Intel announced its Basin Falls Refresh here at its Fall Desktop Launch Event in New York. The new processors drop into the Intel's High End Desktop (HEDT) platform for enthusiasts, content creators, and prosumers. The new processors slot into existing X299 motherboards.
As expected, the new processors come with increased clock speeds, but retain similar core counts across the board. Intel has, however, announced the details of its 28-core W-3175X processor that will serve as the new flagship processor of its portfolio. That unlocked Xeon model requires a different chipset than the Basin Falls processors. You can read more details of Intel's 28-core processors here.
The new X-Series processors all feature 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes and stretch from eight cores up to 18 cores and 36 threads. Like the existing models, the new processors support quad-channel DDR4. The processors are fabbed on the 14nm++ node.
Intel also replaced its thermal grease with Solder TIM to improve the thermal transfer efficiency between the heatspreader and the die. This important step forward should improve overclocking performance for those on the hunt for extreme performance, while also improving thermal performance during typical stock operation, which will improve overall performance by allowing the processors to operate in Turbo Boost more frequently and then maintain the heightened clock speeds for longer periods of time.
The new processors ship in November. We've included the lineup of existing X-Series processors below and will add more information as it becomes available.
Like the previous-gen models, the new X-Series processors come with the mesh architecture.
Intel shared a few performance benchmarks compared to AMD's Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX, which you can see below.
Basin Falls
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Cores /Threads | Base / Boost (GHz) | L3 Cache (MB) | PCIe 3.0 | DRAM | TDP | MSRP | Price Per Core |
| TR 2990WX | 32 / 64 | 3.0 / 4.2 | 64 | 64 (4 to PCH) | Quad DDR4-2933 | 250W | $1799 | $56 |
| TR 2970WX | 24 / 48 | 3.0 / 3.2 | 64 | 64 (4 to PCH) | Quad DDR4-2933 | 250W | $1299 | $54 |
| Row 3 - Cell 0 | Row 3 - Cell 1 | Row 3 - Cell 2 | Row 3 - Cell 3 | Row 3 - Cell 4 | Row 3 - Cell 5 | Row 3 - Cell 6 | Row 3 - Cell 7 | Row 3 - Cell 8 |
| Core i9-7980XE | 18 / 36 | 2.6 / 4.4 | 24.75 | 44 | Quad DDR4-2666 | 140W | $1999 | $111 |
| TR 2950X | 16 / 32 | 3.5 / 4.4 | 32 | 64 (4 to PCH) | Quad DDR4-2933 | 180W | $899 | $56 |
| TR 1950X | 16 / 32 | 3.4 / 4.4 | 64 | 64 (4 to PCH) | Quad DDR4-2667 | 180W | $750 | $47 |
| Core i9-7960X | 16 / 32 | 2.8 / 4.4 | 22 | 44 | Quad DDR4-2666 | 140W | $1699 | $106 |
| TR 2920X | 12 / 24 | 3.5 / 4.3 | 32 | 64 (4 to PCH) | Quad DDR4-2933 | 180W | $649 | $54 |
| TR 1920X | 12 / 24 | 3.5 / 4.2 | 64 | 64 (4 to PCH) | Quad DDR4-2667 | 180W | $399 | $33 |
| Core i9-7920X | 12 /24 | 2.9 / 4.4 | 16.50 | 44 | Quad DDR4-2666 | 140W | $1199 | $100 |
| Core i9-7900X | 10 / 20 | 3.3 / 4.3 | 13.75 | 44 | Quad DDR4-2666 | 140W | $999 | $99 |
| Core i7-8700K | 6 / 12 | 3.7 / 4.7 | 12 | 16 | Dual DDR4-2666 | 95W | $359 | $60 |
| Ryzen 7 2700X | 8 / 16 | 3.7 / 4.3 | 16 | 16 | Dual DDR4-2933 | 105W | $329 | $41 |
Breaking News, more to come...
