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Intel releases Haswell-E and X99 Chipset

• Alessandro Cossidente
• September 3rd, 2014

This year’s third quarter brings us new technological advances. At PAX Prime on August 29, Intel has finally released its enthusiast-class processor models with memory support up to quad channel DDR4-2133 using 288-pin slots and Intel’s first eight-core desktop processor along with the X99 chipset.

The CPUs

The crown jewel is the i7-5960X, featuring a 3.0 GHz base clock speed with a 3.5 GHz Turbo Frequency, eight cores with 16 threads, a massive 20MB Cache, 40 PCI Express 3.0 lanes and four channels memory support for DDR4-2133, 22nm lithography and a TDP of 140W, priced at $999.

The more affordable Intel models are the mid-range i7-5930k and the entry-level i7-5820k, both including DDR4-2133 support. The i7-5930k comes with a 3.5 GHz base frequency, six cores instead of eight with 12 threads, a still impressive 15MB Cache, 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes, priced under the $600 mark. Finally, the i7-5820k also features six cores, 12 threads and 15MB Cache, but the base frequency drops at 3.3 GHz and the number of PCIe 3.0 lanes is reduced to just 28. It does, however, come with a significantly reduced price of $400.

Intel X99 Chipset and LGA 2011-v3 MOBOs

The new trio of Intel Haswell-E CPUs functions on the new LGA2011-v3 socket using the X99 chipset. This has provoked an avalanche of new motherboards from ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI and ASRock. These offer up to 14 ports of USB 3.0, 10 ports of SATA 3.0, 6Gbits/s along with eight slots of quad-channel DDR4. High-end gaming rigs based on Intel’s new technology are starting to appear on the market, such as Alienware’s Area 51, Digital Storm’s Level 3 and Level 4 builds and other such systems made by the likes of Maingear, Origin PC, Velocity Micro and CyberPowerPC.

Given the amount of new hardware with DDR4 memory support coming out, we should expect an increase in DDR4 RAM kits appearing on the market with more attractive offers.