The most powerful processor in the world. The most expensive Intel processor
When choosing a processor, you need to pay attention not only to pure performance, frequency and number of cores. Don't forget about the design performance of the cooling system or TDP (Thermal Design Power).
Modern processors are no longer limited to 4 cores on board. There may be 8, 12, 16... and even more. True, such processors are already intended for professionals who need high computing power. If you are looking for a processor for a gaming system, then you can limit yourself to a chip with 6 cores. For example, such as .
Currently, two well-known brands are fighting each other in the processor market - AMD and Intel. For some time, AMD remained an outsider, but the Ryzen processor line brought it back to the top of the processor Olympus, making life difficult for representatives from Intel lines. Today, these two brands fight almost on an equal footing, outpacing each other with the release of each new model.
Rating leaders in terms of price/quality ratio
Every year, the CHIP testing laboratory tests a huge number of processors. All results of our tests are presented in the form of a summary rating in. This is what we were guided by when choosing the best CPUs that satisfied the price-performance ratio. The final score, which determines the position of a particular model in the table, of course, consists of performance. But high power should cost reasonable money, so in this material we are considering just such processors.
First place: AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
Despite the fact that Intel products currently occupy the leading positions in the overall ranking, chips from AMD win in terms of price/quality ratio, showing excellent results at an acceptable cost. Take, for example, our leader -. For an average of just 16,500 rubles, you get a 6-core processor based on modern Summit Ridge architecture, which offers impressive performance and high operating frequencies.
In normal operation, the frequency characteristics are at the level of 3600 MHz, but in auto-overclocking mode, when you need to “throw some wood,” the processor shows an impressive 4000 MHz. Moreover, this parameter can also be overclocked, since X-marked CPUs are designed specifically for overclocking. A TDP of 95 Watts also speaks to this.
In our test, the processor scored 3629 points in the PC Mark 8 synthetic benchmark, showing that the difference in performance with 8-core processors is not very large. But in benchmarks that give scores for multi-threading, the situation is a little different: eight-core processors noticeably take the lead, which, however, is quite expected.
Second place: Intel Core i7-8700K
Compared to the leader of our rating, the six-core one no longer seems so affordable. Its cost is significantly higher and averages about 32,000 rubles, which is almost twice the price tag of the AMD Ryzen 5 1600X. In terms of performance, it is the undisputed leader, but when assessing the price-quality ratio, it loses to its competitor from AMD.
During testing, it distinguished itself by showing the highest maximum frequency - an impressive 4700 MHz. The nominal frequency in normal operation is 3700 MHz, and now it is comparable to the competitor’s performance. But in auto-overclocking mode, the Intel Core i7-8700K simply puts other chips to shame and has no equal in this at the moment.
Please note that IntelCore i7-8700K is not only the carrier of the latest Coffee Lake architecture. The name of the processor contains the letter “K”, and this tells us about good overclocking potential. By applying increased power to the processor, it is possible to overclock the standard frequencies of the CPU itself, as well as modules RAM DDR4. But there is a nuance - the changed power supply makes this processor incompatible with the LGA 1151 socket. LGA 1151v2 is required.
Third place: AMD Ryzen 5 1600
In third place is another six-core AMD processor, but without the “X” marking. But the cost is even more forgiving - about 14,000 rubles. Not a processor, but a gift! True, in comparison with its older brother, this model offers standard frequencies at 3200 MHz and, if necessary, can be overclocked to 3600 MHz.
One of the differences from Intel processors lies in the absence of a graphics subsystem. If the choice of processors from the top two positions allows you to postpone the purchase of a video card, then in the case of a discrete video card is a necessity. But given the high cost of graphic cards, not everyone has the opportunity to buy this component from one salary.
Based on benchmark measurements, it lags slightly behind the faster 1600X. This is especially noticeable in the test results in PCMark 8, Cinebench R15 and PovRay 3.7 RC3. But if you do not go into comparisons and take into account the TDP of 65 Watts, we can say that the final results are very good. Let us remind you that the 1600X version has a noticeably larger parameter – 95 Watts.
