The rumored 5.1 GHz Xeon quad E5-2602 V4?

[superstition]

This was talked about by a lot of tech sites in January but I'm wondering if anyone has heard anything since.

Rumor has it that only deep pockets customers like the NSA will have access. Is this a good idea? It seems really odd to restrict the sale of CPUs to domestic consumers and only sell them to government and such. It's not like there is any top-secret tech involved, right?

Intel may be working on a 5.1GHz CPU for customers including NSA

A rumour regarding Intel's upcoming range of next-generation processors claims the company may be building one very special chip for its Xeon family. It is said to have a clock speed of 5.1GHz and will be sold to limited customers, including the NSA.

It is thought to run at 5.1GHz with a 10MB L3 cache and power consumption of 165W. The Xeon E5-2602's 5.1GHz clock would make it one of the fastest processors around but the rumours concerning the chip say PC enthusiasts may never get to see it.

Intel is thought to be working with select partners who will sell the processor to limited numbers of customers.

The purpose of the quad-core powerhouse Xeon remains clouded in mystery and it seems unlikely the chip will ever break into the public space.

Jan 21, 2016

The company won't be making it publicly available in news that is likely to disappoint computer fans who like processors with very high clock speeds. One of Intel's customers for the Xeon is the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), according to several reports online. The NSA is said to be interested in acquiring an unknown number of very high-performance quad-core processors for use in its server environments. It is unclear what the servers power or why the NSA wants quad-core chips over more conventional Xeons.

Given how much is leaked well before release it seems that if this chip exists it would have had some leaked stuff by now — like pictures and benchmarks.

 

[jpiniero]

It would make sense if this happened with Kabylake-X and/or Skylake-X; in that the NSA/HFT get the very best bins for a very high price. You have to remember that the earlier 4.4 Ghz Westmere Xeon was like 3 or 4 grand, and that was a Quad I think with 2 cores disabled. You'd have to have a specific reason to want this offlabel processor; it's not something that would make sense for the general public.

 

[NTMBK]

It's restricted because only a tiny, tiny handful of chips will hit that clock speed. They can't get them in high enough quantities to do a consumer release. They sell the tiny quantity that they can make at an enormous price to the NSA because that's the best way to make a profit.

 

[superstition]

It's restricted because only a tiny, tiny handful of chips will hit that clock speed. They can't get them in high enough quantities to do a consumer release. They sell the tiny quantity that they can make at an enormous price to the NSA because that's the best way to make a profit.

A great example of the blurred boundary between corporation and government.

But, are their yields really that bad? Plus, if they can get to 5.1 why not sell a 5 GHz model to consumers at a high price then?

 

[lolfail9001]

A great example of the blurred boundary between corporation and government.

But, are their yields really that bad? Plus, if they can get to 5.1 why not sell a 5 GHz model to consumers at a high price then?

I mean, we talk of yields on 5.1GHZ on-air Broadwell chip, when it requires LN2 to make Broadwell-E hit that frequency right now.

 

[superstition]

I mean, we talk of yields on 5.1GHZ on-air Broadwell chip, when it requires LN2 to make Broadwell-E hit that frequency right now.

That doesn't change the point about offering a 5 GHz model to use the chips that can't make it to 5.1.

Given the strength of that point it makes me think this rumor is bogus.

 

[lolfail9001]

That doesn't change the point about offering a 5 GHz model to use the chips that can't make it to 5.1.

Given the strength of that point it makes me think this rumor is bogus.

1. Intel never released 1681/1686/1691v3 into retail market despite producing at least a single batch of each. Your understanding of Intel's policies is fairly naive.

2. The LN2 point should have hinted you that if this chip exists, it is most likely produced not by plain binning for golden samples.

 

[ZGR]

I'd pay serious cash for a 5.1 GHz quad as long as it can be cooled on high end air or water. Single threaded performance for me is far more important than anything else. The NSA may agree with me

 

[NTMBK]

A great example of the blurred boundary between corporation and government.

But, are their yields really that bad? Plus, if they can get to 5.1 why not sell a 5 GHz model to consumers at a high price then?

