Here’s Intel’s $2,000 Core i9 CPU

AMD and Intel are in a CPU arms race, and Intel announced the latest products in its Core-X series to ensure it is keeping up with AMD’s Threadripper. This second-wave of chips all come in Intel’s new i9 configuration, and they start at 12 cores in the $1,199 i9-7920X and go up to 18 cores in the $2,000 i9-7980XE. The i9-7920X is due out August 28, and Intel will roll out the other three Core-X i9s on September 25.

Naturally, these new chips continue to run on Intel’s X299 chipset, so you’ll need to upgrade your motherboard (and probably a lot of other components) if you want to upgrade. If you are spending two grand on a CPU, however, I’m betting you have the dough to build a beefy new rig from scratch.