PC Perspective, OCC and TechReport take a further look at the Intel Core i7-980X Gulftown hexa-core processor. Here's a taster:

The Core i7 980X is the latest offering to come from Intel. It is based on the 32nm Nehalem micro-architecture code named Westmere. The 32nm process is a process technology change or die shrink with the next architecture change coming with Sandy Bridge For this processor Intel has bumped up the amount of physical cores by two to a total of six and upped the shared L3 Smart cache by 50% to 12MB. Both significant jumps that should pay some handsome rewards when it comes to the performance delivered. The Westmere series is a die shrink of the Nehalem architecture from 45nm to 32nm and still uses the High-k second generation manufacturing process. Intel has included a few new instruction sets on this series. AES-NI is a set of 12 new instructions that help boost data encryption and decryption. Also included is the full SSE4 instruction set. This processor supports Turbo Boost technology that allows the processor to dynamically increase the clock speeds from the as delivered 3.33 GHZ up to 3.6 GHz when under a light load and is Overclocking enabled for some additional fun. Hyperthreading is supported and allows you to run a total of 12 threads at one time to significantly increase the amount of work you are able to do in a set time frame. The memory controller still supports triple channel DDR3 memory configurations with all of this coming in the LGA 1366 socket. Looking at the die shot you can get an idea of how the cores and memory are laid out. Its amazing that Intel has been able to squeeze another two cores into the same socket size.

When it comes down to raw computing power the Core i7 980X is the hands down winner. But really is there any other expectation with its six cores, 12 threads and 12mb of shared L3 cache when compared to the four cores, 8 threads and 8MB of cache on the Core i7 965 and the best AMD currently has to offer in the form of the PII 965? In the multi threaded benchmarks such as WinRar, Bibble 5, POV Ray and Cinebench there really is no doubting the performance advantage of having two additional processor cores as the performance just scales upwards. This means that any program you use that is highly threaded, you are going to see a massive increase in performance via a speedup of the workload. From a productivity standpoint, this means you can get more work done in the allotted time you have. As a cut and dry example you can look at the WinRar, Bibble 5 and the Excel testing where the 980X completed the work in a third less time or better. What could you do with at least 30% more time? When it came to gaming I did not see a real gain in performance but there are games that do allow the 980X to take advantage of the additional cores it carries with more coming down the pike. Curent titles include Resident Evil 5, GRID and Company of Heroes. Software titles have been optimized for use with the i7 980X as well and the list is continuously growing, but some current titles include Sony Vegas, Autodesk Maya, Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom as well as Maxon's Cinema 4D. Overclocking the 980X opened up a whole new level of performance. I was able to gain almost a 1GHz improvement in clock speed over the 3.33GHz factory speed by overclocking the 980X to 4.3GHz using the same overclocking techniques used to overclock its quad core family members. I was able to reach a bclock of 213 and run 205MHz stable for my testing. A stout clock for what is a new player in the game, even though they have been out in the hands of the Extreme overclocking set for months. The potential is there with better cooling!

One thing I found surprising was the fact that this processor ran relatively cool for having six processing cores when air cooled and even more so when put under water. The DBX-B cooling solution from Intel is a radical step away from what has been done in the past when it comes to OEM solutions. Its copper/aluminum construction is similar to many higher end tower style heatsinks on the market and performs quite well by comparison. With four heatpipes there is no shortage of thermal capacity. Even when pushing up to 4.05GHz the temperatures stayed for the most part in the high 60°C range. However I did notice some throttling of the core clock speed once temperatures reached 70°C. At stock speeds the DBX-B kept the temperatures at a chilly (Ok in relative terms) 60°C using the Q setting and a massive 54°C when the P or performance setting is enabled. Either way you get great cooling. On the other hand the cooler does get a bit noisy when you hit the performance switch. Intel states a "Less than 35 dBA" all out sound level and it is most likely close to that when compared to the noise from some of the fans I have tested with the same dBA rating. The cooling solution takes a step away from the norm in another way, how it mounts to the motherboard. In the past you had push pin mounting from Intel and not much in the way of putting something better together. With the DBX-B you no longer have to worry about making sure the pins lock in place. Oh no, Intel has something better. The DBX-B is a bolt on solution that is easy to install with four thumbscrews as well as the ability to use a screwdriver to tighten the screws into the back plate. This one's a winner!

As you might expect, the new Core i7-980X is going to be an expensive processor. As we have seen for years and years Intel is releasing the latest Extreme Edition processor at the $999 price point. While that is high, we have almost come to expect it and in reality if you are in need of the top-of-the-line components like this CPU then you are likely going to be willing to pay for it. And even more so in this case as I mentioned before: while with other Extreme Edition processors you might have the option to simply overclock a cheaper CPU to reach the same frequency, you simply can't overclock a quad-core processor to a dual-core.