Intel 10-Core Cascade Lake-X CPU Spotted in SiSoftware Database

A nameless Cascade Lake-X 10-core, 20-thread processor has mysteriously popped up in SiSoftware's Official Live Ranker database. Judging by the configuration, this processor could be the potential candidate that will replace Intel's Core i9-9900X processor.

The Skylake-X Refresh (SKL-XR) processors are Intel's current high-performance offerings that are competing against AMD's second-generation Ryzen Threadripper processors in the HEDT (high-end desktop) market. The latest Intel client roadmap shows that the Blue Team is planning to launch its next wave of HEDT products, codenamed Cascade Lake-X (CSL-X), that will succeed the Skylake-X Refresh chips in the third quarter of this year. 

Although Cascade Lake-X will be built on the Cascade Lake processor microarchitecture, Intel will continue to produce these chips under the 14nm process node. As hinted in the leaked roadmap, the Cascade Lake-X parts will continue to slot into LGA 2066 motherboards. Nevertheless, things get a bit complicated regarding the chipset.

The speculation around the hardware community is that Intel will usher in the new Glacier Falls chipset to replace the existing Basin Falls (X299) chipset. However, the new roadmap still has the Cascade Lake-X parts under the X299 chipset, which could be a placeholder. It's possible that Intel hasn't chosen a naming convention for the Glacier Falls chipset. If you recall, AMD pulled a fast one on Intel and registered X399, so that's out of the question. It'll be interesting to see what Intel can come up with for Glacier Falls. 

The unidentified processor is equipped with 10 cores, 20 threads, and 19.25MB of L3 cache, which lines up with the Core i9-9900X's specifications. This leads us to think that this Cascade Lake-X chip is the successor to the Core i9-9900X. It apparently features a 4GHz base clock and 4.6GHz boost clock. Basically, we're looking at 14.29 percent and 2.22 percent improvements in base and boost clocks, respectively. But given the nature of the leak, the Cascade Lake-X chip could be an engineering sample, meaning the final operating clocks are likely to vary.