Intel’s Massive Core i9-7980XE 18-Core Reviewed With ASUS’ ROG STRIX X299-XE GAMING Motherboard

Intel Core i9-7980XE: Thermals and Power Consumption

As I am sure you have heard, the Core-X series can run pretty hot. Fortunately however, the low clocks of the 7980XE ensure that you are going to be okay with just about any decent cooler. We were personally using an NZXT Kraken X62 AIO and as it turns out, it can keep the processor pretty cool all things considered. In fact, it is not the hottest of the bunch at the stock clocks (OC is another story entirely, which we will go into in detail in a future write up).

As far as thermals go, we saw the 7980XE pull a maximum of 312 watts from the wall at stock configuration at max load. Considering the power efficiency of the PSU is roughly 89%, you are looking at a real power draw of 277.68 Watts, which considering this is an 18-core processor is pretty damn impressive. That's a power draw of roughly 17 watts per core. Not bad at all. The average delta between Idle and Load wattage is around 210 watts.

Its worth noting that the powerdraw of the Intel Core i9-7980XE can climb a lot higher very fast if you apply overclocking profiles (detailed in a later piece).

You can find additional information about our hardware review process and ethics policy here.

8.8

WCCFTECH RATING

This is the best mainstream consumer x86 processor that money can buy at the time of writing. The 7980XE is an excellent choice for enthusiasts who want to do some serious multitasking, streaming or video editing. Rendering and encoding speeds are blistering fast and while gaming performance is excellent as well - its not really designed for the gaming community in mind.

Pros

• Fastest mainstream consumer chip
• 18 cores (36 threads) XCC die
• Huge overclocking potential
• Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 can boost a small number of cores higher
• Reasonable power draw and thermals at stock settings
• Excellent choice for video editors and professionals

Cons

• Extremely huge price tag
• IHS uses thermal paste instead of solder
• Some games might not work (Anno 2205)

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