The Intel Core i9-7980XE was a desktop processor with 18 cores, launched in September 2017, at an MSRP of $1999. It is part of the Core i9 Extreme lineup, using the X-Series 7th Gen architecture with Socket 2066. Thanks to Intel Hyper-Threading the core-count is effectively doubled, to 36 threads. Core i9-7980XE has 24.75 MB of L3 cache and operates at 2.6 GHz by default, but can boost up to 4.4 GHz, depending on the workload. Intel is making the Core i9-7980XE on a 14 nm production node, the transistor count is unknown. You may freely adjust the unlocked multiplier on Core i9-7980XE, which simplifies overclocking greatly, as you can easily dial in any overclocking frequency.
With a TDP of 165 W, the Core i9-7980XE is extremely power hungry, which means you need top-notch cooling. Intel's processor supports DDR4 memory with a quad-channel interface. The highest officially supported memory speed is 2666 MT/s, but with overclocking (and the right memory modules) you can go even higher. For communication with other components in the machine, Core i9-7980XE uses a PCI-Express Gen 3 connection. This processor does not have integrated graphics, you will need a separate graphics card.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Core i9-7980XE, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Additionally, IOMMU virtualization (PCI passthrough) is supported, so that guest virtual machines may directly use host hardware. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) can run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications. Besides AVX, Intel has added support for the newer AVX2 and AVX-512 instructions, too.