Intel i7-990X

[Keven]

Those who follow processor rumors will know that the final Gulftown processor, the i7-990X has been rumored for a while.

According to Fudzilla, it's started showing up online in European shops. A quick check by myself shows that two sites are listing it, both for $1,100 with a clockspeed set at 3.4Ghz. No reputable sites thought.

Is anybody in the market for a last-generation Extreme Edition? It'll be fast, considering that the 980X is only like 10-15% faster than the SB 2600K, I don't know if I'd jump onboard with a Gulftown part.

[Keven]

What, nobody cares about the Expensive Edition processors?

[GFORCE100]

The 990X requires a X58 chipset motherboard while people are now moving over to P67/H67 chipset territory and consequently buying into the 2500/2600K's. The latter overclock very well and in most cases give the 990X a solid run for its money.

People just prefer to put the saved money into a better graphics card or SSD from what I see around in forums.

[IntelEnthusiast]

Unless you are doing some very heavy multi-threaded work (like video editing) I would advise you to go with 2nd generation Intel® Core™ I7 2600K. It provides great performance and the ability to overclock at a much lower price point then the Intel Core I7 990X Extreme Edition. There are still going to be people that will find that the 990X is the better processor for some things like video, maybe some audio work, and some very rare games, otherwise go with the Core I7 2600k.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

[Keven]

Two months without a peep, then I see this thread pop up!

[jethro]

I bought a 990x and like it a lot. For me the deciding factor were:

1. Flexibility with PCIE. If I buy another GTX590 dual gpu video card I have two x16 slots at my disposal. If I want to go three way SLi, I have 16-8-8 at my disposal.

2. I already had 3 X 2GB DDR3 1600MHz Patriot RAM, wanted to use it in triple channel.

3. Didn't want to buy another quad core CPU, and I wanted top tier gaming.

[Activate: AMD]

I bought a 990x and like it a lot. For me the deciding factor were:

1. Flexibility with PCIE. If I buy another GTX590 dual gpu video card I have two x16 slots at my disposal. If I want to go three way SLi, I have 16-8-8 at my disposal.

2. I already had 3 X 2GB DDR3 1600MHz Patriot RAM, wanted to use it in triple channel.

3. Didn't want to buy another quad core CPU, and I wanted top tier gaming.

1) x16 vs x8 has almost negligible performance gains/penalty
2) Triple channel has almost no impact on gaming since they aren't mem-bandwith limited
3) hex-core has almost no impact on gaming since games mostly aren't CPU limited or they don't take full advantage of a hex

990x just doesn't make sense for gaming. Maybe if you don't have a budget at all, but that 700$ would be better spent on a whole list of things before you ever get to the CPU (GPUs and monitors would be the first things that pop into my mind)

[Keven]

1) x16 vs x8 has almost negligible performance gains/penalty
2) Triple channel has almost no impact on gaming since they aren't mem-bandwith limited
3) hex-core has almost no impact on gaming since games mostly aren't CPU limited or they don't take full advantage of a hex

990x just doesn't make sense for gaming. Maybe if you don't have a budget at all, but that 700$ would be better spent on a whole list of things before you ever get to the CPU (GPUs and monitors would be the first things that pop into my mind)

Yeah, sorry jethro. I just built a new system myself, and I was interested in the 990X (hence starting this thread), but in my opinion, what the i7-990X offers over the i7-2600K isn't $700 worth.

[jethro]

1) x16 vs x8 has almost negligible performance gains/penalty
2) Triple channel has almost no impact on gaming since they aren't mem-bandwith limited
3) hex-core has almost no impact on gaming since games mostly aren't CPU limited or they don't take full advantage of a hex

990x just doesn't make sense for gaming. Maybe if you don't have a budget at all, but that 700$ would be better spent on a whole list of things before you ever get to the CPU (GPUs and monitors would be the first things that pop into my mind)

1. Sorry, I have to disagree with you. Putting dual GPU GTX590s on X8 slots isn't optimal, and there is no 3 way SLi Sandy Bridge board I'm aware of. Check out the big difference it makes putting a 5970 on a X8, 590s will only be worse.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...review-22.html

2. First of all, I said I had the RAM already. So to use more than 2 sticks of it, I need triple channel unless I wanted to run 6GB on single channel on a SB mobo. Second, people use their computers for things other than gaming.

3. I didn't say games are optimized for hex cores, I said I'm bored with quad cores. I've purchased three Phenoms, several Core2 and i7 Quads. Wanted a hex, and the AMD flavor would bottle neck my graphics.

Getting "the best" is never a "bang for buck" scenario, but when I play a game at 57X10 in 3d on my 590 pushed by the 990, I seldom think "Nuts wish I had that $700 back". Also, I put a Corsair H70 on the 990 and have the whole thing in a CoolerMaster HAF932. If/when I go back to quad or tri SLi I'm set to OC the 32nm 990 a fair amount.

