Specifications of Intel Core i7 ‘Haswell-E’ processors unveiled

Specifications of Intel Corp.’s next-generation high-end desktop (HEDT) microprocessors have been published by Coolaler, a well-known overclocker. As expected, Intel’s new top-of-the-range processor will feature eight-cores, whereas the remaining expensive chips will sport six cores.

Intel Core i7 “Haswell-E” family of central processing units consists of three chips: the Core i7-5960X, the Core i7-5930K and the Core i7-5820K. Only the top-of-the-line CPU sports eight cores with the Hyper-Threading technology and 20MB L3 cache, the remaining two products feature six cores with the Hyper-Threading technology and 15MB of L3 cache. All three microprocessors integrate quad-channel DDR4 memory controller (2133MHz maximum clock-rate, up to one DIMM per channel). It is noteworthy that while the two high-performance chips feature 40 PCI Express 3.0 lanes in total, the model Core i7-5820K comes only with 28 lanes. The new processors are to be made using 22nm process technology.

It is evident that the addition of two more cores to the Core i7-5960X forced Intel to significantly reduce clock-rate of the processor compared to the six-core Core i7-4960X. This means that in many cases the current-generation HEDT chip could be faster than the next-generation offering.

As reported earlier, the new Core i7 “Haswell-E” 5000-series central processing units for high-end desktops will rely on the Intel X99 core-logic set (code-named Wellsburg) and will utilise LGA2011-3 socket. The new platform has been developed for performance and overclocking enthusiasts from the ground up, hence, it supports very advanced tuning and overclocking capabilities, up to five devices in PCI Express 2.0/3.0 x8 mode (four graphics cards and one enthusiast-class solid-state drive in PCIe card form-factor), ten Serial ATA-6Gb/s ports, up to six USB 3.0 ports (14 USB ports in total) and so on.

Earlier it was expected that the Core i7 “Haswell-E” platform would be announced at the Computex 2012 in early June. However, at present many believe that the new chips will only emerge in August or September.

Thanks to the fact that the Core i7 “Haswell-E” 5000-series central processing units and the Intel X99 core-logic represent a brand-new platform for enthusiasts, expect mainboard makers, boutique PC manufacturers and producers of cooling systems to announce their all-new devices designed for the new CPUs or built on their base. Memory module makers are also expected to roll-out DDR4 memory modules for enthusiasts.

Intel did not comment on the news-story.

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KitGuru Says: While specifications from Coolaler are usually correct, keep in mind that they may not be finalised at this time. Moreover, it should be noted that one of the key new features of the Core i7 “Haswell-E” 5000-series is its Turbo Boost 2 technology. At present nothing is known how the Turbo Boost 2 works, how it overclocks the CPUs and how it all affects real-world performance.

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