Hooked On Horsepower: Intel To Sell 18-Core Processor For Speed Freaks

Think your dinky quad-core computer is fast? Computer geeks are freaking out over the horsepower-heavy new processor unveiled by Intel Corporation INTC, which sports a blistering 18 cores and 36 threads.

“This is the most extreme desktop ever introduced,” Gregory Bryant, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the Client Computing Group, wrote in a blog post.

The desktop platform blows the doors off the 16-core processor, the appropriately named “ThreadRipper” introduced by Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD two weeks ago. Intel pulled the wraps off the new processor at the Computex show in Taiwan on Tuesday.

It will retail for $1,999.

You Don’t Want One, You Need One

“In other words, do you really need to spend two-thousand-f(reaking)-dollars on an 18-core CPU? Almost certainly not,” wrote Gizmodo. “Does Intel care if every performance desktop junkie takes out a second mortgage to buy its crazy new chip? That’s highly unlikely.”

This is the computing equivalent of a Kawasaki Ninja H2R, the fastest production motorcycle in the world (with 300 horsepower and a top speed of 250 mph).

Intel, whose chip is the flagship of its Core-X series, is basically playing for bragging rights.

Engadget said the chip is “clearly not a chip you'll see in an average desktop. Instead, it's more of a statement from Intel.”

Then again, industry bible Wired said Intel is playing to a future filled with artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality.

“Intel’s Core i9 is the first consumer desktop processor to cram 18 cores and 36 threads into a single piece of silicon, a feat that enables the kind of full-throttle task-juggling that a world full of 4K video and virtual reality demands,” Wired said.

“Is an 18-core, 36-thread processor overkill for most people? Sure! But for the right applications, it could be a lifesaver.”

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