I agree the SB parts are the way to go for most gamers, but I'm not "most gamers".

[jethro]

Yeah, sorry jethro. I just built a new system myself, and I was interested in the 990X (hence starting this thread), but in my opinion, what the i7-990X offers over the i7-2600K isn't $700 worth.

No apologies necessary sir! I struggled mightily with this decision myself as SandyBridge is so very good!

[slugbug]

Personally I would go with a 970 if I had the cash to upgrade my X58 rig.

[Activate: AMD]

1. Sorry, I have to disagree with you. Putting dual GPU GTX590s on X8 slots isn't optimal, and there is no 3 way SLi Sandy Bridge board I'm aware of.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128480
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131714
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135282

Check out the big difference it makes putting a 5970 on a X8, 590s will only be worsehttp://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...review-22.html
.

http://hardocp.com/article/2010/08/2...6x16_vs_x8x8/3
7% at Eyefinity resolutions in the worst case (texture heavy games). most everything else was pretty small. I'm not telling you its optimal, but you're talking a 200% price increase for a 7% (at most) improvement in frames.

2. First of all, I said I had the RAM already. So to use more than 2 sticks of it, I need triple channel unless I wanted to run 6GB on single channel on a SB mobo.

you spend $700 more on a CPU to save a $30 stick of ram? ram is cheap now, just get a new 2x4GB set for 75$

Second, people use their computers for things other than gaming.

Yea, and those are the people that might actually want a 990x. You mentioned gaming but didn't mention any other programs so I assumed this was a gaming-centric rig. My apologies if you happen to do a lot of heavily-multithreaded rendering on it as well

3. I didn't say games are optimized for hex cores, I said I'm bored with quad cores. I've purchased three Phenoms, several Core2 and i7 Quads. Wanted a hex, and the AMD flavor would bottle neck my graphics.

Fair enough. sounds like a silly reason to spend $700 but then again, I've got a dual-hex SR-2 rig specifically to fold, so I can't argue with that

Getting "the best" is never a "bang for buck" scenario, but when I play a game at 57X10 in 3d on my 590 pushed by the 990, I seldom think "Nuts wish I had that $700 back". Also, I put a Corsair H70 on the 990 and have the whole thing in a CoolerMaster HAF932. If/when I go back to quad or tri SLi I'm set to OC the 32nm 990 a fair amount.

nobody ever misses it at the time.. just when you want something else and look at your bank balance. You might be wishing you had the $700 when you're being held back on your OC by a $100 cooler.. building a custom WC setup for a heavily OC'd SB wouldve make the list of things I'd spend money on before the CPU. Modern games are so rarely CPU bound that once you get to the difference between a heavily OC'd 2600k and a gulftown (and why not just get the $600 i7-970 then?) that theres money spent more wisely than on a 990X. If you really wanted the best why didn't you get an SR-2 and some X5600 series Xeons?

I agree the SB parts are the way to go for most gamers, but I'm not "most gamers".

clearly not.. most of us don't get free stuff from nvidia to play with

[jethro]

1. There were no dual X16 or three X8 SB boards when I bought. Actually, when I bought there were barely SB boards at all as they were just re-appearing after the great recall. Most days you couldn't even buy one, and once I saw some crappy ones show up and sell out in a day.

2. I don't have standard water loops any more because they require maintenance, are a PITA. Their cost is change to me, not a factor.

3. You linked to a review on HardOCP of two single GPU cards to "disprove" my claim the dual GPU cards can be significantly affected by an X8 slot. It's not a comparable situation. Even if it were, I have no reason to doubt Hardware Canucks.

LOL, I don't think I need to apologize for buying Intel's flagship consumer CPU. I can afford it, and it offers some advantages over cheaper alternatives.

BTW- wouldn't you be better off spending your money on NVIDIA GPUs to fold than Xeons? Just sayin'....

[AMDScooter]

^^ To each their own and I'm gald to see you are getting good use of your rig. Hard to believe that you can put together a decent x58 system for just over $300 nowadays. 950 is down to $180 + Good "refurb" EVGA mobo $125= $305. If I were thinking 3 way GPU I'd consider it even with the X79 and socket 2011 coming out later this year/early next year.

[Activate: AMD]

LOL, I don't think I need to apologize for buying Intel's flagship consumer CPU. I can afford it, and it offers some advantages over cheaper alternatives.

no argument there. if money is no object at all you might as well spend it on the "best". Just that most people wouldn't, and really shouldn't, be spending it on the CPU if they're after the best gaming performance at even remotely sane prices.. and that includes people with dual 6990's and the like

BTW- wouldn't you be better off spending your money on NVIDIA GPUs to fold than Xeons? Just sayin'....

No, its not even a contest. my dual xeons are far more power efficient and productive than a top-end NV GPU (150,000 points per day using 400w vs 30-40,000 using similar wattage)... but if you'd like to use your 590 to fold for team 734, we'd love to have you onboard