but if you actually come close to using the 300HP the engine produces by, I dunno, pulling a trailer at those same speeds it will overheat and you'll have to pull over and let it cool.
But sure, it's Intel, so it's cool...
HStewart - Monday, September 25, 2017 - link
I have a still running dual Intel Xeon 3Gz 5160 and my biggest complaint is that the box is huge. This machine is 10 years old has 8G of memory and about 5T of storage. It CPU's alone cost around $2000 and in your terms it like the Bentley or my 2000 Toyota Tundra with Lexus Engine with 240,000. In essence you get what you pay for.wolfemane - Tuesday, September 26, 2017 - link
Hate to break it to ya but that Lexus motor IS a Toyota motor. And by going Lexus you way overpaid for a Toyota.Garf75 - Monday, September 25, 2017 - link
Ian, why are there no temperatures posted?extide - Monday, September 25, 2017 - link
Probably because they are highly dependant on the cooler used and the environment it is in. Not really relevant to an article like this.Garf75 - Monday, September 25, 2017 - link
Seriously? As a customer I would want to know if my cooling system is adequate for the job if I'm pushing the CPU.