Fourth place: AMD Ryzen 7 1700
And again, a representative from the AMD camp shows the best value for money. We recommend buying an 8-core monster for those who do not tolerate any compromises in games or working with resource-demanding programs. According to the results of our tests, this processor proved to be highly productive and efficient, including in multitasking mode.
Clock frequencies are slightly lower than those of the leader in the rating. 3000 MHz in normal mode and 3700 MHz in auto overclocking mode. Despite this, the processor performs very well in synthetic benchmarks and shows good results. Based on the latest, this CPU can be safely attributed to the top segment. At the same time, the cost of such a top-end processor is very affordable - about 25,000 rubles.
It is best suited for working in programs that use multi-cores - here it has no equal yet. But for gaming systems, this processor will not be the best option, since many modern games are still poorly optimized for eight-core solutions from AMD. We see best option using this processor specifically in a workstation.
Fifth place: Intel Core i7-7700K
In fifth place, AMD's expansion is diluted by another chip from Intel. It can be purchased for 25,000 rubles, if you don’t mind that it belongs to the previous Kaby Lake architecture. - a mainstream chip that focuses on performance and does not offer any innovations in comparison with new products based on Coffee Lake.
In comparison with previous CPUs, which occupy the first four lines of our chart, it offers only 4 cores and 8 threads. But the base clock frequency starts at 4200 MHz. In automatic overclocking mode, frequencies can reach 4500 MHz, which is almost comparable to the values of the 6-core Intel Core i7-8700K, which is in second place.
High clock speeds benefited productivity. It shows very decent results in benchmarks, and in the PCMark 8 test it is even slightly ahead of the Intel Core i7-8700K. In the 3DMark test suites, both processors are also almost on par. And given the processor’s focus on gaming systems, we recommend buying it specifically for assembling gaming PCs.
Top 10 best desktop processors by price/quality ratio
1.
: 70.4
Number of cores
Maximum frequency
: 4.0 GHz
Overall rating: 70.4
Price/quality ratio: 82
2.
CPU performance (100%)
: 81.4
Number of cores
Maximum frequency
: 4.7 GHz
Overall rating: 81.4
Price/quality ratio: 80
3.
CPU performance (100%)
: 66.5
Number of cores
Maximum frequency
: 3.6 GHz
Overall rating: 66.5
Price/quality ratio: 81
4.
CPU performance (100%)
: 77.3
Number of cores
Maximum frequency
: 3.7 GHz
Overall rating: 77.3
Price/quality ratio: 79
The world's leading PC processor manufacturer, Intel, unveiled a new line of high-performance desktop processors - the X-series - at the Computex exhibition in Taipei. The top-end chip has as many as 18 computing cores and a corresponding price tag: $2,000.
For extroverted gamers
In essence, a new platform is being introduced: X-series processors will work with a new chipset, X299. It is intended mainly for gamers (especially those who would like to broadcast it to their online audience in high definition at the same time as the game), professionals working with 3D graphics and video, software developers, as well as anyone who is willing to part with substantial sums in exchange for possessing the “most-most” productive hardware.
At the same time, it is important to understand: the entry-level solutions included in the line, most likely (it can only be said for sure based on the testing results), will not provide significant superiority in games compared to the more affordable regular Core i3 or i5 without the prestigious “X-series” sticker. At least, if you don’t combine them with the most powerful video cards available on the market today.
Watch your hands
The structure of Intel's new line of chips is not the most obvious. The “youngest” Kaby Lake-X processors i5-7640X and i7-7740X use the same seventh-generation Core cores as the previously released mainstream Core i5 and i7 with Kaby Lake architecture. There are also four cores and four (i5) or eight (i7) data processing threads, two memory channels and 16 PCIe channels directly on the processor. The new X-chips are distinguished by a “hotter” thermal package (up to 112 watts versus 91 watts for similar mass-market solutions) and a new 2066 socket - this is what the X299 chipset uses.
