Here’s our first look at the two Broadwell-E CPU’s we’re analysing today, alongside the previous generation’s flagship.
From left to right: Core i7-5960X, Core i7-6950X, Core i7-6900K
Outwardly, the sole change for Broadwell-E has been the heatspreader. The updated design - made necessary by a change in die size - increases the contact are between heatspreader and retention mechanism in a manner which could serve to equalise stress on the CPU PCB. The mounting system specifications haven’t changed however, so existing LGA 2011v3 coolers will not have compatibility issues with the new chips.
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From left to right: Core i7-5960X, Core i7-6950X, Core i7-6900K
The underside of the Broadwell-E CPUs indicate an identical pin layout and key placement to Haswell-E, unsurprising given that the CPU family reuses Intel’s LGA 2011v3 socket specification. However it’s also true to say that Broadwell-E incorporates far more surface mounted components on the underside of the PCB, speaking to the relative complexity of the CPU design.
You might recall the proprietary ASUS OC Socket technology unveiled during our initial look at Haswell-E and X99 in 2014. This design exploited pads exposed on Haswell-E, pads which didn’t have a counterpart on the LGA 2011v3 reference socket pin layout, to monitor and control certain voltages critical to system stability and overclocking. As you can see these pads remain exposed on Broadwell-E, and so it remains to be seen if OC Socket or similar features on competing motherboards can continue to exploit this curious oversight in the pursuit of greater performance.
From left to right: Core i7-5960X, Core i7-6950X, Core i7-6900K
Outwardly, the sole change for Broadwell-E has been the heatspreader. The updated design - made necessary by a change in die size - increases the contact are between heatspreader and retention mechanism in a manner which could serve to equalise stress on the CPU PCB. The mounting system specifications haven’t changed however, so existing LGA 2011v3 coolers will not have compatibility issues with the new chips.
From left to right: Core i7-5960X, Core i7-6950X, Core i7-6900K
The underside of the Broadwell-E CPUs indicate an identical pin layout and key placement to Haswell-E, unsurprising given that the CPU family reuses Intel’s LGA 2011v3 socket specification. However it’s also true to say that Broadwell-E incorporates far more surface mounted components on the underside of the PCB, speaking to the relative complexity of the CPU design.
You might recall the proprietary ASUS OC Socket technology unveiled during our initial look at Haswell-E and X99 in 2014. This design exploited pads exposed on Haswell-E, pads which didn’t have a counterpart on the LGA 2011v3 reference socket pin layout, to monitor and control certain voltages critical to system stability and overclocking. As you can see these pads remain exposed on Broadwell-E, and so it remains to be seen if OC Socket or similar features on competing motherboards can continue to exploit this curious oversight in the pursuit of greater performance.
