FRONTPAGE Intel i7-6950X Broadwell-E CPU Review

[Janus67]

i didn't expect it to overclock worse than a haswell-e. bummer. no oc gains and no ipc gains. this can't be right.

If that's the case it isn't that surprising considering how Broadwell (non-e) overclocked and performed.

 

[ehume]

Nice Review. I noticed that you were looking at watts used by measuring power at the wall. Intel makes a gadget (here) that estimates power usage. It has a log which can be set from 100-1000ms (1/sec). It's cute. I used it for a while to see what my own system was doing.

It isn't a substitute for measuring, but it does provide data.

 

[EarthDog]

Thanks for the suggestion!

Does it work in W10, this program? Seems like the spreadsheet doesn't show much of anything...

Cumulative Processor Energy_0 (Joules) = 47.470520
Cumulative Processor Energy_0 (mWh) = 13.186256
Average Processor Power_0 (Watt) = 0.731440

I ran WPrime for a little over a minute with Wprime already having been started when I started the log. WPrime finished in that time as well. That column E for average processor power never budged while under load or idle. About the only bit of information I know worked there were temps.

 

[Joe88]

i didn't expect it to overclock worse than a haswell-e. bummer. no oc gains and no ipc gains. this can't be right.

You can see here the crazy voltage that is needed to get 4.4ghz on the lowest broadwell-e cpu
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i7-broadwell-e-6950x-6900k-6850k-6800k,4587-7.html

And because of the high voltage it overheats like crazy, a h100i failed to cool it after a while under load

I wont be upgrading (or maybe downgradeing in this case) will have to wait till skylake-e

 

[Woomack]

I doubt there will be skylake-e ... and if yes then will be new platform. There are 2 high end series each socket for long years now. Also considering users needs and the fact there is no competition at all, I doubt if Intel will hurry with next CPU series. We will see it probably in 2-3 years and in the meanwhile will be replacement for 1151 skylake.

 

[Joe88]

Actually skylake-e and the new socket were just announced http://www.tweaktown.com/news/52336...e-processor-arrive-lga-3647-socket/index.html

 

[Woomack]

It doesn't mean it will be called skylake-e after premiere ( probably will be but hard to say ) and it doesn't mean it will be released soon. Everything is delayed lately. 2 years ago on intel slides there was 2011-3 chip called skylake-e, later it was changed to broadwell-e and broadwell-e is not even in stores yet. Average life of high end CPU series is longer than mid line ( like 1150/55/51 etc ). It will be stupid move from Intel side if they release anything new in next year.

 

[EarthDog]

They did it with broadwell and skylake than 2 months the apart.. I imagine we see the broadwell-email successor in 2017.

 

[Woomack]

Desktop broadwell premiere was maybe 2 months after but "haswell refresh" while haswell was already over a year on the market. Laptop broadwell was released almost a year before desktop version. Still both were different, just naming the same.

 

[EarthDog]

Ok...

But this is HEDT and mainstream. Laptop has always marched to the beat of a different drummer...

Edit: I meant to say Skylake above... sorry. Edited.

 

[Woomack]

anyway looking at overclocking I'm wondering if there is any point in selling 5820K to get new 6 core as performance gain isn't really big ( I mean core to core ) so it won't cover 200-300MHz OC difference

 

[EarthDog]

I would imagine the core difference between the 6950X and 5820K make it worth it...for those that use productivity apps. 10c/20t @ 4Ghz or 6c/12t at 4.4Ghz...? As is being said all over the place including this article, the chip has a market, it isn't the gamer or average user. One whos time is worth money can actually make up the $700 difference pretty quickly.

That isn't to say I dont think the price is very high, it is.. but when looking through the right colored glasses (the ones these are marketed towards in teh first place). It makes more sense (not complete sense, LOL!).

 

[DaveB]

Nice review but the i7 6950X is way over my needs/budget. Looking at the i7 6800K results at Tom's Hardware, which is the successor to the i7 5820K and in my price range, the power usage and heat dissipation when overclocked are very disappointing. A Corsair H100i was unable to sustain a 4.4 GHz OC without the temp reaching 90C and the CPU throttling after only 12 minutes of testing. Looks like I'll be sticking with my i7 5820K which does nicely air cooled at 4.3 GHz at least until AMD's Zen is released.

 

[Woomack]

I was thinking more to replace my 5820K with new 6 core as my budget won't let me to get anything more but I'm not sure if there is anything better in these chips like higher memory OC or something like that. Overclocking doesn't look good and core to core performance based on tests around the web isn't much better.
If you find some time then please check if TridentZ which you got can boot at 3600+. It should be based on memory IC that can pass this clock but I wonder if IMC and motherboard can make it.

Regarding 6950X, I think it's good that this CPU is dedicated to workstations rather than gaming computers like all previous "Extreme" series.
I'm not sure if price is really good as in similar price you can get 2x 8 core Xeon or even more. However Xeons run at low clock or are way too overpriced so maybe there is a point of 6950X on the market.

 

[EarthDog]

Nice review but the i7 6950X is way over my needs/budget. Looking at the i7 6800K results at Tom's Hardware, which is the successor to the i7 5820K and in my price range, the power usage and heat dissipation when overclocked are very disappointing. A Corsair H100i was unable to sustain a 4.4 GHz OC without the temp reaching 90C and the CPU throttling after only 12 minutes of testing. Looks like I'll be sticking with my i7 5820K which does nicely air cooled at 4.3 GHz at least until AMD's Zen is released.

Im wondering where that sample lay in the scheme of things. For example, the 6950X we reviewed only needed 1.2V at 4.2GHz. It of course has 10 cores.

 

[ehume]

Thanks for the suggestion!

Does it work in W10, this program? Seems like the spreadsheet doesn't show much of anything...

Cumulative Processor Energy_0 (Joules) = 47.470520
Cumulative Processor Energy_0 (mWh) = 13.186256
Average Processor Power_0 (Watt) = 0.731440

I ran WPrime for a little over a minute with Wprime already having been started when I started the log. WPrime finished in that time as well. That column E for average processor power never budged while under load or idle. About the only bit of information I know worked there were temps.

Hmm. When I used it, my operating system was W10. I had the log recording at default, which was 100ms -- too quickly. I also discovered that it opened wretchedly in OO unless I took care which Open options I selected. But it did record the data. Play around with it.

 

[EarthDog]

I did. It does not seek to work for me. I'll try it with a different system.

 

[RGE]

Nice review!

Minimal IPC and mediocre overclocking on these chips...2nd quarter 2017 is supposed to be both skylake X and kaby lake X at same time? Ill wait to update cpus then...will just have to wait on 1080ti to buy something new for now.