The clock speeds are also higher than ordinary members of the Core family: the i7-7740X has a base frequency of 4.3 GHz and a TurboBoost frequency of up to 4.5 GHz. The i7-7700K, at the same price of $399, has a base frequency of 100 MHz lower, although the overclocking frequency is the same. Equal prices should encourage gamers to prefer the new X-series products due to their overclocking potential, which is more significant if only due to the lack of built-in graphics core. Is it true that you will have to pay more for a motherboard based on the X299 chipset? than a mass solution.
Structure of the Intel X-series line. Click to enlarge
In X-chips at a higher level to replace the architecture Kaby Lake-X Skylake-X comes, but this is not just a 6th generation Skylake chip in a new socket: Skylake-SP cores are used, developed, among other things, for the future generation of Xeon chips. Chips with the Skylake-X architecture support Turbo Boost Max 3: the chip itself determines the cores capable of operating at the highest frequency, and when 1-2 cores are loaded, it loads them. The on-chip cache structure has been redesigned: the individual caches of each core have increased to 2 MB, while the chip cache common to all cores has been reduced. Intel says this will improve performance. At the same time, there will be a number of limitations compared to Xeon: for example, only 4 memory channels instead of six.
Entry-level Skylake-X will feature a 6-core, 12-thread i7-7800X (3.5/4.0 GHz) - starts at $389, but does not support Turbo Boost Max 3 and (officially, at least) memory clock speed above 2400 MHz. A step higher is the $599 8-core 16-thread i7-7820X (3.6/4.3 and up to 4.5 (in Turbo Boost Max 3) GHz) with support for memory frequencies up to 2666 MHz. Finally, the $999 10-core i9-7900X (3.3/4.3/4.5 GHz) has 44 PCIe lanes, Turbo Boost Max 3, and support for 2666 MHz memory. All three of these processors have a thermal package of 140 watts.
At the top of the new line are processors with a 165-watt thermal package and 12, 14, 16 or 18 cores (twice as many threads), operating frequencies for which Intel is not yet ready to announce, in contrast to prices starting at $1,199. It is known that the “best” processor in the line will be called i9-7980XE (not just i9, but i9 Extreme) and will cost $1,999.
Free multiplier and other joys
All new Intel X-series chips have an unlocked multiplier, that is, they are initially positioned as a solution for overclockers. The X299 chipset intended for them supports , which can act both as RAM and for data storage. You can connect up to three SSD drives with a PCIe or NVMe interface, 8 SATA devices and 10 USB devices 3.1 first generation. and USB 3.1 2nd generation was not built into the chipset; it will have to be implemented through additional controllers.
What about AMD?
Despite the fact that new high-performance AMD processors Ryzen made a lot of noise this spring, Intel is not going to give up its position yet and still prices its chips more expensive. Thus, a 16-thread Intel X-series chip will cost $599, while a similar 16-thread AMD Ryzen will cost $499. Yes, they are not identical, the Intel processor has twice as many memory channels, but the connection motherboard+ a processor with Intel technologies will in any case cost more than a similar solution from AMD. At the same time, AMD does not yet have an answer to the 18-core Intel Core i9 Extreme - the company has yet to achieve such scaling of the performance of Zen cores.
Sources: Intel, Ars Technica, The Verge
In recent years, computer design and production companies have been working tirelessly. As a result, the amount of technology in the world is growing exponentially.
The most powerful computers
Just recently, the world did not know about DirectX10, and the graphics of FarCry or NFS Underground 2 seemed to be the pinnacle of computer capabilities. Once upon a time, a disk capable of storing 600 megabytes of information seemed like a miracle of technology, but now terabyte memory cards are freely available.In the field of supercomputers, much the same thing happens. In 1993, University of Tennessee professor Jack Dongarra came up with the idea of creating a ranking of the most powerful computers in the world. Since then, this list, called the TOP500, has been updated twice a year: in June and November.
