This article is more than 1 year old

Intel gives the world a Core i9 desktop CPU to play with

Chipzilla's Compute Card also comes into focus in four models

Intel's Core range of CPUs now comes in a new "family" and has a new upper limit.

Unveiled at the Computex trade show in Taiwan, the new family is dubbed the “Intel Core X-series processors family”. One member of the family is a the Core i9 Extreme Edition, which takes the Core range's upper limit from a “7” to a “9”. The Register imagines the next step might be a Core 11 and Spinal Tap jokes.

But we digress. The new Skylake-based X-series starts at the i5, compared to the i3 at the bottom of the barrel for plain old Core CPUs.

Here's the new lineup.

Intel's new Core-X CPU range

Intel's new Core-X CPU range

But wait, there's more! Intel says before too much time has passed it will add models with 18, 16, 14, and 12 cores.

For now, Chipzilla is pitching the range at enthusiasts and gamers. But an 18-core, 36-thread beast may well excite some workstation buyers especially when paired with Intel's new X299 motherboard chipset as that product offers up to 24 PCI Express lanes, 14 USB ports (10 of them USB 3.0) eight SATA slots and the ability to handle RAID 0,1, 5 or 10.

Chipzilla's also shown off partners' efforts to employ more about the Compute Card it showed off earlier this year. The 94.5 mm x 55 mm x 5 mm computer will come in the four configurations below. Partners signed up to play with the device include Dell, HP, Lenovo, Sharp, Seneca Data, InFocus, Contec, Dtx, TabletKiosk and Pasuntech.

Processor Core i5 vPro
(i5-7Y57)
Intel Core i3
(m3-7Y30)
Pentium N4200 Celeron N3450
Memory 4GB DDR3 4GB DDR3 4GB DDR3 4GB DDR3
Storage 128GB SSD 128GB SSD 64GB eMMC 64GB eMMC
Connectivity Intel 8265 2×2 .11ac & Bluetooth 4.2 Intel 8265 2×2 .11ac & Bluetooth 4.2 Intel 7265 2×2 .11ac & Bluetooth 4.2 Intel 7265 2×2 .11ac & Bluetooth 4.2

Among the applications being considered are monitors with a slot for the Compute Card, kiosks and docks. Intel expects the Compute Card to go wherever small form factor computers are required.

The Register last year tested an Intel Compute Stick, but didn't review it because we found almost nothing nice to say. Above all, the device was just inconvenient because it was so big that your correspondent's telly needed an adjacent HDMI slot to be empty if the Stick was going to fit. Intel thoughtfully supplied a short HDMI cable with the stick, but that just made it dangle unpleasantly. Hopefully Intel's partners will make that problem go away this time around – and they should because the Card connects over USB-C, a rather more flexible interface than HDMI! ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like