Intel Skylake / Kaby Lake

[Azuma Hazuki]

Microsoft may be doing Linux a favor, IF people get smart enough to figure out Virtualbox. Heavy graphics aside (and not aside if you have a second GPU and a processor with directed I/O like VT-d or AMD-IOMMU...) you can do anything you need to on Win7 inside a VM you can do out of it.

I've done this for a few customers, and after a few months they tell me they're mostly using Linux itself rather than their VM...

 

[Nothingness]

Good point. Still 33GB/s is not that much for 6 channel wide platform running 2 processors ?

Yeah dual 2699v4 gets >50 GB/s. Anyway all those Geekbench scores look preliminary to me, let's wait for more results

 

[Sweepr]

BenchLife has details about Skylake-W, Intel's new 1S Workstation CPU that will share the LGA 2066 socket with HEDT Skylake-X & Kaby Lake-X.

BenchLife: Skylake-W (Workstation) comes in three models - 4C, 6C and 10C

https://benchlife.info/intel-skylake-w-have-three-cpu-03272017

Interesting to see a 140W 4C/4C chip without Turbo in the mix, might be clocked very high.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Is that effective confirmation that we will see a 10-core with HT Skylake-X CPU on 2066? Yes, please! (Not that I can afford one, but it would be nice to see.)

 

[Bouowmx]

Interesting to see a 140W 4C/4C chip without Turbo in the mix, might be clocked very high.

No: QLCB is likely a successor to the Xeon E5-1603 and 07 series: featuring ~3 GHz frequency.

 

[thepaleobiker]

Just wanted to share in this thread that if you are looking for a non-K Kaby Lake i7, you can find an Ebay Seller named "refurbforless" who have the 7700 at $269, and $50 off by using code "C20SPRING" (you must pay using paypal for the code to work - you can use any credit card within Paypal)

The final price for the i7 7700 ? $219.99 ! I can confirm it works. It is a new boxed i7 7700.

Regards,
Vishnu

PS : the code works once per Paypal account for maximum $50 off, and will expire at midnight today, the 27th of March.

 

[Sweepr]

Is that effective confirmation that we will see a 10-core with HT Skylake-X CPU on 2066? Yes, please! (Not that I can afford one, but it would be nice to see.)

That's a given. The question now is, will they offer the rumored 12C SKU at launch (August) or later?

 

[scannall]

Agreed, but the hope is 1600x will OC a bit better and will look better in games that are <2018 era, not to mention whilst it will be slower than 7700k it will be significantly cheaper.

It may overclock a little better. But I wouldn't expect a lot, since it seems to be a process ceiling more than anything else.

 

[gx_saurav]

Just wanted to share in this thread that if you are looking for a non-K Kaby Lake i7, you can find an Ebay Seller named "refurbforless" who have the 7700 at $269, and $50 off by using code "C20SPRING" (you must pay using paypal for the code to work - you can use any credit card within Paypal)

The final price for the i7 7700 ? $219.99 ! I can confirm it works. It is a new boxed i7 7700.

Regards,
Vishnu

PS : the code works once per Paypal account for maximum $50 off, and will expire at midnight today, the 27th of March.

What's the delivery time to India? Any idea?

 

[nvgpu]

https://www.razerzone.com/gaming-systems/razer-blade-pro

http://www.anandtech.com/show/11228/razer-updates-the-razer-blade-pro-with-thx-certification

Razer Blade Pro now with Kaby Lake CPU.

 

[thepaleobiker]

What's the delivery time to India? Any idea?

Not sure they deliver to India - Only to CONUS 48 states of US. They are a Cali-based reseller.

Regards,
Vishnu

 

[Sweepr]

Intel’s speedy Optane storage coming to consumer PCs next month
2X Faster Boot Time, 28 Percent Faster System Performance, 65 Percent Faster Game Level Loads – and That’s Just the Beginning

Starting April 24th, you’ll be able to buy a 16GB module for $44 or a 32GB module for $77.

Both are M.2 PCIe 3.0 drives that use the 3D Xpoint technology Intel developed together with Micron. And both offer read and write speeds that far surpass what you’d typically expect from NAND flash, although the 32GB drive is faster than the 16GB module.

