Broadwell-E review: Intel’s ten-core Core i7-6950X tested

Intel’s Extreme Edition, or “E” edition, processors have become a regular landmark in the CPU manufacturer’s schedule over the years, providing overclockers and enthusiasts with something to get their teeth into while waiting for the next-generation architecture. This year’s Broadwell-E line-up follows a well-worn path, offering more performance for those whom the current Skylake chips simply aren’t fast enough.

As with previous Extreme Edition processors, Broadwell-E isn’t based on the most recent iteration of Intel’s CPU architecture, but a tweaked fifth-generation architecture. This year, the headline upgrades are a boost to the core count, with up to ten cores (that’s a massive 20 threads) on the flagship Core i7-6950X and a die shrink that introduces the first 14nm processors to Intel’s Extreme Edition line-up.

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Naturally, all the features you’d expect of an Extreme Edition processor are in place, too. The new processors are all unlocked, allowing for straightforward overclocking, and there’s also a boost in L3 cache for this processor line-up, plus support for quad-channel DDR4 2,400MHz RAM.

Surprisingly, given the reduction in manufacturing process size, the thermal design power (TDP) remains the same as Haswell-E at 140W, although there should be no shock about the lack of integrated graphics. If you’re thinking of stumping up this much for your processor, you’ve almost certainly got a fast graphics card close to hand.

Above, for simplicity, I’ve pitted the top-of-the-range ten-core CPU against the top-of-the-range standard Skylake Core i7 and last year’s Haswell-E flagship. It’s not the only new chip Intel has announced, however; there are also three other Broadwell-E CPUs in the range, from the “cheapest” six-core Core i7-6800K, to the eight-core Core i7-6900K. I’ve listed their specifications in the table below.

The most noticeable thing here is the cost of the new ten-core unit. It’s phenomenally expensive: 55% more than the eight-core Core i7-6900K, which is a lot considering you’re only getting 25% more cores. Doesn’t seem like very good value to me.

The only good news here is that, if you’re upgrading from Haswell-E, there’s no need to replace your motherboard. The new Broadwell-E chips use the same Intel X99 chipset as before.

But wait, there’s more. In addition to increasing the core count on its range-topping chip, Intel has introduced a new technology for this generation, dubbed Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0. Apart from sounding like something out of a shaving advert, this is a very slight tweak to Intel’s existing Turbo Boost tech, designed to improve single-threaded performance over the Haswell-E’s rather disappointing showing.

As with regular Turbo Boost, the new technology gives you more speed in short bursts for simple single-threaded tasks. The difference here is that it allows the CPU to boost higher than the advertised max Turbo Boost frequency, as and when circumstances allow. Turbo Boost Max is also more intelligent than its predecessor, and with the help of BIOS and driver support, it’s able to identify which cores are running the fastest and assign the most intensive tasks to those cores.