Sandy Bridge-E CPUs Shipping Without Coolers?
Three upcoming Sandy Bridge-E (LGA2011) processors will ship without heatsinks and fans claims reports.
VR-Zone reports that Intel will ship its upcoming "Sandy Bridge-E" (LGA2011) Core i7 3820, 3930K and 3960X processors without a heatsink/fan combo in the box. The company will instead sell certified, compatible CPU coolers separately in a market that will already have readily available LGA2011-compatible solutions from big-name CPU cooler suppliers.
The report also suggests that users may want to look into liquid cooling with these three upcoming processors. Although the rated TDP is 130W, all three are reportedly consuming closer to 180W. Even more, Intel is supposedly telling power supply makers to verify that "their Sandy Bridge-E PSUs can cope with a peak current of 23A on the 12V2 rail and [be] based on an 80-percent or better efficiency rating of the PSU."
In addition to reports of the shipment and TDP rumors, pricing for the three CPUs supposedly leaked over the weekend. The Core i7 3960X high-end Extreme Edition processor will be focused on the enthusiast and priced at a meaty $999 USD, and will reportedly sport 6 Cores/ 12 Threads, 15 MB of L3 Cache and a stock clock speed of 3.33 GHz (3.9 GHz turbo). The Core i7 3930K will be priced at $583 and the "entry level" Core i7 3820 will be priced at $294.
Beyond these three, the next wave of Sandy Bridge-E processors is slated to arrive in the first half of 2012. These will include the Core i7 3980X Extreme Edition flagship CPU, the Core i7 2800K which will replace the i7 2600K, and two others that will replace the 3930K and 3830 processors. So far it's unknown if these processors will also ship without heatsinks and fans in the box.
I can say I was impressed on the 1100T I picked up a month ago from newegg, the stock heapipe cooler was impressive for stock, kept idle temps around 28C and allowed a stable overclock of 3.8 / 4ghz-turbo. Verified stable after 3 hours of burn in with all cores at 100% and no errors! Hottest it got in my well vented case was 45C!! And it came with the chip and I did not have to pay extra!
Great for people that actually want to choose their own cooling though
Though really, high end CPUs like this end up in mostly enthusiast hands, they'll have something planned or some other high end cooling system.
Great for people that actually want to choose their own cooling though
The lower end ones will probably have a heatsink. A common Joe won't pay Top dollar for a box processor. Hopefully not, then they deserve it overheating
I can say I was impressed on the 1100T I picked up a month ago from newegg, the stock heapipe cooler was impressive for stock, kept idle temps around 28C and allowed a stable overclock of 3.8 / 4ghz-turbo. Verified stable after 3 hours of burn in with all cores at 100% and no errors! Hottest it got in my well vented case was 45C!! And it came with the chip and I did not have to pay extra!
I agree, to a certain extent. While I never used the stock cooler that came with my i7-950, I think it's still a good idea to include one in a retail package. Regardless of how crappy the heat dissipating performance may be, it's still rated to work fine at stock clocks, and it also gives the user the option to install a processor before investing in an after market cooling solution.
You're no longer getting a fully functioning component out of the box. You're basically getting an OEM processor with full retail packaging, and unfortunately at full retail price.
My current I5 sandy bridge machine was not a great upgrade, but as another addition to my render farm, it certainly was cheap.
Hell, I could buy a small boat for as much as the entire platform would cost. And it would do a lot more than a CPU will ever be able to do.
Moreover, when you paid $1000 for a CPU you don't expect it is not bundled with a proper highend cooler.
It sounds to me like those lighten version of Porsche with no carpet, air-con, door handles, stereo, no insulation and yet they will sell the car for twice the price! Why don't I just get the fully equiped car and throw away all those extra weight and save myself 50% money?
From personal experience it will happen, and it will happen often. I work for a company in the tech support/RMA department and I personally get at least 1 call a month from someone who has bought an $800 GPU that comes with a waterblock and that has put it in their system and had no idea they needed a water cooling loop.
That's probably about when they're coming out. The most recent road maps I've seen show Q4 2011, maybe in the October to November time frame.