Core i7-6950X to be the first Intel consumer CPU with 10 cores

It appears that Intel is preparing to debut its Broadwell-E processors, with the Intel Core i7-6950X to be the chip maker’s first consumer CPU to feature 10 cores, Chinese website Xfastest reports. It has been a little over a year since the Haswell-E processors were first introduced, and given the arrival of Skylane, it’s no surprise that Intel will be looking to update its X99 platform in the near future.

What’s surprising is that, instead of maintaining the 8 core 16 threads spec of Haswell-E’s i7-5960X, Broadwell-E’s i7-6950X will feature 10 cores and support for up to 20 threads, despite offering the same 3.0 GHz clock speed of its predecessor. It is enhanced further with a higher cache capacity of 25M over the 20M capacity of thei7-5960X.

According to the Chinese website, Intel will launch 4 processor models, including the aforementioned i7-6950X, i7-6900K, i7-6850K and i7- 6800K. A breakdown of the specifics for each of these processors can be seen below.

http://i.imgur.com/s8uJYEn.jpg

Provided that currently marketed X99 motherboard BIOS update to support the i7-6950X, i7-6900K, i7-6850K and i7-6800K processors, owners of current X99 motherboards won’t have to re-buy new ones.