Gadgetory

it's been a few days but I'm back in the saddle so I've got a very exciting product today to unbox this is the Intel Core i7 980 X it's an LGA 1366 processor and we've seen that before but what's new about it is this is a six core Extreme Edition processor now just like when Intel launched the QX 6700 this is the only processor that you can buy from Intel on the desktop platform with six cores so the QX 6700 was an extreme processor and it was the only four core you could buy at the time so you're paying a premium but you're getting the latest technology this is a 32 nanometer processor it supports hyper threading technology which means 12 threads and task manager go figure turbo boost it has an integrated memory controller triple channel ddr3 memory like all of the LGA 1366 CPUs it is compatible with most and it should be all x58 motherboards with only a BIOS update so I threw one of these chips into my one year old x58 board and it worked just with a BIOS update so then let's go around to the back this box contains an Intel processor and thermal solution it is a three year warranty ok so let's go around here ok why don't we break the seal on this bad boy so here we go that is a thousand plus dollar processor now it's open we opened the box let's see what kind of experience we have unboxing a core i7 extreme so this is cool intel has actually updated their stock cooler for the extreme edition products but before we get into that we have a look at the documentation oh wow this is kind of a complicated package the CPUs in like a cardboard container so we'll look at that after first of all we have the installation instructions along with the three year limited warranty we have an Intel Inside logo label core i7 inside it's a black one because it's extreme alright next we have Oh this is new look at this Intel actually includes a thermal compound tube this looks like it's probably shin-etsu I'm guessing though I'm just going based on the based on the syringe here Dow Corning no this is it's a no Liam it's an OEM paste if it's what I think it is it's a very high quality paste and then they include an installation instruction guide for how to apply the the syringe to your CPU I also have a video about that which you could also watch on my NCI x-column account okay so then we have a clamshell plastic package and the new Intel stock cooler which I've also done a video on my Linus tech tips channel about outlining the the differences between this are just looking at it okay so the biggest difference is let's start with the obvious one this is a heat pipe cooler so it has four heat pipes that all connect directly to a copper base and then aluminum fin tower design just like many of the aftermarket coolers over the past couple years whereas Intel has been using a top-down blower for years and years and years they have to change that for aeons it seems like okay next thing is it uses thumb screws to secure to the motherboard as well as a backplate Intel in the past has been using pushpins plastic pushpins I hate these things this is way better I love it okay next thing it uses a bowed base you can't see that here but the base is actually convex which means that when you put it down on the CPU and tighten it down it gets incredibly tight mounting pressure in the center right over the die of the CPU that's very important too this is a feature that's been carried over from previous extreme edition heat sinks in that you can set it to either quiet or performance mode with the push of a button okay let's have a look at the fins from the side so you can kind of see through them there and then it has a sleeve power connector that's something that I've wanted to see on stock coolers for a long time because you know what it just makes it that much tidier when you're trying to do a nice build and you got like your blue and yellow and green and black random wire all over the place alright next thing right this is actually really cool so see this fan that is kind of a weird shape so it's not actually designed to just blow right through the fins like most of the aftermarket coolers are the reason for that is that in a properly SPECT cooler you should actually be blowing not only through the fins to cool the CPU but you should actually be cooling all of the components around the CPU and for a long time that's been the disadvantage to using a tower cooler because usually the fan blows only through the fins and it doesn't reach the surrounding components but what Intel's done is they've angled the fan blades so that it actually pushes a lot of air kind of around this way and it also pushes it down here and just sort of randomly around the socket so that enables Intel to get proper cooling of all the components around the socket and still use a tower cooler amazing so now let's finish up the unboxing and product overview as I mentioned before this is a six core processor clocked at three point three three gigahertz it has all right let's get this cardboard thing I've never seen it Intel CPU box like this very strange so they've changed a lot of things let's have a look here so it has 12 Meg's of cash it uses hmm yeah it uses a six point four gigahertz qpi link and that is pretty much all there is to it let's flip it over it looks just like any LGA 1366 CPU that we've seen over the last year plus except for what's under the hood so that's six cores of high-performance computing power I should probably also mention that I was able to effortlessly overclock the sample that I already have to four gigahertz just by turning up the multiplier so it's an extreme addition processor designed for overclocking and looking cool and extreme thanks for checking out my video blog