Intel Core i7 Extreme 980X Six Core 32nm Processor Unboxing & First Look Linus Tech Tips
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2010-05-08
·
1,157 words · ~5 min read
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It's been a few days, but I'm back in the saddle. So, I've got a very exciting
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product today to unbox. This is the Intel Core i7 980X. It's an LG 1366
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processor, and we've seen that before, but what's new about it is this is a 6
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core Extreme Edition processor. Now,
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just like when Intel launched the
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QX6700, this is the only processor that
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you can buy from Intel on the desktop platform with six cores. So, the QX6700
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was an extreme processor and it was the only four core you could buy at the
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time. So, you're paying a premium, but you're getting the latest technology.
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This is a 32nm processor. It supports hyperthreading technology, which means
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12 threads in Task Manager. Go figure. Turbo boost. It has an integrated memory
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controller, triple channel DDR3 memory like all of the LG 1366 CPUs. It is
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compatible with most and it should be
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all X58 motherboards with only a BIOS update. So, I threw one of these chips
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into my one-year old X58 board and it
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worked just with a BIOS update. So, then let's go around to the back. This box
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contains an Intel processor and thermal solution. It is a three-year warranty.
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Okay. So, let's go around here. Okay.
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Why don't we break the seal on this bad boy? So, here we go. That is a thousand
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plus dollar processor. Now, it's open. We opened the box. Let's see what kind
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of experience we have unboxing a Core i7
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Extreme. So, this is cool. Intel has actually updated their stock cooler for
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the Extreme Edition products. But before we get into that, why don't we have a
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look at the documentation. Oh, wow. This is a kind of a complicated package. The
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CPU is in like a cardboard uh container. So, we'll look at that after. First of
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all, we have the installation instructions along with the three-year
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limited warranty. We have an Intel inside logo label. Core i7 inside. It's
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a black one cuz it's extreme. All right. Next, we
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have Oh, this is new. Look at this.
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Intel actually includes a thermal
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compound tube. This looks like it's probably shinu. I'm guessing though. I'm
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just going based on the um based on the syringe here. Dao Corning. No, this is
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it's an OEM. It's an OEM paste. Uh if
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it's what I think it is, it's a very high quality paste. And then they
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include an in installation instruction guide for how to apply the uh the
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syringe to your CPU. I also have a video about that which you could also watch on
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my NCIXCOM account. Okay. So, then we
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have a clamshell plastic package and the
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new Intel stock cooler which I've also done a video on my Linus Tech Tips
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channel about outlining the uh the differences between this or just looking
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at it. Um, okay. So, the biggest differences, let's start with the
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obvious one. This is a heat pipe cooler. So, it has four heat pipes that all
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connect directly to a copper base and then aluminum fin tower design just like
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many of the aftermarket coolers over the past couple years. Whereas Intel has
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been using a top down blower for years and years and years. They haven't
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changed that for eons it seems like. Okay, next thing is it uses thumb screws
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to secure to the motherboard as well as a back plate. Intel in the past has been
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using push pins, plastic push pins. I hate these things. This is way better. I
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love it. Okay, next thing. It uses a bode base. You can't see that here, but
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the base is actually convex, which means that when you put it down on the CPU and
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tighten it down, it gets incredibly tight mounting pressure in the center
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right over the die of the CPU. That's very important, too. This is a feature
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that's been carried over from previous Extreme Edition heat sinks in that you
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can set it to either quiet or performance mode with the push of a
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button. Okay, let's have a look at the fins from the side so you can kind of
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see through them there. And then it has a sleeved power connector. That's
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something that I've wanted to see on stock coolers for a long time because
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you know what? It just makes it that much tidier when you're trying to do a
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nice build and you got like your blue and yellow and green and black random
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wire all over the place. All right, next thing. Uh, right. This is actually
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really cool. So, see this fan? That is kind of a weird shape. So, it's not
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actually designed to just blow right through the fins like most of the
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aftermarket coolers are. The reason for that is that in a properly speced
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cooler, you should actually be blowing not only through the fins to cool the
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CPU, but you should actually be cooling all of the components around the CPU.
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And for a long time, that's been the disadvantage to using a tower cooler
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because usually the fan blows only through the fins and it doesn't reach
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the surrounding components. But what Intel's done is they've angled the fan
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blades so that it actually pushes a lot of air kind of around this way. And it
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also pushes it down here and just sort of randomly around the socket. So that
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enables Intel to get proper cooling of all the components around the socket and
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still use a tower cooler. Amazing. So,
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now let's finish up the unboxing and product overview. As I mentioned before,
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this is a six core processor clocked at
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3.33 GHz. It has Oh, and I just get this
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cardboard thing. I've never seen an Intel CPU boxed like this. Very strange.
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Um, so they've changed a lot of things. Let's have a look here. So, it has 12
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megs of cache. It
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uses H. Yeah, it uses a 6.4 GHz QPI link. And
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that is pretty much all there is to it. Let's flip it over. It looks just like
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any LGA 1366 CPU that we've seen over
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the last year plus, except for what's under the hood. So, that's six cores of
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high performance computing power. I should probably also mention that I was
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able to effortlessly overclock the uh sample that I already have to 4 GHz just
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by turning up the multiplier. So, it's an extreme edition processor designed
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for overclocking and looking cool and
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extreme. Thanks for checking out my video blog.