Time passes, and the leaders in the supercomputer ratings of the early 90s are already ungodly outdated even by the standards of ordinary PC users. So, the first in 1993 was the CM-5/1024, assembled by Thinking Machines: 1024 processors with a clock frequency of 32 MHz, a computing speed of 59.7 gigaflops - slightly faster than an ordinary 8-core PC under your desk. What is the best computer today?
Sunway TaihuLight
Just five years ago, the palm in terms of power was consistently held by supercomputers made in the USA. In 2013, Chinese scientists seized the leadership and, apparently, are not going to give it up.At the moment the most strong computer in the world is considered the Sunway TaihuLight (translated as “The Divine Light Power of Lake Taihu”), a grandiose machine with a computing speed of 93 petaflops (maximum speed - 125.43 petaflops). This is 2.5 times more powerful than the previous record holder - the Tianhe-2 supercomputer, which was considered the most powerful until June 2016.
Sunway Taihulight has 10.5 million built-in cores (40,960 processors, each with 256 computing and 4 control cores).
This is what it looks like powerful computer 2016
All equipment was developed and manufactured in China, while the processors of the previous most powerful computer were produced by the American company Intel. The cost of Sunway TaihuLight is estimated at $270 million. The supercomputer is located at the National Supercomputer Center of Wuxi County.
Record holders of past years
Until June 2016 (and the TOP500 list is updated every June and November) the most powerful and fast computer was the Tianhe-2 supermachine (translated from Chinese as “Milky Way”), developed in China at the Defense Science and Technology University in Changsha with the help of the Inspur company. 
The power of Tianhe-2 provides 2507 trillion operations per second (33.86 petaflops per second), peak performance is 54.9 petaflops. The Chinese development has topped this ranking since its launch in 2013 – an incredibly impressive figure!
Supercomputer Tianhe-2
The characteristics of Tianhe-2 are as follows: 16 thousand nodes, 32 thousand 12-core Intel Xeon E5-2692 processors and 48 thousand 57-core Intel Xeon Phi 31S1P accelerators, which means 3,120,000 cores in total; 256 thousand DDR3 RAM sticks of 4 GB each and 176,000 GDDR5 8 GB sticks - 2,432,000 GB of RAM in total. Volume hard drive– more than 13 million GB. However, you won’t be able to play on it - it is intended solely for computing, and Milky Way 2 does not have a video card installed. In particular, it helps with calculations for laying subways and urban development.
Jaguar
For a long time, Jaguar, a supercomputer from the USA, was at the top of the ranking. How is it different from the others and what are its technical advantages? 
The supercomputer, called Jaguar, consists of a large number of independent cells divided into two sections - XT4 and XT5. The last section contains exactly 18688 computational cells. Each cell contains two six-core AMD Opteron 2356 processors with a frequency of 2.3 GHz, 16 GB of DDR2 RAM, as well as a SeaStar 2+ router. Even one cell from this section would be enough to create the most powerful computer for gaming. The section contains only 149,504 computing cores, a huge amount of RAM - more than 300 TB, as well as a performance of 1.38 Petaflops and more than 6 Petabytes of disk space.
Building a computer monster
The XT4 partition contains 7832 cells. Their characteristics are more modest than those of the previous XT5 section: each cell contains one six-core processor with a frequency of 2.1 GHz, 8 GB of RAM and a SeaStar 2 router. In total, the section has 31,328 computing cores and more than 62 TB of memory, as well as a peak performance of 263 TFLOPS and more than 600 TB of disk space. The Jaguar supercomputer runs on its own operating system Cray Linux Environment.
Another computer is breathing in the back of Jaguar, the brainchild of IBM - Roadrunner. The most powerful computing monster is capable of calculating up to 1000,000,000,000 operations per second. It was developed specifically for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration at Los Alamos. With the help of this supercomputer they planned to monitor the operation of all nuclear installations located in the United States. 
