Ian "8Pack" Parry is proud to announce his latest extreme machine, the Supernova XL. Built inside the CaseLabs STH10, the Supernova XL not only draws its inspiration from the very first 8Pack machine, but also gives one final moment in the sun to add to the already accomplished CaseLabs legacy. Standing at just under a metre the Supernova XL is a colossal machine, consisting of five custom acrylic pass through plates complete with mirrored internals. It's a showpiece to behold. The interior is also fitted with a light box, bathing the water-cooled components in a customisable light display.

Powering the Supernova XL you'll find one Intel's most exclusive processors, the i9-9990XE. Available in extremely limited quantities, through closed auction, this elusive processor is so exclusive it isn't even listed on the official Intel Ark database. The i9-9990XE is a 14 core processor, with a 4.0 GHz base clock pulling 255W TDP, it's capable of hitting a 5.0 GHz boost clock across all cores - straight out of the box. Cooled by a custom water-loop, with two dedicated radiators, the i9-9990XE is overclocked by 8Pack himself for a system that gives only world-class leading performance.

In a sign of just how arid the DIY retail channel has become for Intel, Tom's Hardware reports that the new socket flagship LGA2066 HEDT processor model Intel sneaked into its product-stack, the Core i9-9990XE, is restricted to the OEM/SI (system integrator) channel. Even to OEMs, ordering a tray of i9-9990XE chips isn't as simple as ordering other chips, such as the i9-9900K. Apparently, Intel has been running secret online auctions that are OEM-only, for these chips. OEMs get to bid on the per-chip price in n-unit tray quantities.

Workstation integrator Puget Systems was able to score itself some i9-9990XE inventory at USD $2,300 per chip. Puget Systems last week received its first batch of chips from Intel, and released performance benchmarks. At this price, the i9-9990XE is being sold at a 21% premium over the retail-channel SEP price of the i9-9980XE, and a whopping 65% premium over the i9-9940X. Intel can't shake off comparisons between the i9-9990XE and the i9-9940X because both chips are 14-core/28-thread with 19.25 MB shared L3 cache, with the i9-9990XE only offering significantly higher clock-speeds, but at an astounding TDP of 255W. The i9-9990XE was shown beating the 18-core i9-9980XE in a variety of HEDT-relevant benchmarks.

Intel is giving final touches to a new socket LGA2066 high-end desktop processor with an interesting model number for its specifications. The new Core i9-9990XE is positioned above the current flagship i9-9980XE. Normally you'd expect it to be the same 18-core "Skylake-X" chip with a speed-bump, however, the i9-9990XE is a unique proposition. It sheds cores in favor of significantly higher clock-speeds than the i9-9980XE.

The i9-9990XE is a 14-core/28-thread processor, based on a binned "Skylake-X" HCC (high core count) die, and uses STIM (soldered thermal interface material) between the die and integrated heatspreader (IHS). It features some aggressive clock-speeds, with 4.00 GHz nominal clock-speeds, and a massive 5.10 GHz maximum Turbo Boost frequency that beats even the Core i9-9900K. Besides 14 cores, the i9-9990XE is configured with 19.25 MB of shared L3 cache, and 1 MB of L2 cache per core. The four disabled cores alone don't help Intel's efforts to dial up clock-speeds. Intel has increased the chip's rated TDP all the way up to 255 Watts!