Report: Haswell-E CPUs to Debut in September

A report has been posted on VR-Zone.com, a Chinese website, with the release date information of a handful of Intel processors. Included in the list are the upcoming Haswell-E processors, including the new X99 platform.

The report mentions that the new 4th generation Intel Core i3-4370, Core i3-4360T, Core i3-4160, and Core i3-4160T, as well as the Pentium G3460, Pentium G3450T, Pentium G3250, and Pentium G3250T, which are all Haswell Refresh SKUs, will come to shelves on July 20, 2014. These CPUs will drop into the LGA1150 socket, and will work on both 8-Series motherboards as well as 9-Series motherboards (only the H97 and Z97 are out).

Next up we have the Haswell-E parts, beginning with the Core i7-5820K. This chip is the starting point for the X99 platform, and is rumored to carry a sub $400 price tag. This chip is said to carry six processing cores and work with 15 MB of cache. The chip's base frequency is set at 3.3 GHz, with a minimum speed of 1.2 GHz. This will result in a chip that performs well at an acceptable price tag.

Then there is the Core i7-5930K, which is said to carry six cores and a price tag of approximately $600. It features the same 15 MB of cache along with a base clock of 3.5 GHz. In terms of performance, it shouldn't be too far off from the cheaper Core i7-5820K, although it does cost $200 more. This is likely because of the PCI-Express configuration of the chip. The cheaper i7-5820K has only 28 PCI-Express lanes. This will allow you to install up to three graphics cards with eight lanes dedicated to each card, with four lanes left over for added devices. The $600 Core i7-5930K will have 40 PCI-Express lanes, making room for up to four graphics cards with eight lanes each, with another eight lanes to spare.

Finally, there is the most extreme Core i7-5960X, the top-tier chip in the lineup, with eight processing cores, and 20 MB of cache. The cores will all clock in at a base frequency of 3.0 GHz, probably to remain within the 140 W TDP, which all the CPUs carry. It will have the same PCI-Express configuration as the i7-5930K (40 lanes). No word on pricing yet, although given the history of Intel's most extreme CPUs, we can expect it to hover around the $1000 mark.

These specifications for the Haswell-E chips are older rumors, so do still take them with a grain of salt. It should give you a good idea of what to expect, though. The new report shows that they will be coming out in September, and we'll obviously see the release of the X99 platform.

Whether the report is true remains unknown, though VR-Zone is known to get these things right from time to time, so we're quite tempted to believe it. We also saw a number of X99 motherboards (though, of course, the vendors won't tell us that it's X99) at Computex, so the timing does seem right.

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Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

  • tom10167
    The 5960x is marketed as having 500MHz slower clock speed, the same number of lanes, same number of cores, but 5MB more cache, and it's 70% more money? lol, well that makes that decision easy
    Reply
  • hardcore_player
    the 5960x has 8 cores , 16 threads 20mb of cash and runs at approximately 3GHz whereas the 5930k has 6 cores , 12 threads , 15mb of cash and runs at 3.5GHz , i believe that the 5930k will be the favorite choice among hardcore gamers because of the higher clock speed compared to 5960x , it has less cores , but who cares even the most demanding games can't utilize all 8 cores , so definitely the 5930k will be all about hardcore gamers and professional 3d designers .
    the 5960x will be for the people who need the power of the extra 2 cores provided , for rendering and video production where every second counts , yeah time=money.
    i definitely will buy one of them but only the benchmarks can tell , can't wait for release date .
    Reply
  • deadbc77
    I'm sure glad i fought off my temptation to buy Z97.Can't wait to do a X99 build,but i guess i'll have to.Time to get all my ducks in a row.
    Reply
  • bison88
    The 5960x is marketed as having 500MHz slower clock speed, the same number of lanes, same number of cores, but 5MB more cache, and it's 70% more money? lol, well that makes that decision easy


    Not to mention an extra $500 for 2 extra CPU cores that have been on Extreme parts for quite some time, alas disabled intentionally. Intel continues to bore the market.
    Reply
  • dgingeri
    How are the motherboard manufacturers supposed to handle the fewer PCIe lanes in the 5820k? Is it going to be a different socket, like the Xeon E5-2400 series? If so, that is a big mistake. Besides, putting fewer PCIe lanes on that chip, without the IGP, when the socket 1150 is already anemic and unworkable with more than two video cards, is another mistake. That 5820k sounds like a huge series of compromises that render it a chip without a market.
    Reply
  • dstarr3
    Can't wait to see what the new T processors are about. If the TDP is still 35W or even less, they would be perfect for an SSD-based, fanless, totally silent HTPC.
    Reply
  • SuperVeloce
    The 5960x is marketed as having 500MHz slower clock speed, the same number of lanes, same number of cores, but 5MB more cache, and it's 70% more money? lol, well that makes that decision easy

    Not to mention an extra $500 for 2 extra CPU cores that have been on Extreme parts for quite some time, alas disabled intentionally. Intel continues to bore the market.

    Actually no, as far as we know, dies used for i7 49x0 and 4820 cpu are 6 core versions, 4820k was the only one with disabled cores.
    Reply
  • CaedenV
    Moving from my old Sandy Bridge quad core to modern quad core chips is really more of a step sideways rather than an upgrade... but being able to move up to a 6 core part for under $400 that can fully populate 2 PCIe graphics ports? Sounds like an E series chip just might be in my future yet. Granted I need to get through school first, so it will still probably wait until Skylake, but it is good to know that 6 core parts are starting to come down in price!
    Reply
  • kittle
    hrm.. 5930x @ 3.5ghz sounds like it "might" be an upgrade to my i7 980x. only time and benchmarks will tell
    Reply
  • bison88
    The 5960x is marketed as having 500MHz slower clock speed, the same number of lanes, same number of cores, but 5MB more cache, and it's 70% more money? lol, well that makes that decision easy

    Not to mention an extra $500 for 2 extra CPU cores that have been on Extreme parts for quite some time, alas disabled intentionally. Intel continues to bore the market.

    Actually no, as far as we know, dies used for i7 49x0 and 4820 cpu are 6 core versions, 4820k was the only one with disabled cores.

    Yeah, they fixed that error with Ivy Bridge, but the original error stemmed from Sandy Bridge.

    http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/cpu/intel-ci7-39x0-lga2011-p1.html

    The x820 versions have always usually been there own thing with some originality behind them.
    Reply