Editing Intel QuickPath Interconnect (section)

==Frequency specifications==
Being a [[synchronous circuit]] the QPI operates at a clock rate of 2.4&nbsp;GHz, 2.93&nbsp;GHz, 3.2&nbsp;GHz, 3.6&nbsp;GHz, 4.0&nbsp;GHz or 4.8&nbsp;GHz (3.6&nbsp;GHz and 4.0&nbsp;GHz frequencies were introduced with the Sandy Bridge-E/EP platform and 4.8&nbsp;GHz with the Haswell-E/EP platform). The clock rate for a particular link depends on the capabilities of the components at each end of the link and the signal characteristics of the signal path on the printed circuit board. The non-extreme Core i7 9xx processors are restricted to a 2.4&nbsp;GHz frequency at stock reference clocks.

Bit transfers occur on both the rising and the falling edges of the clock, so the transfer rate is double the clock rate.

Intel describes the data throughput (in GB/s) by counting only the 64-bit data payload in each 80-bit flit. However, Intel then doubles the result because the unidirectional send and receive link pair can be simultaneously active. Thus, Intel describes a 20-lane QPI link pair (send and receive) with a 3.2&nbsp;GHz clock as having a data rate of 25.6&nbsp;GB/s. A clock rate of 2.4&nbsp;GHz yields a data rate of 19.2&nbsp;GB/s. More generally, by this definition a two-link 20-lane QPI transfers eight bytes per clock cycle, four in each direction.

The rate is computed as follows:
:3.2 GHz
:× 2 bits/Hz   (double data rate)
:× 16(20)      (data bits/QPI link width)
:× 2           (unidirectional send and receive operating simultaneously)
:÷ 8           (bits/byte)
:= 25.6 GB/s