Geforce now on your Desktop - Intel CC150 found

williamcll · February 11, 2020

It is known that intel releases custom version of mainstream CPUs to some customers those models never get announced. It seems some of these chips have surfaced on TaoBao for 309 USD (2160RMB), pertormance wise it is close to a 9900 or 9900F.

Quote

From time to time, Intel will make mention of the fact that it sells CPUs directly to specific large companies — think Google or Amazon. Unlike AMD, which breaks this segment out into its own semicustom business, Intel typically doesn’t talk about the specific parts that it builds for customers, and only occasionally mentions doing so. One of those custom chips has tipped up in China as the CC150, an eight-core CPU without typical Intel brand markings. It’s badged with “SRFBT,” and we know the “S” means it’s a production chip, not a sample. There’s no mention of a CPU family such as Celeron, Pentium, or Core — it’s badged only as an “Intel Processor.”

The CPU appears to be a 9th Generation Core i9, with 8 cores, 16 threads, and a constant 3.5GHz clock speed, according to THG. There’s a full-sized 16MB L3 cache, which means this isn’t some cut-down variant or low-end core, despite the lack of turbo boost. Performance-wise, the CC150 had a very low CB20 single-thread score of 151 (no turbo whacks it hard), but the multi-threaded score of 1510 compares well against the 9700K (8C/8T, 3.6GHz base, 4.9GHz boost). THG also examined the reported power consumption as compared with other Intel CPUs and writes: “based on what we have seen, the CC150 seems like it performs similarly to an i7-9700K in multi-core workloads with a rather modest power consumption that’s equivalent to an i5-9500.”

That explanation might be why the CPU exists in the first place. It’s a relatively low-power eight-core CPU at a modest clock speed. The 9700K draws 115W – 130W in AIDA64 Full Load and 190-220W in AIDA64 FPU. The CC150, in contrast, draws 61-63W in AIDA64 FL and 77-78W in AIDA64 FPU. With the CC150, Intel is delivering 9700K-equivalent performance in less than half the power envelope. That’s a significant win for efficiency and potentially quite valuable to any company that wants low-power, high-efficiency desktop chips that still pack a significant amount of compute resources into each CPU.

Further information can be found from Leaks regarding the hardware used by geforce now:

Source:https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=610813568968

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/305895-previously-unknown-intel-cc150-8-core-cpu-pops-up-online

https://hothardware.com/news/geforce-rtx-t10-8-gpu-intel-cc150-cpu-hardware-geforce-now

https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/compute/37501

Thoughts: Price wise it is cheaper than the 3700X but I would think twice before buying chips with no troubleshooting support, turbo and most likely used for sometime.

Fasauceome · February 11, 2020

21 minutes ago, williamcll said:

Thoughts: Price wise it is cheaper than the 3700X

Apparently it has no turbo so it would also be worse in performance

https://www.google.com/amp/s/wccftech.com/intel-cc150-8-core-16-thread-cpu-no-turbo/amp/

I don't think it's close to a 9900

X-System · February 11, 2020

Weird these numbers. First picture says 8 cores and 16 threads but second picture says 4 cores and 4 threads. And also third picture says 2 processors, 4 cores and 8 threads

Taf the Ghost · February 11, 2020

21 minutes ago, Tedny said:

what special about this chip?

Nothing really, except they're used in Geforce NOW and possibly Google Stadia. We don't see Intel Semi-custom parts in the wild very often, so there's a novelty to it.

porina · February 11, 2020

If we assume the CPU-Z in 1st post is correct, and the others are weird due to virtualisation shenanigans, then I can see this making some sense. If Intel had some 8 cores that were otherwise fine other than not making the higher turbo clocks of consumer models, this would allow them another avenue to maximise their saleable production.