For a 5GHz part? Yeah, their yields will be that bad!

 

[imported_ats]

Don't see why not. Intel will bin whatever you want as long as you pay enough and have enough volume. It isn't a secret really. They ship Dell 200w parts with a restricted thermal profile for use in liquid cooled server for instance.

 

[lolfail9001]

Don't see why not. Intel will bin whatever you want as long as you pay enough and have enough volume. It isn't a secret really. They ship Dell 200w parts with a restricted thermal profile for use in liquid cooled server for instance.

Time to crowdfund a batch of unlocked 20-core Xeons, heh.

 

[NTMBK]

Time to crowdfund a batch of unlocked 20-core Xeons, heh.

Good luck outbidding the NSA

 

[dave_the_nerd]

In other news: apparently NSA programmers are so bad at producing well-threaded code and/or programming cluster environments that this made more sense than buying off-the-shelf 8-core CPUs at half the clockspeed for a couple hundred bucks each.

 

[lolfail9001]

In other news: apparently NSA programmers are so bad at producing well-threaded code and/or programming cluster environments that this made more sense than buying off-the-shelf 8-core CPUs at half the clockspeed for a couple hundred bucks each.

There is code you can't thread well at all.

 

[superstition]

1. Intel never released 1681/1686/1691v3 into retail market despite producing at least a single batch of each.

Ok.

Your understanding of Intel's policies is fairly naive.

Your "1." example doesn't justify that comment.

The LN2 point should have hinted you

What does that mean?

if this chip exists, it is most likely produced not by plain binning for golden samples.

That's nice.

 

[superstition]

For a 5GHz part? Yeah, their yields will be that bad!

I don't know what you're trying to say.

 

[lolfail9001]

Ok.

Your "1." example doesn't justify that comment.


What does that mean?


That's nice.

I don't know what you're trying to say.

.

 

[NTMBK]

I don't know what you're trying to say.

Chips that clock that high are very uncommon. Intel is cherry picking the best clockers out of their entire production run to make these.

 

[superstition]

Chips that clock that high are very uncommon. Intel is cherry picking the best clockers out of their entire production run to make these.

apples: Intel is planning to restrict sales of their very best clocking quads (5.1 GHz chips) to the NSA and similar.

oranges: Chips that can't meet that spec (e.g. 5 GHz).

 

[jpiniero]

apples: Intel is planning to restrict sales of their very best clocking quads (5.1 GHz chips) to the NSA and similar.

Well, if you don't have enough chips that would bin high enough to sell to the public, why make it public?

 

[superstition]

Well, if you don't have enough chips that would bin high enough to sell to the public, why make it public?

If there are enough chips at 5.1 to make the news one would assume that there are more chips below that.

4.3?
4.4?
4.5?
4.6?
4.7?
4.8?
4.9?
5.0?

Now if the rumor is revised to be "Intel to sell all high-performing quads to restricted customers" that's different than specifying 5.1 GHz.

 

[jpiniero]

Now if the rumor is revised to be "Intel to sell all high-performing quads to restricted customers" that's different than specifying 5.1 GHz.

I think it's more that the best of the bins will be reserved for the NSA and friends. But whatever that clock speed is, it won't be available to the public.

 

[Arachnotronic]

I seriously doubt there is a 5.1GHz Broadwell-E SKU out there. Much more likely that there are cherry-picked 5.1GHz Skylake Xeon E3s though.

With Skylake-X/Kaby Lake-X and 14nm+, such SKUs become more feasible, IMO.

 

[superstition]

I seriously doubt there is a 5.1GHz Broadwell-E SKU out there. Much more likely that there are cherry-picked 5.1GHz Skylake Xeon E3s though.

That was my assumption as well.

 

[lolfail9001]

I seriously doubt there is a 5.1GHz Broadwell-E SKU out there. Much more likely that there are cherry-picked 5.1GHz Skylake Xeon E3s though.

With Skylake-X/Kaby Lake-X and 14nm+, such SKUs become more feasible, IMO.

Well, i was insisted it does exist, but the production process for it basically excludes the existence of any 5/4.9/4.8/4.7 SKUs.