Intel Core i9 8-core LGA1151 Processor Could Get Soldered IHS, Launch Date Revealed

[btarunr]

The fluid thermal interface material between the processor die and the IHS (integrated heatspreader) has been a particularly big complaint of PC enthusiasts in recent times, especially given that AMD has soldered IHS (believed to be more effective in heat-transfer), across its Ryzen processor line. We're getting reports of Intel planning to give at least its top-dog Core i9 "Whiskey Lake" 8-core socket LGA1151 processor a soldered IHS. The top three parts of this family have been detailed in our older article.

The first Core i9 "Whiskey Lake" SKU is the i9-9900K, an 8-core/16-thread chip clocked between 3.60~5.00 GHz, armed with 16 MB of L3 cache. The introduction of the Core i9 extension to the mainstream desktop segment could mean Intel is carving out a new price point for this platform that could be above the $300-350 price traditionally held by top Core i7 "K" SKUs from the previous generations. In related news, we are also hearing that the i9-9900K could be launched as early as 1st August, 2018. This explains why motherboard manufacturers are in such hurry to release BIOS updates for their current 300-series chipset motherboards.



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[Deleted member 178884]

Soldered over poop, deliding is better but how many delidded 8700k's are there? I haven't bothered to delid my 6600k and 7740x.

 

[Gungar]

I just hope it's not soldered... i already bought everything to care for my future little baby oO

 

[Deleted member 178884]

I just hope it's not soldered... i already bought everything to care for my future little baby oO

You can always send it to me lol delid kits in the uk suck - they cost around ~50 then a further 15 for the liquid metal...

 

[Tomgang]

About time intel begin to solder there cpu's again. So that we can have desent temperatures with out have to delid and break warranty + risk damage the cpu in the process.

And so i hope imtel will do that with there hedt platform as well. So that i dont have to delid a 1000 dollar+ cpu.

 

[arroyo]

Decision to build and sell top cpu like 8700k with goop of cheap toothpaste under IHS is like selling Bugatti Veyron with LPG installation.

 

[RejZoR]

Freaking finally. Still, they should also solder their highest end models from mainstream line too (8700k with toothpaste is just pathetic design choice). At least Core i7 models, Core i5 and i3 can be with toothpaste if they want, wouldn't blame them because cost cutting is even more important there.

 

[Enterprise24]

OK so i9 get soldered but the rest get pigeon poop as usual.

 

[phill]

OK so i9 get soldered but the rest get pigeon poop as usual.

Bit like the PCIe lanes when they limit them to the $1000+ CPUs.....

 

[Melvis]

They need to be to be able to run at there all core clock speeds otherwise they would never hit those speeds and thermal throttle under normal cooling solutions.

 

[Valantar]

der8auer hinted to something to this effect in a video a while ago (along the lines of "I can't tell you any specifics, but there is something exciting coming from Intel with regards to OC this fall", with a further comment pointing towards delidding not being required). Would be nice to see Intel get their proverbial head out of their collective butt.

 

[ShurikN]

Freaking finally. Still, they should also solder their highest end models from mainstream line too (8700k with toothpaste is just pathetic design choice). At least Core i7 models, Core i5 and i3 can be with toothpaste if they want, wouldn't blame them because cost cutting is even more important there.

I agree, i7 an up, including HEDT should be soldered without exception.
I'm guessing they had to solder the 9900K simply because of high stock clock speed and extra 2 cores over the previous flagship (8700K).

 

[VulkanBros]

Why not just buy an AMD CPU.......

 

[dj-electric]

Its almost like Intel has plans to thermally control even a beefier chip in this socket...


*wink*

 

[Deleted member 178884]

Intel can fix this - they should charge you around £20 to get your cpu soldered - they'd pull in big income and I'd be happy to pay £40 to get a soldered 7740x and 6600k

X299 definitely needs more cpus - it was targeted against X399 - they'd better not pull the same chipset refreshing move on HEDT or they can gtfo - that tr4 32 core is insane.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Why not just buy a AMD CPU.......

reasons?

 

[Valantar]

I agree, i7 an up, including HEDT should be soldered without exception.
I'm guessing they had to solder the 9900K simply because of high stock clock speed and extra 2 cores over the previous flagship (8700K).

According to a recent der8auer video, the silicon die needs a different surface treatment for solder than for TIM (for the solder to adhere properly and not come loose due to thermal expansion), which seems to be something normally done at the wafer level. This makes having some SKUs with TIM and some with solder difficult, as a wafer would always contain chips in all types of performance bins. This is probably not that difficult to overcome, but still an issue. He doesn't clarify whether the for-solder surface treatment works fine with TIM, though, so one solution might be to just treat the whole wafer as if it was to be soldered, and then use TIM on low-binned chips anyway. Of course, they could solder the entire series, but who would do such a crazy thing? Oh, right, AMD.

