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bwDraco
bwDraco
17:26
Welcome! Feel free to talk (and speculate) about new and upcoming PC hardware here. For more general discussion, visit Root Access. Remember to be nice, and have fun!
2
bwDraco
bwDraco
18:12
So, there's a major new feature called Virtual Raid on CPU (VROC) in the X299 platform. It enables crazy bootable RAID configurations. Up to 20 NVMe SSDs supported, with a theoretical limit of 128 GB/s. pcworld.com/article/3199104/storage/…
However, there are several major concerns with what Intel is doing here.
First, only RAID 0 is available by default. A $99 key must be purchased to add RAID 1 and 10 support, and a $299 key for RAID 5. Apparently, Intel is concerned about cannibalizing the enterprise market with these features.
Second, it looks like only Intel-brand SSDs will be supported. This seriously constrains the capabilities of this feature, since Intel's SSDs aren't exactly the fastest (at least not until Optane SSDs come out).
As for me, I have no plans to run RAID on my main desktop, nor would I expect to need such extraordinarily fast storage.
I have some things to say - Core i9 & X299
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anandtech.com/show/11461/…
> As part of the announcement today, Intel is announcing three sets of processors if we band them together by PCIe lane count. The Kaby Lake-X quad core CPUs will feature 16 PCIe lanes, whereas the Skylake-X family will split between 28 PCIe lanes for the low-end processors and 44 PCIe lanes for the high-end processors.

One of the requirements for X299 is that every SKL-X and KBL-X processor must work in all X299 motherboards.

If you have ever picked apart a motherboard block diagram, or had to deal with issues from previous HEDT platforms relating to what is enabled with what CPU, this c…
Not only that, Kaby Lake-X only supports two memory channels. This means that there will most likely be non-functioning DIMM slots if you have such a processor.
bwDraco
bwDraco
18:32
Intel's business model of charging thousands extra for server processors and enterprise features is starting to become untenable.
Putting a lockout on advanced RAID features and requiring consumers to buy an extra key to unlock these features just sounds like Intel trying to protect its enterprise revenue stream.
It was the lack of competition that allowed Intel to do this in the first place.
in Root Access, 1 hour ago, by bwDraco
Intel was originally going to leave cores disabled on the flagship processor, and had it not been for AMD, the HEDT platform would have remained at 10 cores.
Holding back features and pricing things as high as the market will bear, because there's no competition to stop them from doing it.
headdesk
The question remains: what will AMD charge for Ryzen Threadripper and EPYC?
bwDraco
bwDraco
18:59
If anything, Intel is just playing the vendor lock-in game to get people to keep buying their products.
 
2 hours later…
bwDraco
bwDraco
20:52
wccftech.com/…
> [...] the Core-X specifications document clearly states that only the Core i9-7900X (10-Core) and below are available right now with the Core i9-7920X and above coming 'soon'. [...] ARK [...] only lists processors up to the Core i9-7900X [...]. This has troubling implications because it means Intel did not even have enough configuration details to do a paper launch [which] is confirmed by the fact that all but the most broad specifications of the Core i9-7920X and above are TBD.
in Root Access, 14 hours ago, by bwDraco
Intel never expected a 16C/32T consumer processor from AMD and has always used Xeon LCC dies for the HEDT platform. That Intel is forced to use the Skylake-SP MCC die for a consumer platform, with no specified clock speeds for the 14-18C parts and a 2018 expected release (an unusually long delay between announcement and release), is worrying. It shows Intel went "OMG PANIC" when they learned of Threadripper.

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