First review of iMac Pro CPU die.

[koyoot]

Sort of.
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/107017-intel-core-i9-7900x-14nm-skylake-x/?page=7
It uses the same die as Xeon Chips will.

That is quite alarming...

 

[posguy99]

That is quite alarming...

Why? You're somehow surprised that a Xeon uses more power than a desktop-class i3/5/7?

 

[koyoot]

Why? You're somehow surprised that a Xeon uses more power than a desktop-class i3/5/7?

No. I am surprised that this CPU uses 80W(!) more than previous generation 10 core Intel CPU - 6950X.

That is alarming in the context of iMac Pro, and 18 core model.

Other reviews show similar increase:

 

[CWallace]

Well this is why the iMac Pro has a much more powerful cooling system. According to the guys at ATP (Accidental Tech Podcast) who saw the machine at WDCC, at max RPM the fans circulate a tremendous amount of air. *

* - They also mentioned the sound did not seem to be that loud, but the arena the machine was in had significant ambient noise from all the attendees present so they are not making any definitive judgments.

 

[William Payne]

So we should be shocked that a little item doing thousands of computations every second working its absolute butt off uses more power then a few light bulbs?

 

[cynics]

You are only mentioning half the equation. Thats is ~40% higher power usage, with some benchmarks showing ~40% better performance. In the Handbrake benchmark they are using the same amount of power....40% more energy used for a 40% increase in performance.

Admittedly I cherry picked the Handbrake test (although its an accurate representation of what the iMac Pro was designed for) because many of the benchmarks have a ~30% increase in performance. But even still you will getting stuff done faster and its all in one package.

I'm not a huge fan of the i9 yet for other reasons but I don't think power usage should be of any real concern.