Intel Core i9-9820X 10-Core 3.3GHz compare Intel Xeon E7-8890 v2 CPU

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CPU Core Details

CPU Codename	Skylake X	Ivy Bridge
MoBo Socket	Socket 2066	LGA 2011/Socket R
Notebook CPU	no	no
Release Date	30 Nov 2018	18 Feb 2014
CPU Link	GD Link	GD Link
Approved

CPU Technical Specifications

{

CPU Cores	10	15
CPU Threads	20	30
Clock Speed	3.3 GHz	2.8 GHz
Turbo Frequency	4.1GHz	3.4 GHz
Max TDP	165 W	155 W
Lithography	14 nm	22 nm
Bit Width	64 Bit	64 Bit
Max Temperature	92°C	77°C
Virtualization Technology	no	no

CPU Cache and Memory

L1 Cache Size	640 KB	960 KB
L2 Cache Size	10240 KB	3840 KB
L3 Cache Size	16.5 MB	37.5 MB
Memory Types
Max Memory Size	128 GB	-
Memory Channels	4	-
ECC Memory Support	no	no

CPU Graphics

Integrated Graphics	no	no
Base GPU Frequency	-	-
Max GPU Frequency	-	-
DirectX	-	-
Displays Supported	-	-

CPU Mini Review

Mini Review	The Intel Core i7-9820X 10-Core 3.3GHz is a high-end CPU based on the 14nm Skylake-X micro architecture. It is competing against AMD's 2nd Gen Ryzen Threadripper processors. It offers 10 physical cores (20 logical), initially clocked at 3.3GHz which may go up to 4.1GHz with Turbo Boost enabled, and 16.5MB of L3 Cache. Among its many features are Turbo Boost Max 3.0 technology, Hyper-Threading, Virtualization is activated. As an 'Extreme' variant, this processor has its multiplier unlocked and overclocking is possible. With a 165W TDP, the Core i9-9820X 10-Core is very power hungry and will require a high-end PSU. This CPU is likely to offer exceptional computational performance and will not be the bottlenecked in any modern gaming PC. It will be able to play all AAA titles.	Xeon E7-8890 v2 is a server processor based on the Ivy Bridge architecture. It offers 15 Ivy Bridge-EX Cores (30 logical, clocked at 2.8GHz that go up to 3.4GHz, in Turbo Mode. It also offers over 37MB of L3 Cache and may consume up to 155 Watts. Its performance, just like its price, is outstanding and though not meant for gaming, the processor easily beats any Core i7 processor.

Gaming Performance Comparison

In terms of overall gaming performance, the Intel Xeon E7-8890 v2 is massively better than the Intel Core i9-9820X 10-Core 3.3GHz when it comes to running the latest games. This also means it will be less likely to bottleneck more powerful GPUs, allowing them to achieve more of their gaming performance potential.

Both the Core i9-9820X 10-Core 3.3GHz and the Xeon E7-8890 v2 were released at the same time, so are likely to be quite similar.

Both CPUs exhibit very powerful performance, so it probably isn't worth upgrading from one to the other, as both are capable of running even the most demanding games at the highest settings (assuming they are accompanied by equivalently powerful GPUs).

The 15 has 5 more cores than the Core i9-9820X 10-Core. 15 cores is probably excessive if you mean to just run the latest games, as games are not yet able to harness this many cores. The 10 cores in the Core i9-9820X 10-Core is more than enough for gaming purposes. However, if you intend on running a server with the 15, it would seem to be a decent choice.

The Xeon E7-8890 v2 has 10 more threads than the Core i9-9820X 10-Core. Both the Core i9-9820X 10-Core and the Xeon E7-8890 v2 use hyperthreading. The Core i9-9820X 10-Core has 2 logical threads per physical core and the Xeon E7-8890 v2 has 2.

Multiple threads are useful for improving the performance of multi-threaded applications. Additional cores and their accompanying thread will always be beneficial for multi-threaded applications. Hyperthreading will be beneficial for applications optimized for it, but it may slow others down. For games, the number of threads is largely irrelevant, as long as you have at least 2 cores (preferably 4), and hyperthreading can sometimes even hit performance.

More important for gaming than the number of cores and threads is the clock rate. Problematically, unless the two CPUs are from the same family, this can only serve as a general guide and nothing like an exact comparison, because the clock cycles per instruction (CPI) will vary so much.

The Core i9-9820X 10-Core and Xeon E7-8890 v2 are not from the same family of CPUs, so their clock speeds are by no means directly comparable. Bear in mind, then, that while the Core i9-9820X 10-Core has a 0.5 GHz faster frequency, this is not always an indicator that it will be superior in performance, despite frequency being crucial when trying to avoid GPU bottlenecking. In this case, however, the difference is enough that it possibly indicates the superiority of the 15.

Aside from the clock rate, the next-most important CPU features for PC game performance are L2 and L3 cache size. Faster than RAM, the more cache available, the more data that can be stored for lightning-fast retrieval. L1 Cache is not usually an issue anymore for gaming, with most high-end CPUs eking out about the same L1 performance, and L2 is more important than L3 - but L3 is still important if you want to reach the highest levels of performance. Bear in mind that although it is better to have a larger cache, the larger it is, the higher the latency, so a balance has to be struck.

The Core i9-9820X 10-Core has a 6400 KB bigger L2 cache than the Xeon E7-8890 v2, but on the other hand, it is the Xeon E7-8890 v2 that has a 21 MB bigger L3 cache than the Core i9-9820X 10-Core. In this case, the L2 size is probably what counts, so the Core i9-9820X 10-Core is likely superior in this area.

The maximum Thermal Design Power is the power in Watts that the CPU will consume in the worst case scenario. The lithography is the semiconductor manufacturing technology being used to create the CPU - the smaller this is, the more transistors that can be fit into the CPU, and the closer the connections. For both the lithography and the TDP, it is the lower the better, because a lower number means a lower amount of power is necessary to run the CPU, and consequently a lower amount of heat is produced.