Odds are that most computer users will want more than 32GB of storage, but throw these SSDs into a system that already has a large hard drive and you get some of the best of both worlds: plenty of speedy storage for currently running applications, and plenty of storage for media, documents, and other files.

https://liliputing.com/2017/03/inte...er-pcs-next-month-small-affordable-doses.html

...To put this in perspective, on a given day, most people launch 11 apps, and then launch each app seven times. (1) With the increased speed and responsiveness of Intel Optane memory in a 7th Gen Intel® Core™ processor-based system, you can power on your computer up to twice as fast and improve overall system performance up to 28 percent faster with storage performance up to 14x faster. (2,3) Applications like Microsoft Outlook* will launch up to nearly 6x faster, the Chrome* browser launches up to 5x faster, games launch up to 67 percent faster, and levels load up to 65 percent faster. (2,4)

https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/what-happens-pc-meets-intel-optane-memory

 

[french toast]

This optane looks interesting, too be honest i dont have a clue how it works, does it replace ram? Hard drive? Or both?
How would having 16gb of this help?

 

[Zucker2k]

This optane looks interesting, too be honest i dont have a clue how it works, does it replace ram? Hard drive? Or both?
How would having 16gb of this help?

Caching.

 

[scannall]

This optane looks interesting, too be honest i dont have a clue how it works, does it replace ram? Hard drive? Or both?
How would having 16gb of this help?

The way Optane is right now, I'd say it's a solution in search of a problem. Since m2 SSD's are getting cheap.

 

[french toast]

The way Optane is right now, I'd say it's a solution in search of a problem. Since m2 SSD's are getting cheap.

This is what im thinking, unless optane is significantly faster than ssd, still not as fast as volatile ram though, i dont get how this is useful when you have 16gb ram and a good ssd, am i off base here?

 

[french toast]

Caching.

Ok, but is the benefit over and above SSD? Or is it compared against mechanical HDDs?

 

[dullard]

Ok, but is the benefit over and above SSD? Or is it compared against mechanical HDDs?

People are trashing Optane left and right without actually knowing a thing about it. That said, there are very few independent data points available so we can only really rely on biased Intel data.

The Optane module announced yesterday is a low-end module intended to boost the speed of mechanical HDDs and SATA SSDs. That is, if you have an empty M.2 slot, for $44 you pop it in and frequently used files will load dramatically faster even faster than the SSD. Intel has not yet released their enthusiast versions. So, if you already have a super fast M.2 SSD (Samsung 960 Pro for example), this particular Optane module will probably not do much for you.

But, if you have a SATA SSD (which typically peak at a few hundred MB/s) and an empty M.2 slot then for a few dollars you can get your commonly used files to load at over 1 GB/s.

 

[nvgpu]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/11232/intel-launches-xeon-e3-1200-v6-family

Some slides from Intel Technology & Manufacturing Day.
https://twitter.com/rickbmerritt/status/846759776742600704
https://twitter.com/rickbmerritt/status/846769064819113985

https://newsroom.intel.com/press-kits/leading-edge-intel-technology-manufacturing/

 

[Bouowmx]

14 nm ++ confirmed

 

[french toast]

People are trashing Optane left and right without actually knowing a thing about it. That said, there are very few independent data points available so we can only really rely on biased Intel data.

The Optane module announced yesterday is a low-end module intended to boost the speed of mechanical HDDs and SATA SSDs. That is, if you have an empty M.2 slot, for $44 you pop it in and frequently used files will load dramatically faster even faster than the SSD. Intel has not yet released their enthusiast versions. So, if you already have a super fast M.2 SSD (Samsung 960 Pro for example), this particular Optane module will probably not do much for you.

But, if you have a SATA SSD (which typically peak at a few hundred MB/s) and an empty M.2 slot then for a few dollars you can get your commonly used files to load at over 1 GB/s.

Very interesting thanks, is this an intel only technology or universal? Are there competing technologies available?

 

[Bouowmx]

Intel Optane has specific requirements: Core generation 7 (not Celeron and Pentium) processor, 200 series chipset, and PCI Express M.2

 

[unseenmorbidity]

People are trashing Optane left and right without actually knowing a thing about it. That said, there are very few independent data points available so we can only really rely on biased Intel data.

The Optane module announced yesterday is a low-end module intended to boost the speed of mechanical HDDs and SATA SSDs. That is, if you have an empty M.2 slot, for $44 you pop it in and frequently used files will load dramatically faster even faster than the SSD. Intel has not yet released their enthusiast versions. So, if you already have a super fast M.2 SSD (Samsung 960 Pro for example), this particular Optane module will probably not do much for you.

