Gulftown processor dubbed Core i7-980X, making its debut Q1 2010?
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted December 15th 2009 5:13PM
posted December 15th 2009 5:13PM
If you didn't make it to eBay in time to put down $1,200 or so for your very own pre-release Gulftown chip, cheer up! The countdown to the six core wonder continues apace, with more news each passing day. According to a purportedly leaked slide that popped up on China's PC Online, the 32nm chip will be known as the Core i7-980X and not the Core i9, as previously rumored. Part of the i7 "Extreme Edition" series (so extreme!). If everything goes as leaked, the 3.33GHz processor could be included in new Mac Pro systems come early 2010 -- which more or less jibes with rumors that the processor will be available sometime in March. See the new product name appear on the roadmap after the break.
I think i9 made more sense.
@GingerFox
i6 for six cores obviously...
oh wait....
@epic it's i7 because of: 6 (one for each core) + 1 representing the first digit of the number of threads = 7
@(Unverified) and on current i7s it's: 8 (number of threads) - 1 (first digit of the number of threads from his older brother 6-core i7)
@linlinda09
Somebody wield the banhammer on this guy already... I've seen his spam on the last two articles I've read on Engadget.
Hello, beautiful. Step off of my screen and into my x58.
i9 will probably be 8-cores.
Why only 2x16 support... should'a gone for 3x16 (or 4x) to heighten the bump to 6 cores.
To quote Daffy Duck from Ali Baba Bunny: "Mine Mine Mine! Go Go Go! Mine Mine Mine!"
@AniMill Wow, thanks for bringing back memories of that cartoon! My fav part was the guy swinging his sword, shouting "Hassan CHOP!" :P
@r3loaded
i say that all the time!
@AniMill
The X58 chipset supports only 2 x16 PCIE 2.0 slots not the processor. The 1156 socket processors are the ones that have the PCI-E lanes built onto the processor and not the chipset.
http://www.intel.com/Products/Desktop/Chipsets/X58/X58-overview.htm
I'm just glad that it's the same socket. The lower end i7s and the i5s are basically using the almost temporary 1156, at least this is 1366. Means I can upgrade my 920 when I feel it's necessary.
May just have to swap out my 920 for one of these, not straight away, obviously, because i've only just put this one together, but maybe at the end of 2010 start of 2011.
I know, i probably won't need it, the performance difference won't be great. But i'm an idiot and for no apparent reason, i want this.
ok
at an affordable $999 msrp.
@va jj
and a $1999 option for the mac pro !!
@DefPoet no ways apple only charge 20% markup not 50%!
@va jj
joke is a joke :P : D
AMD better show off its fusion chip soon
i like amd's naming scheme for its opteron processors. much more info in the name.
i cant wait to hear more about intels h55 chip/set thats upcoming... another socket change, but onchip graphics :D
perfect for itx and embedded markets.
BUT CAN IT RUN CRYSIS?!
can your mom run crysis?
So, is the 980X the only Gulftown CPU being released? IS there no six-core CPU set for the performance category?
@Cyrs
At this point there is not. A year from now? Maybe.
@Cyrs
According to channelweb there are fourteen 32nm processors coming mid-march. 12 are 5600 Xeons, 7 of which are quad cores, and the other two are 3.33GHz 6 cores in the form of this Core i7 and it's Xeon sister. This is normal for Intel when a socket is established, the lower priced 32nm single socket processors will come at some point later.
130 Watt... ouch!
@(Unverified)
Meh, if I'm dropping that much on super-high-end cpu I really doubt that I'm going to care about using an extra $10 in electricity every year
@(Unverified)
I don't think it's not so much the cost of the electricity as the logistics of handling the seemingly ever-increasing heat output of these beasts. Granted, we're talking about the 'extreme' edition but some of us are more interested in seeing how much the move to the 32nm manufacturing process can reduce heat output while maintaining the same level of performance.
I personally don't think any of my games are even going to gain more than a few fps from running a 3.3 GHz hex-core cpu compared to a 2.8 GHz quad. I don't do anything else that's very CPU-intensive (sorry SETI/FOLDING people). I'd be very impressed if my next PC could do the same thing that my current one does while being passively cooled. I know there isn't much chance of that for another few years though. It would be possible now if it weren't for the fact that video cards are being released that run at over 100 degrees celsius out of the box and that this is considered acceptable.>:o(
Integrating graphics into the CPU could be very interesting and I hope it leads to future systems moving away from the CPU+GPU setup of today. Of course there will be enthusiast systems with dedicated graphics for quite some time but to me it makes sense to adopt an integrated approach to 'mainstream' graphics processing.
@(Unverified)
I don't think it's not so much the cost of the electricity as the logistics of handling the seemingly ever-increasing heat output of these beasts. Granted, we're talking about the 'extreme' edition but some of us are more interested in seeing how much the move to the 32nm manufacturing process can reduce heat output while maintaining the same level of performance, e.g. mobile, mATX, miniATX, etc.
@(Unverified) : Top bin TDP hasn't been changing for a while, so I don't know why you're surprised byt hting number.
LOL...now think of a Core i7 8-core processor MOBILE.....
Huh. They should do that. 32nm, it's all good. But it might overheat too much.
Maybe they should just make a 32nm 4-core processor. Then Apple can be happy.
The 130W TDP seems a bit much.
@IvanP91
Really? It's the same as the current i7 9xx chips, and 10 W less than amd's 965.
@IvanP91
For a 3.3GHz 6 core CPU?? That's about 22W per core...
Old news. It was posted at Fudzilla more than 1.5 days ago.
@(Unverified)
In that case please go back to fudzilla and stay there, thx
@(Unverified)
What's a Fudzilla? ...is it Mozilla's ugly sister?
WTF?!!? Now Intel's calling the Core i9 a Core i7? And I bet that the Core i7-980X wouldn't make its way to the Mac Pro - its a workstation, not a gaming computer. Do you see a Dell Precision using a Core i7?
@Tothamax
Well, Core i7 Extreme. And what I'm hoping is that Apple decides to use these in the new Mac Pros in addition to the Gulftown Xeons so we can opt to save some money if we don't want a workstation processor.
@Tothamax Apple will use the Xeon W3680 which is the same processor, just with ECC memory support. Dell and Apple will also use the Xeon 5600 processors that are coming, apparently in quad and 6 core flavors.
@RogerMcDodger - would someone please clarify the real world advantage of ECC on a workstation. I've used dual Xeons and single Core2-Quads for quite a while now and I've never had a memory error in either system (that I know of). From what I understand the only serious difference between the Xeon and other Extreme procs is the ability to have 2 in a system (and ECC).
For my next system I am seriously thinking of just going 6core-i7 to replace my dualQUAD Xeon. Anyone think it'll be a better machine?
@AniMill
How sure are you that a memory error has never occurred? It's more of a preventive measure rather than a real necessity for workstations.
what i really want is the 32 nm dual core chips with on-die graphics. coupled with a switchable dedicated graphics card, that would make for one heck of a versatile laptop. good graphics performance and good battery life, with the power of the new architecture.
So we can expect a better priced, .33Ghz slower, and non extreme version in Q2 2010 at the earliest? That gives Intel 3 months to milk the masses that just have to have a 6 core i7.
I haven't seen any article stating the punchline yet... Price.
@(Unverified) With a name like extreme you are looking at $999 or higher. That's what the extreme line MSRP has been historically.
*yawn Sure, it's great seeing faster chips, but how come I still cannot but an i7 PC today for $400?
Why would Apple use a non-DP processor in Mac Pros? They'd have to use a different motherboard for the single socket processors, which seems like it would consume the price difference from an equivalent DP part.