Intel Bids Farewell to High-End Desktop Cascade Lake-X CPUs and X299 Chipset

Intel has finally decided to pull the plug on its aged High-End Desktop (HEDT) CPUs and motherboard chipsets, marking an end to the era of Cascade Lake-X and the X299 chipset. In the tech world, evolution is a constant, and no product, however exceptional it once was, can resist its eventual sunset phase. The decision to discontinue these products was communicated in recent Product Discontinuation Notices (PCNs) from Intel.

Cascade Lake-X, hailing from 2019, was a flagship in the field of HEDT CPUs, with its Intel Core i9 10980XE Extreme Edition CPU being the star of the show. With 18 cores running at a speed of up to 4.8GHz, this CPU offered high computing power. However, the underlying tech was based on the earlier Skylake edition, making it somewhat outdated in comparison to newer models.

Despite its aging infrastructure, Cascade Lake-X was cherished for its impressive bandwidth capabilities, thanks to a quad-channel memory controller and 48 PCIe lanes. Although these lanes only support the older Gen 3.0 spec, they contributed significantly to the robust throughput of the Cascade Lake-X.

Along with the discontinuation of these CPUs, the X299 chipset, an even older product launched back in 2017, also bows out. This particular chipset, with its LGA2066 socket, was paramount in supporting Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X CPUs too. It's significant to mention that this move essentially means Intel's exit from the HEDT market. However, shipments of Cascade Lake-X CPUs and X299 chipsets are expected to continue until January 2025, and Intel will accept orders until April next year so the transition will be gradual.

While this discontinuation may seem like a setback for some, it could also be a necessary move toward evolution. Intel's newer Alder Lake and Raptor Lake CPUs are simply faster and more efficient, making them the preferred choice for most applications. In the future, users requiring the specific capabilities offered by the Cascade Lake-X and X299 chipset will have to transition to pricier Xeon workstation platforms. It's an end of an era, but as with all technology, with endings come new beginnings.