Intel Core i7 990X Hexcore 1366

Intel Core i7-990X 

Introduction

With so much hoo-hah surrounding the P67 chipset and the performance thereof, the X58 boards have been left somewhat in the shadows.

Not, by any stretch of the imagination, because that’s where they belong, but rather the twin terrors of pricing, and target audience, have meant that your average consumer is much more taken by the “my first overclock” nature of the LGA1155 equipment than the enthusiast based LGA1366.

Despite this there is enormous amounts of life in the old girl yet and most of the big scores and jaw-dropping overclocks are dominated by the original Core i7.

With the forthcoming Socket 2011 on the horizon, Intel have brought their knowledge to bear on a swansong, a bit of an encore if you will. One last hurrah.

In exactly the same way that your favourite band doesn’t play all their hits at the start of the show and their encore consists of a couple of b-sides from their days gigging in pubs that nobody have ever heard, Intel aren’t going out with the whimper of a dual-core, non-HT revision or anything so watered-down.

No, today we have the all-singing, all-dancing, eye-wateringly pricey Core i7-990X Hex-Core to get our teeth into.  

Essentials
Status Launched
Launch Date Q1’11
Processor Number i7-990X
# of Cores 6
# of Threads 12
Clock Speed 3.47 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency 3.73 GHz
Intel® Smart Cache 12 MB
Bus/Core Ratio 24
Intel® QPI Speed 4.8 GT/s
# of QPI Links 1
Instruction Set 64-bit
Instruction Set Extensions SSE4.2
Embedded Options Available No
Supplemental SKU No
Lithography 32 nm
Max TDP 135 W
VID Voltage Range

0.800V-1.375V

 

Intel® Turbo Boost Technology Yes
Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology Yes
Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) Yes
Intel® Trusted Execution Technology No
AES New Instructions Yes
Intel® 64 Yes
Idle States Yes
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology Yes
Intel® Demand Based Switching No
Thermal Monitoring Technologies No
Execute Disable Bit Yes