The Road Runner's peak processing speed is about 1.5 petaflops. We are talking about a total capacity of 3,456 original tri-blade servers, each of which is capable of performing about 400 billion operations per second (that is, 400 gigaflops). Inside the Roadrunner there are about 20 thousand high-performance dual-core processors - 12,960 Cell Broadband Engine and 6948 AMD Opteron, the brainchild of IBM itself. Such a supercomputer has a system memory of 80 terabytes.
So how much space does this miracle of technology take up? The machine is located on an area of 560 square meters. And all the department’s equipment is packaged in servers of the original architecture. All equipment weighs about 23 tons. So to transport it, the National Nuclear Security Administration staff will need at least 21 large tractors.
A few words about what petaflops is. One petaflop is approximately equal to the total power of 100 thousand modern laptops. If you try to imagine, they can pave a road almost two and a half kilometers long. Another accessible comparison: within 46 years, the entire population of the planet will use calculators to do calculations that Roadrunner can do in one day. Can you imagine how little Sunway TaihuLigh, the leader of our rating, will need?
Titan
In 2012, the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory launched the Titan supercomputer, which is rated at 20 petaflops—in other words, it can perform a quadrillion floating point operations in one second. 
Titan was developed by Cray. In addition to Titan, American specialists have developed two more supercomputers in recent years. One of them - Mira - is intended for industrial and scientific research needs, and with the help of the other - Sequoia - they simulate nuclear weapons tests. IBM Corporation is behind all these developments.
The most powerful computer in Russia
Alas, the Russian development “Lomonosov-2”, recognized as the most powerful computer in Russia, is only in 41st place in the TOP500 (as of June 2016). It is based at the Scientific Computing Center of Moscow State University. The power of the domestic supercomputer is 1,849 petaflops, peak power is about 2.5 petaflops. Number of cores: 42,688. 
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Many gamers know the company Maingear - it creates and sells powerful desktop computers. So this company, together with the famous company Razer, released the most powerful gaming computer in the world (for 2018) - R2 Razer Edition.
The new computer is primarily aimed at professional gamers. The PC has the latest generation processor from Intel, 64 GB of DDR4-2666 SDRAM, several hard drives and solid SSD drives, video cards from NVIDIA or AMD (to choose from) and new system water cooling. This power is enough not only for the most demanding games in 4K resolution, but also for games that support virtual reality devices.
Sell the most powerful computer R2 Razer Edition There will be two configurations.
- Base model on AMD Ryzen 7 1800X with a frequency of 3.2 GHz, 8 GB of RAM, video card AMD Radeon R9 RX 580 and 1 TB hard drive. The computer costs $999 (65,000 rubles).
- The most powerful model with Core i7-7700K, 16 GB of RAM, video card NVIDIA GeForce Titan X with 32 GB of memory and M.2 NVMe SSD with a capacity of 1 TB. The price of this configuration is $4,000 (260,000 rubles). But it can be made even more powerful by replacing the hard drive with an SSD, increasing the RAM, and so on. Then the approximate price of this computer will be 10,000 dollars (650,000 rubles).
The world's leading PC processor manufacturer, Intel, unveiled a new line of high-performance desktop processors - the X-series - at the Computex exhibition in Taipei. The top-end chip has as many as 18 computing cores and a corresponding price tag: $2,000.
For extroverted gamers
In essence, a new platform is being introduced: X-series processors will work with a new chipset, X299. It is intended mainly for gamers (especially those who would like to broadcast it to their online audience in high definition at the same time as the game), professionals working with 3D graphics and video, software developers, as well as anyone who is willing to part with substantial amounts in exchange for the possession of the “most-most” productive hardware.
