The Intel Core i9-9980XE CPU Review: Refresh Until it Hertz
by Ian Cutress on November 13, 2018 9:00 AM ESTTest Bed and Setup
As per our processor testing policy, we take a premium category motherboard suitable for the socket, and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the manufacturer's maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.
| Test Setup | |||||
| Intel HEDT | i9-9980XE i9-7980XE i9-7960X i9-7940X i9-7920X |
ASRock X299 OC Formula |
P1.40 | TRUE Copper |
Crucial Ballistix 4x4GB DDR4-2666 |
| AMD TR4 | TR2 2970WX TR2 2920X |
ASUS ROG X399 Zenith |
1501 | Enermax Liqtech TR4 |
Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 4x8GB DDR4-2933 |
| TR2 2990WX TR2 2950X |
ASUS ROG X399 Zenith |
0508 | Enermax Liqtech TR4 |
G.Skill FlareX 4x8GB DDR4-2933 |
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| GPU | Sapphire RX 460 2GB (CPU Tests) MSI GTX 1080 Gaming 8G (Gaming Tests) |
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| PSU | Corsair AX860i Corsair AX1200i |
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| SSD | Crucial MX200 1TB | ||||
| OS | Windows 10 x64 RS3 1709 Spectre and Meltdown Patched |
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| VRM Supplimented with SST-FHP141-VF 173 CFM fans | |||||
Unfortunately due to travel back and forth to the US for AMD’s Horizon Event and Supercomputing 2018, I was unable to look into overclocking performance for this review. We will hopefully cover it in another article.
Many thanks to...
We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our multiple test beds. Some of this hardware is not in this test bed specifically, but is used in other testing.
| Hardware Providers | |||
| Sapphire RX 460 Nitro | MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X OC | Crucial MX200 + MX500 SSDs |
Corsair AX860i + AX1200i PSUs |
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| G.Skill RipjawsV, SniperX, FlareX |
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 |
Silverstone Coolers |
Silverstone Fans |
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Stasinek - Wednesday, November 21, 2018 - link
If something is a joke - Threadripper 2920, 2970,2990 is for sure with one exception 2950To have much more weak threads than IF/RAM subsystem is capable handle it's a joke.
Intels HDET despite having less cores is stil just better solution.
Benchmarks yet another series here on this site are best prove of that.
Badelhas - Tuesday, November 13, 2018 - link
Intel have been milking us for years, I am still holding to my 2500k overclocked to 5ghz (their last great CPU) and my next CPU is going to be a AMD for sure. Nvidia is doing the same lately, its outrageous.Badelhas - Tuesday, November 13, 2018 - link
Oh, I forgot: GREAT REVIEW, Anandtech! Cheers. :)imaheadcase - Tuesday, November 13, 2018 - link
Crazy right, its almost like you needed a performance product and bought it.nerd1 - Tuesday, November 13, 2018 - link
My 9900k@5.1Ghz is almost 3X faster than yours considering IPC difference. And seriously, no one's using AMD GPU anymore, either for gaming or gpu computing.benedict - Tuesday, November 13, 2018 - link
No one cares how fast your CPU is and plenty of people who are not obscenely rich use AMD GPUs.nerd1 - Tuesday, November 13, 2018 - link
He said 2500k is intel's last great CPU and I showed him a counterexample.AMD is indeed good if you just need many cores for budget, but that's it.
Aephe - Tuesday, November 13, 2018 - link
Actually, if, like me, you're rendering on Corona (or any CPU render engine in 3ds Max) daily, AMD has the best CPU. Period. The fact my 2990WX is also WAY cheaper than the next best thing from Intel is just an added bonus for my company.Spunjji - Tuesday, November 13, 2018 - link
He's using a different definition of "great CPU" from you. His includes price/performance ratio, yours doesn't. Insisting that your comparison is more valid than his doesn't make any more sense than him doing the same, so if you're going to mock someone's post, maybe avoid the same errors.Arbie - Tuesday, November 13, 2018 - link
How do AMD's GPUs relate to the HEDT CPU market being discussed here? And seriously, can't see any point to your remarks.