But, if you have a SATA SSD (which typically peak at a few hundred MB/s) and an empty M.2 slot then for a few dollars you can get your commonly used files to load at over 1 GB/s.

http://semiaccurate.com/2017/03/27/intel-crosses-unacceptable-ethical-line/

Tl;dr

Semi was asking about clarification on a couple of slides during a webinar. Intel said they'd send them over. When they were sent over all the slides that they wanted clarification on were removed. Intel said it was intentional. Semi asked why, they didn't give an answer.

PS:
They spent the first quarter of the article framing intel as the gold standard of business ethics, which I found quite hilarious. That seriously has me questioning the validity of their arguments, but it is relevant to this tangent conversation, so I posted it.

 

[dullard]

http://semiaccurate.com/2017/03/27/intel-crosses-unacceptable-ethical-line/

I've skimmed that before as well as semiaccurate's other Optane bashing posts. Semiaccurate is unhappy that Optane was overhyped. Yes, we get that. Can we move on?

That particular article is unhappy that Intel doesn't email enough details to repeat the tests. The details are available on their website below so why do they have to email test details and is that really worthy of a multi-page Intel bashing article?
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/optane-memory.html

Semiaccurate has a point that most of what we have seen are Intel benchmarks. There is a clear inherent bias towards your own products when producing benchmarks. I'm holding my opinion on it until I see independent benchmarks. But, if there is a clear benefit in certain use cases, and if it costs just $44 to pop in, I'd be glad to do it. If not, I'll avoid Optane.

1 SYSmark 2014 SE (Responsiveness Subscore) – Benchmark from the BAPCo* consortium that measures the performance of Windows* platforms. SYSmark* tests four usage scenarios: Office Productivity, Media Creation, Data/Financial Analysis, and Responsiveness. SYSmark* contains real applications from Independent Software Vendors such as Microsoft* and Adobe*.

2 Tested on Intel® Core™ i5-7500 Processor, 65W TDP, 4C8T, Turbo up to 3.8GHz, Memory: 2x4GB DDR4-2400, Storage: Western Digital* 1TB 7200RPM WD1003FZEX, Intel HD Graphics 630, OS: Windows® 10 as measured against the same system with a 16GB Intel® Optane™ memory module.

Tested with 16GB Intel® Optane™ Memory Engineering Samples. Results may vary in final product, but we have a high confidence level that there will be no significant differences in performance.

3 Software and workloads used in performance tests may have been optimized for performance only on Intel® microprocessors. Performance tests, such as SYSmark* and MobileMark*, are measured using specific computer systems, components, software, operations and functions. Any change to any of those factors may cause the results to vary. You should consult other information and performance tests to assist you in fully evaluating your contemplated purchases, including the performance of that product when combined with other products. For more complete information visit http://www.intel.com/benchmarks.

4 PCMark* Vantage (HDD Suite) – Benchmark from Futuremark* that measures Windows* everyday computing performance. PCMark Vantage is made up of several benchmarking suites: PCMark Suite (produces “PCMark” Score), Memories Suite, TV and Movies Suite, Gaming Suite, Music Suite, Communications Suite, Productivity Suite and HDD Suite. The HDD Suite contains an operating system start-up workload that is sensitive to HDD versus SSD boot devices.

5 Intel® Optane™ Memory and its logo denote a platform feature made up of individual components and not solely a single small factor solid state drive or a memory media. A system that is Intel® Optane™ memory ready includes: a 7th Gen Intel® Core™ processor, an Intel® 200 series chipset, M.2 type 2280-S1-B-M connector on a PCH Remapped PCIe* Controller and Lanes in a x2 or x4 configuration with B-M keys that meet NVMe* Spec 1.1 and System BIOS that supports the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) 15.5 driver.

 

[dullard]

Very interesting thanks, is this an intel only technology or universal? Are there competing technologies available?

I haven't read much about it, but Samsung has something similar that was announced last week:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/11206/samsung-shows-off-a-z-ssd

I personally think that these types of products will be difficult to review and even more difficult to sell. The statement of "the third time you open Microsoft Word will be much faster" is not an easy catch phrase. It doesn't speed out of the gate with instantly visible changes. One of the few data points that we have is from PC World that said the first time they loaded GIMP it took 14 sec to load, then 8 sec, and now it is 3 sec to 4 sec to load. The "things will get faster, eventually if you keep using it" marketing pitch is difficult. But if it truly works, and if Intel launches enough versions to satisfy all levels of need (such as those who would rather just have a single fast SSD), then we all should want one.