Back when Intel announced their Core-X Series high-end desktop (HEDT) processors one really stood out. It was at the top of the product stack, having more cores and threads than any other Intel consumer desktop processor before it and with its price tag it is the most expensive Intel consumer desktop processor as well. The processor I am talking about is of course the Core i9-7980XE. It is Intel's flagship Core-X series processor packing in 18-cores, 36-threads with 27.45 MB of L3 cache. The chip has a base clock of 2.6 GHz with a boost clock of 4.2 GHz, and two cores reaching up to 4.4 GHz with the new Turbo Boost 3.0 technology. This chip like the 14 and 16 core chips in the Core-X series has a higher TDP of 165W. If you are building an X299 system this will be the ultimate processor to get, but is it worth its $1999 price tag? Read on as we find out!