11th Gen enthusiast CPU feature request.

[EThom12]

It seems to me on the current 9th and 10th gen socket 2066 CPUs, that high core/thread counts seem to be the main focus at the cost of clock speeds.

When the 11th generation rolls out, I'd like to have a 4-Core 8-Thread model with at least a 4GHz stock clock speed please.

Thank you.

[MDib]

That doesn't make sense, a 4/8 CPU is entry level nowadays, it has no purpose on the Extreme/Enthusiast platform. You will (probably) have 4/8 CPUs as Comet Lake i3. The listed stock speeds are somewhat irrelevant too. These modern CPUs will opportunistically boost to higher frequencies, which for the lower end 4/8 cores CPUs should still be in the 4.5GHz area. If you can keep them cool, within the power limits, and within VRM specs, they will boost to their max potential.

Also, clock speeds are not everything. we've been through this before in the Pentium IV era, when Conroe/Penryn CPUs all but obliterated Netburst CPUs at lower clocks. Having very high clocks tends to make CPUs hot and drawing a lot of power too.

Just wait for the CML release, should be around this spring, and get an i3/i5, both should have hyperthreading.

[EThom12]

Only i7 and i9 CPUs are available for socket 2066, and my monitoring software indicates that I don't really utilize the 8 threads I have now.

I'm currently running an i7-4790k, but I want my next build to have four PCIe x4 M.2 SSDs in addition to a high-end graphics card, a 10gb network card, and 8 memory slots. I doubt I'll be able to do that on anything less than the enthusiast line.

If there could be a 4-core-8-thread 'enthusiast' CPU that can do all that with a base speed of 4GHz or higher, I would gladly buy it. But I don't want to trade more threads for lower speeds.

[MDib]

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/121499/intel-core-i7-7740x-x-series-processor-8m-cache-up-to-4-50-ghz.html

It's discontinued. I doubt Intel will create another. The trend is towards more cores, they have to compete with a 32/64 monster. There's also a Xeon equivalent for it, probably discontinued as well.

X299 is pretty much EOL too. It's old and has just Gen 3 for PCIe.

This is a most unusual request. I wonder what you're needing all that RAM/storage for, because it's not really gaming, and if it's the usual tasks of content creation, encoding, rendering, you do need the extra cores for sure.

[EThom12]

I want my storage to be VERY fast, so I'll be using the 4 SSDs in Raid 0 over VRoC.

Also, I want to have a lot of memory so I can load large games into a RAM Disk.

I know X299 is old, I'm waiting for its successor.

[MitchManCdn]

Well THAT would never work b/c what you want to use would require a LARGE number of PCI lanes... BUT the processor you THINK you'd like, would only supply about 16 at best. You'd need 40 Lanes for sure with the cards and features you plan to use. I already have an i9 10900X system exactly like you mention, and I can NOW go up to 256GB RAM with the BIOS update Asus released for my Prime Dlx II motherboard. The reason I wouldn't purchase a CPU with fewer than 10 Cores is the very fact you lose all those necessary PCI lanes. My machine is phenomenal by the way.... seriously destroys typical benchmarks for the 10900x and FAR surpasses the K series in the very same benchmarks. Good luck and read a LOT... it helps  

[MDib]

You definitely want a better CPU for gaming. If you buy a high end GPU as you said, you will need a serious CPU to drive it, otherwise you'll be stuck at low GPU utilization, sometimes even at 4K. Plenty of benchmarks on the web showing significant differences between let's say, a 7700K and a 9900K when coupled with a 2080ti.

There are also rather questionable benefits to having games on NVMe SSDs. Also quite a few tests about that as well on the web. At best you will shave a 5-10 seconds of the load times, but more often it will have no impact over a decent SATA SSD. For example, all the games that I have behave 100% similarly from my 970 Evo Plus and 850 Evo. So going VRoC with 4 SSDs won't do much of anything for gaming.

Now, the RAM disk.

Modern games can typically range from 50 to 100GB. Let's say you have a 128GB RAM disk. That's exactly how much x299 supports. Maybe next chipset will support 256GB RAM. That'll cost you a small fortune for basically no benefit other than near instant load times for the game on the RAM disk and better texture streaming.

I really don't know what to say, seems such a weird PC to want to build, and it will likely be an investment you'll regret, if gaming is what you intend to do. Not to mention you'll have to wait another year for the x299 successor, since they just launched another refresh on it with the 10980XE etc. By then there will be another generation of Ryzen/Threadripper out, and Intel will have to compete on core count, so a 4 core SKU on HEDT seems extremely unlikely. The new Ampere cards from Nvidia and big Navi will also release sometime this year, and they will further push the CPU power needed to drive them. 4/8 CPUs will be a bare minimum for this.

[EThom12]

Currently, upgrading to x299 would require settling for a lower base CPU speed and additional cores that I probably won't use.

None of the current enthusiast CPUs are as fast as my 4th gen model because the more cores they have, the slower they operate.

All I'm asking is that the upcoming 11th generation enthusiast line have a 4GHz or faster stock speed option with a modest core count for the entry level portion of the enthusiast market.

If a 4/8 CPU is the bare minimum for what I intend to build, let it be made for the niche customers like myself and I'll buy it.

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello EThom12

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

We would like to mention that we do not comment on future product releases nor possible developments but we really appreciate your interest in (future) Intel®'s products.

Regarding your request, we would like to inform you that we will share it with the proper department. We cannot promise that this request will be implemented but what we can guarantee is that it will be sent to the proper team for consideration.

Should you have additional comments or feedback, please feel free to post back in the thread.

Regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[EThom12]

Thank you, Andrew.

Getting my request to the proper department was exactly what I wanted, and I understand that it is only a request.

Thanks again.