At the same time, it is important to understand: the entry-level solutions included in the line, most likely (it can only be said for sure based on the testing results), will not provide significant superiority in games compared to the more affordable regular Core i3 or i5 without the prestigious “X-series” sticker. At least, if you don’t combine them with the most powerful video cards available on the market today.
Watch your hands
The structure of Intel's new line of chips is not the most obvious. The “youngest” Kaby Lake-X processors i5-7640X and i7-7740X use the same seventh-generation Core cores as the previously released mainstream Core i5 and i7 with Kaby Lake architecture. There are also four cores and four (i5) or eight (i7) data processing threads, two memory channels and 16 PCIe channels directly on the processor. The new X-chips are distinguished by a “hotter” thermal package (up to 112 watts versus 91 watts for similar mass-market solutions) and a new 2066 socket - this is what the X299 chipset uses.
The clock speeds are also higher than ordinary members of the Core family: the i7-7740X has a base frequency of 4.3 GHz and a TurboBoost frequency of up to 4.5 GHz. The i7-7700K, at the same price of $399, has a base frequency of 100 MHz lower, although the overclocking frequency is the same. Equal prices should encourage gamers to prefer the new X-series because of their overclocking potential, which is more significant if only because of the lack of an integrated graphics core. Is it true that you will have to pay more for a motherboard based on the X299 chipset? than a mass solution.
In X-chips at a higher level, the Kaby Lake-X architecture is replaced by Skylake-X, but this is not just a 6th generation Skylake chip in a new socket: Skylake-SP cores are used, developed, among other things, for the future generation of Xeon chips. Chips with the Skylake-X architecture support Turbo Boost Max 3: the chip itself determines the cores capable of operating at the highest frequency, and when 1-2 cores are loaded, it loads them. The on-chip cache structure has been redesigned: the individual caches of each core have increased to 2 MB, while the chip cache common to all cores has been reduced. Intel says this will improve performance. At the same time, there will be a number of limitations compared to Xeon: for example, only 4 memory channels instead of six.
Entry-level Skylake-X will feature a 6-core, 12-thread i7-7800X (3.5/4.0 GHz) - starts at $389, but does not support Turbo Boost Max 3 and (officially, at least) memory clock speed above 2400 MHz. A step higher is the $599 8-core 16-thread i7-7820X (3.6/4.3 and up to 4.5 (in Turbo Boost Max 3) GHz) with support for memory frequencies up to 2666 MHz. Finally, the $999 10-core i9-7900X (3.3/4.3/4.5 GHz) has 44 PCIe lanes, Turbo Boost Max 3, and support for 2666 MHz memory. All three of these processors have a thermal package of 140 watts.
At the top of the new line are processors with a 165-watt thermal package and 12, 14, 16 or 18 cores (twice as many threads), operating frequencies for which Intel is not yet ready to announce, in contrast to prices starting at $1,199. It is known that the “best” processor in the line will be called i9-7980XE (not just i9, but i9 Extreme) and will cost $1,999.
Free multiplier and other joys
All new Intel X-series chips have an unlocked multiplier, that is, they are initially positioned as a solution for overclockers. The X299 chipset intended for them supports Optane non-volatile memory, which can act both as RAM and for data storage. You can connect up to three SSD drives with a PCIe or NVMe interface, 8 SATA devices and 10 USB 3.1 devices of the first generation. Support for Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 2nd generation was not built into the chipset; it will have to be implemented through additional controllers.
What about AMD?
Despite the fact that the new high-performance AMD Ryzen processors made a lot of noise this spring, Intel is not going to give up its position yet and still prices its chips more expensive. Thus, a 16-thread Intel X-series chip will cost $599, while a similar 16-thread AMD Ryzen chip will cost $499. Yes, they are not identical, the Intel processor has twice as many memory channels, but the motherboard + processor combination with Intel technologies will in any case cost more than a similar solution from AMD. At the same time, AMD does not yet have an answer to the 18-core Intel Core i9 Extreme - the company has yet to achieve such scaling of the performance of Zen cores.
