We’re going to look back on 2017 as a genuine WTF?! moment in CPU tech. And this inaugural i9 processor, the Intel Core i9 7900X, is going to be one of the bits of silicon we’ll hold up to exemplify all the weirdness.There’s a whole lot of serious silicon out there right now, so check out our pick of the best CPUs for gaming so you know where to spend your upgrade cash.The Core i9 7900X is a ten-core $1,062 (£956) processor. Last year, that would have made it the tippy top of Intel’s high-end desktop (HEDT) tech tree, but this year it’s the bottom rung of the new Core i9 range, and sits in the middle of the entire X-series CPU stack.Yeah, a ~$1,000 CPU as a mid-ranger. Told you times were weird.As much as Intel are keen to keep on trotting out the old ‘none of this has anything to do with AMD, honest’ line we know that, without increased AMD Threadripper-shaped competition from the red team, we wouldn’t be looking at a new range of processors topping out at a ludicrous 18 cores.
But none of that has happened yet. The Core i9 7980XE is still a long way off – it currently looks like little more than a few hastily scribbled drawings on the back of an engineer’s napkin left in the Intel canteen. AMD’s 16-core offerings have yet to see the light of day too. So, right now, this is the fastest, most powerful desktop processor you can buy. Well, if anybody had stock you might be able to... But here’s the important question: with the CPU world in such a state of flux, is there anything to be gained from trying to get your mitts on a Core i9 7900X right now?
That’s the broad overview, but, in terms of specifics, the Core i9 7900X is a ten-core CPU making full use of Intel’s HyperThreading technology to deliver a hefty 20 threads of processing goodness to the user. That, in itself, is not massively exciting, given that we had our first taste of such a multicore CPU last year, but the speed at which Intel have got the first Core i9 running is impressive.
But none of that has happened yet. The Core i9 7980XE is still a long way off – it currently looks like little more than a few hastily scribbled drawings on the back of an engineer’s napkin left in the Intel canteen. AMD’s 16-core offerings have yet to see the light of day too. So, right now, this is the fastest, most powerful desktop processor you can buy. Well, if anybody had stock you might be able to... But here’s the important question: with the CPU world in such a state of flux, is there anything to be gained from trying to get your mitts on a Core i9 7900X right now?
That’s the broad overview, but, in terms of specifics, the Core i9 7900X is a ten-core CPU making full use of Intel’s HyperThreading technology to deliver a hefty 20 threads of processing goodness to the user. That, in itself, is not massively exciting, given that we had our first taste of such a multicore CPU last year, but the speed at which Intel have got the first Core i9 running is impressive.
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