12-core Intel Core i9 7920X will get a 400 MHz slower base-clock
And I do need to add more text to that title line, as that is a 2.9 GHz base-clock compared to the 10-core Core i9 7900X. In late August you should be able to pickup the 12 core Core i9 7920X.
And that makes things interesting as I immediately want to compare towards Ryzen Threadripper here. AMDs 12-core part will have a 600 MHz faster base clock at 3.5 GHz (boost 4.0 GHz). Now that doesn't mean that the 12-core part from Intel will be slower, they do have more play in the turbo clocks of course. So time will tell what will be the better option. However looking at the recent power consumption numbers on the 10-core part, Intel can't go too wild on the boost frequencies.
Intel's 12-core Skylake-X based is to cost 1189 USD. The Ryzen Threadripper 1920X is the 12-core counter-part, that base clock is a notch higher at 3.5 GHz with precision boost to 4.0 GHz, thus SKU will get 24 threads. This processor will retail for 799 USD. This info was spotted by Dutch HWI and is listed in the Intel price-list.
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400 MHz is a pretty big drop, but it's not completely surprising. Judging by the thermals and power draw on the 7900X, it was very doubtful that they would be able to clock the 12 - 18 core parts anywhere near the 10-core one.
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Even worse than I thought. And I already re-drawn bad image into pretty bad image.
Worst case scenario:
10 * 3.3GHz = 33GHz of relative performance
12 * 2.9GHz = 34.8GHz of relative performance
That's 5.5% increase of performance for 20.2% increase of price ($200).
What's left for 14 core chips and more? Or is this chip just place holder, so intel can say 12C are available and then there will be properly clocked 14C with huge price bump?
Considering how close this is in IPC to Ryzen and 12C TR having 20% base clock advantage... This is yet another weird chip I would like intel to explain.
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This will be really fun after AMD releases Threadripper and reviews start to pop up showing it beats Intel's 12 and 10 cores soundly, while being cheaper than both.
I think of this when I imagine Intel's board of directors:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghzEd4WLUz4
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So...
20% more cores - 13% per core performance = 20% more expensive.
Or, in other words, if linear, 7% more performance for 20% more cost.
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going to be interesting to see the performance of those 2 compared side by side at stock and over clocked.