londistei7-6950X is from Q2 2016, 32-core TR will come later this year.

Are you sure your memory serves right? 8800GTX has 155W TDP, latest Prescott P4 Extreme Edition had TDP of 110W. Not quite space heater territory and combined, this is the heat generation of today's higher midrange computer.

the54thvoidI miss the 'moar cores' pic...

GlacierNineI can personally vouch for rooms being dramatically warmer after an 8800GTX system had been running for a little while. No modern system I've owned or worked with has done that for a long time.

GlacierNineAlso, I can't claim to have perfect information, but is it possible that the 115W TDP back in the prescott days was not the same sort of number we get from Intel today for 95W parts, or there's some other factor at play?

GlacierNineThe reason I ask that question is, It seems to me if a Prescott with 8800GTX SLI, was under 450W draw for those components, then we could expect maybe 550W draw for what, at the time was the most power hungry rig a consumer could reasonably build.

the54thvoidI miss the 'moar cores' pic...

Vya DomusHEDT core counts have literally tripled in the last year went from 10 cores to 32 , that's fucking insane and this time it really is thanks to AMD.

Dave65I don't see myself purchasing any Intel products except maybe an SSD, but competition is key to decent pricing and new tech.

GlacierNineSince you asked...


1 - Thermals have to come down with a better TIM application, dealing with the heat of those CPUs is the biggest challenge i have ever met.

People have been complaining about this since 2012: hexus.net/tech/news/cpu/39369-intel-cuts-corners-ivy-bridge-thermal-interface-material-tim/

2 - Motherboards have to become more robust in the VRM cooling and power delivery dept.

This has only been a widespread issue since X299 - X99 VRMs did not have overheating issues becuase the platform's power requirements were dramatically less. Der8auer complained about this issue for the first time on Jun 28th 2017.

3 - Branding has to start making sense already. No more sub 8-core CPUs please.

Intel have a long history of confusing people with their branding - Here's a couple links and quotes:

Spoiler

www.theverge.com/2016/9/2/12754426/intel-core-m-processor-naming-change-confusing - "Intel is making some weird naming changes to its processors this year that are certain to confuse people about what they’re buying. As spotted byLaptop Mag, the Core m name is largely going away in favor of Core i, which means it’s going to be much harder to tell exactly how powerful the processor is inside of a new laptop."

www.brucebnews.com/2012/07/how-to-identify-an-ivy-bridge-processor/ - (Confusing footnote: the naming scheme only works up to 37xx. The 38xx and 39xx processors are Sandy Bridge. That’s because Intel hates consumers.)

4 - CPU pricing needs to start being more compelling. TR is a wake up call.

He's got a point, Intel bumped up the price of their top end HEDT CPU from $999 to $1700 between the 5960X and the 6950X, while delivering only 2 more cores and on the same PCH. TR is doing incredibly well with a top end part priced at what Intel were charging before they added $700 to the MSRP. Absolutely a wakeup call to Intel.

- Quicker catch up with mainstream technology is needed. You can't let mainstream enjoy new ports and technologies, and deliver it to HEDT a whole year later.

Honestly, this is the only thing on this list that I've not seen a whole lot of complaints about, but it's always been an issue on the platform - Gigabyte annouced the world's first thunderbolt 3 compatible X99 motherboard on April 13, 2016 - www.gigabyte.com/Press/News/1421

Thunderbolt 3 had arrived on Mainstream, also from Gigabyte, on Sep 9th 2015 - thepcenthusiast.com/gigabyte-z170x-ud5-th-thunderbolt-3-motherboard/

londisteThat does happen with ~150W already. Blowers are the cooler type that enhances this effect A LOT. 8800GTX one one of the first reference cards with a blower. If you run 250W blower card today, you'll notice the same effect a lot faster. I've had RX290, Vega64 as well as 980Ti/1080Ti with blowers in my computer and they have been warming my feet very nicely :)TDP definition has changed a lot and mostly for the worse. The biggest factor is the clock speeds you mentioned. There is not much that'll constantly run a CPU at full speed and/or load these days.PSUs have come a long way. Proper 450W was a large and expensive PSU, today that is considered pretty basic. PSU specs also match their claimed wattage a lot better than it used to :)