 

[hat]

Intel can fix this - they should charge you around £20 to get your cpu soldered - they'd pull in big income and I'd be happy to pay £40 to get a soldered 7740x and 6600k

X299 definitely needs more cpus - it was targeted against X399 - they'd better not pull the same chipset refreshing move on HEDT or they can gtfo - that tr4 32 core is insane.

I disagree with this. The decision to use TIM rather than solder in the first place was a complete cash grab move. So no, they shouldn't charge extra for soldered chips. That's like double dipping where they shouldn't have dipped in the first place.

That said, without having seen this post yet, I literally just said a few minutes ago in another thread that I wouldn't be surprised if Intel started using solder again (among some other things). The Ryzen effect is real. Still, it's not good enough. Just because one top end chip gets soldered doesn't excuse the rest. These chips are often paired with that dinky little coaster heatsink in stuffy cases with poor airflow. I don't care for prebuilt machines, but nobody who buys one should have to suffer impacted performance because of some poor cost cutting design choices. Nobody should be using a computer plagued with thermal throttling issues because Intel wanted to save a few cents on that CPU by using paste and maybe a buck or two on some dinky cooler, while such a configuration only "guarantees" some shitty base frequency when in reality it should "turbo" much higher.

Come to think of it, back in the day there did exist some lower end Intel chips, such as the C2D e4400, that weren't soldered. For some reason, nobody really complained about that... but those chips also didn't run stupid hot, either.

 

[iO]

So they'll set up a another production line for those several additional manufacturing processes needed just for a single SKU?

Nah.

 

[hat]

So they'll set up a another production line for those several additional manufacturing processes needed just for a single SKU?

Nah.

What additional manufacturing processes? Soldered CPUs are not new to Intel.

 

[iO]

What additional manufacturing processes? Soldered CPUs are not new to Intel.

The die and IHS need several coatings to make the solder stick to them. And then you risk killing a perfectly fine, high bin CPU while soldering. Don't see this happen.
They stopped soldering any CPU a year ago and have no reason to switch back as long as people keep buying.

 

[Outback Bronze]

Well its good to see if they start using solder again.

In any case, I'm starting to enjoy decapitating Intel's latest CPU's : )

 

[Deleted member 178884]

I disagree with this. The decision to use TIM rather than solder in the first place was a complete cash grab move. So no, they shouldn't charge extra for soldered chips. That's like double dipping where they shouldn't have dipped in the first place.

That said, without having seen this post yet, I literally just said a few minutes ago in another thread that I wouldn't be surprised if Intel started using solder again (among some other things). The Ryzen effect is real. Still, it's not good enough. Just because one top end chip gets soldered doesn't excuse the rest. These chips are often paired with that dinky little coaster heatsink in stuffy cases with poor airflow. I don't care for prebuilt machines, but nobody who buys one should have to suffer impacted performance because of some poor cost cutting design choices. Nobody should be using a computer plagued with thermal throttling issues because Intel wanted to save a few cents on that CPU by using paste and maybe a buck or two on some dinky cooler, while such a configuration only "guarantees" some shitty base frequency when in reality it should "turbo" much higher.

Come to think of it, back in the day there did exist some lower end Intel chips, such as the C2D e4400, that weren't soldered. For some reason, nobody really complained about that... but those chips also didn't run stupid hot, either.

No - I meant pay to swap for a soldered version, not charge extra

 

[newtekie1]

Bit like the PCIe lanes when they limit them to the $1000+ CPUs.....

Do you really have a need for more than the 40 PCI-E 3.0 lanes that the 1151 platform provides?

Of course, they could solder the entire series, but who would do such a crazy thing? Oh, right, AMD.

Except AMD doesn't. But who cares about pesky details like that, right?

 

[R0H1T]

Intel can fix this - they should charge you around £20 to get your cpu soldered - they'd pull in big income and I'd be happy to pay £40 to get a soldered 7740x and 6600k

X299 definitely needs more cpus - it was targeted against X399 - they'd better not pull the same chipset refreshing move on HEDT or they can gtfo - that tr4 32 core is insane.

I'm not sure whether you're serious or not, but this is the exact reason why many of us wanted soldered CPUs especially unlocked ones.

Some Intel fans on the other hand danced around with this idea that Intel couldn't do it because ~

• it'd cost way too much? nope
• the solder would not be effective long term? Xeons say hello
• worst of all you couldn't solder them all because the chip was tiny! 9900k

Do you really have a need for more than the 40 PCI-E 3.0 lanes that the 1151 platform provides?



Except AMD doesn't. But who cares about pesky details like that, right?

AMD doesn't solder RR, they solder everything else AFAIK, unlike Intel.