Intel Core i7-3960X Reviews

[Razzz]

Hi guys




Just finished our latest review and we have benchmarked the Intel Core i7-3960X from 3,3 GHz all the way up to 4,6 GHz. We then compair it agains 2500K and 2600K, the same way.

Here we go, this is how Sandy Bridge E scale on higher frequency.
.


Goole translated, works best with mozilla!
http://translate.google.com/translat...re-i7-3960x%2F

[onethreehill]

More Core i7-3960X Reviews
Bit-tech: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpu...dge-e-review/1
Eteknix: http://www.eteknix.com/reviews/proce...cessor-review/
Hardwareheaven: http://www.hardwareheaven.com/review...roduction.html
HardwareFr: http://www.hardware.fr/articles/846-...-lga-2011.html
HardwareSecrets : http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/artic...PU-Review/1429
Hitechlegion: http://www.hitechlegion.com/reviews/...351-snb-xtreme
Ht4u.net: http://ht4u.net/reviews/2011/intel_s...e_e_hexa_core/
KitGuru : http://www.kitguru.net/components/cp...gtx590-review/
LanOC : http://lanoc.org/review/motherboards...d-intel-dx79si
OCaholic: http://www.ocaholic.ch/xoops/html/mo...l_lang=english
OCworkbench : http://en.ocworkbench.com/tech/intel...press-chipset/
Overclock3D : http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/c...3960x_review/1
OverclockersClub : http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi..._core_i7_3960/
Technic3D : http://www.technic3d.com/review/cpu-...i7-3960x/1.htm
Techspot : http://www.techspot.com/review/465-i...core-i7-3960x/

[sin0822]

can you add me? http://sinhardware.com/index.php/rev...review-w-3960x

[onethreehill]

can you add me?

Done

[sin0822]

Thanks im the little guy lol.

[Mungri]

Huge improvement in theoretical benchmarks, but unfortunately very little in gaming and too much extra power consumption.

Though I wouldnt blame the CPU for that, the problem would be that CPUs and memory bandwidth are simply way too far ahead of gaming.

Means I dont need to waste a fortune upgrading again though

[Aberration]

Or it means this upgrade will last a while! Yeah I am definitely going to wait for Rev2, just not sure if I will wait for IB. My 920 is still going strong, maybe my money is better spent on a GPU since I got 2 285's...

[Mungri]

Or it means this upgrade will last a while! Yeah I am definitely going to wait for Rev2, just not sure if I will wait for IB. My 920 is still going strong, maybe my money is better spent on a GPU since I got 2 285's...

I might get IB, it just depends on how good it is.

I am assuming that it will overclock more, and have lower temps due to being 22nm. It depends on how significant those two factors are, or I'll just give everything a skip until 16 nm.

I would advise waiting for keplers in your PC, as those will give you a much bigger boost than an I7 920 > LGA 2011 would.

[sin0822]

There is a long list of programs that can take advantage of the heavy multi-threading:
photoshop, and movie maker, and many everyday programs can benefit.

Some games can too, but yes the list is very limited.

personally the idea of a $500 6-core with Sb cores is a nice idea in my book, add a $300-$400 board for the extreme high-end and its a decent platofrm, just like X58, just with an inflated price.

if you have SB, then yea there is very small room to gain unless you are heavily multithreaded person lol Of course the boards across the range have upgrades, in terms of platform changes across the high-end market segment:
Most if not all boards now use Intel NICs
ASUS and Giga highend are using the brand new ALC898 with 110dB SNR
PCi-E 3.0 is full integrated and the CPU has it, just not certified.
UEFI has now be tweaked on most boards, and we are seeing some cool BIOSes.

For a workstation, iMO is perfect, and the platform is much funner to OC, funner=more challenging.

[Mungri]

Yes its a great workstation / server / folding CPU for people who do that, or even for enthusiasts and world record benchie attempts. But I'd rather simply watch other people try and do those things here, and save my money towards keplers for gaming

I was really wanting a Rampage IV Extreme, but its pointless for me and costs too much ..... though resisting buying it is like trying to go cold turkey on crack lol.

I keep adding and removing the R4E and the CPU from the purchase basket ... I want, but it wont do anything for me and costs way too much!

[sin0822]

lol good luck not burning a giant hole in your wallet! lol, the CPU is high priced.

[lutjens]

I'm not a huge fan of this CPU for one simple reason: The thing is simply a neutered Xeon. Most of these chips are undoubtedly CPUs that were destined to end up as octal core Xeons, but were not sellable due to the VT-d bug. Intel put them through another manufacturing pass, unlocking their multipliers (was it that hard to unlock a Xeon, Intel?) and neutering two of their cores. I'm not certain, but I'd suspect that there were sufficient quantities of chips such as these to permit an octal core EE to be launched, a feature that would justify the price tag. But such a chip would compete with the Xeon 1P when it comes out and allow people to have an 8 core CPU for less than Intel thinks it should be paid for one.

Intel, what I want is this: A top bin, un-neutered CPU, all features intact (all cores, ECC, VT, both QPIs, multiplier unlocked). Call it whatever you want (Xeon EE sounds good). Or you can just make it easy and multiplier unlock the top speed grade of Xeon...

[paulbagz]

I won't be looking at buying SB-E until a Rev2 chip comes out ala 990X.

-PB

[Russian]

http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news...79-dx79si.aspx

Review by yours truly.

[BababooeyHTJ]

Skyrim really seems to like 3960. I'm not saying that I'm going to jump on Sandy-E but that is the game that will keep me upgrading my cpu just like Oblivion and Fallout 3 did.

[Russian]

Skyrim really seems to like 3960. I'm not saying that I'm going to jump on Sandy-E but that is the game that will keep me upgrading my cpu just like Oblivion and Fallout 3 did.

metro 2033 seems to as well.

[bro20000]

Am going to give it a miss waiting for ivy bridge think there will be a major inprovement in that tech! With 3d gates etc!

[kl0012]

I'm not a huge fan of this CPU for one simple reason: The thing is simply a neutered Xeon. Most of these chips are undoubtedly CPUs that were destined to end up as octal core Xeons, but were not sellable due to the VT-d bug.

I would not believe any rumor comes from VR-Zone. In the past they were many times wrong about Intel's plans (as example they predicted no SB-E this year and later - no PCI-E 3.0 in SB-E). Any way, according to Intel, i7-3960X has VT-d and i7-3930K has it as well.
http://ark.intel.com/products/63696/...he-3_30-GHz%29
http://ark.intel.com/products/63697/...he-3_20-GHz%29

[Lanek]

Skyrim really seems to like 3960. I'm not saying that I'm going to jump on Sandy-E but that is the game that will keep me upgrading my cpu just like Oblivion and Fallout 3 did.

OC a bit the 2600-2700 or your old 980X-990X and you are good to go. (yes you can OC to the 3960X too, but im not sure it really worth the investment, not for gaming ). I suspect the difference come more from using SLI of anything else.

[BababooeyHTJ]

OC a bit the 2600-2700 or your old 980X-990X and you are good to go. (yes you can OC to the 3960X too, but im not sure it really worth the investment, not for gaming ). I suspect the difference come more from using SLI of anything else.

If you look at the Anandtech 2600k review the difference in performance between 2500k and 2600k is much larger than you would think. I really think that the engine likes the extra cache.

[tom1]

a little analysis on the architecture of Sandy Bridge E and performance of i7-3960x take a look guys

http://www.xtremehardware.it/index.p...rticle&id=6076

[Tenknics]

I won't be looking at buying SB-E until a Rev2 chip comes out ala 990X.

-PB

So the i7 3980X?


That was on the roadmap for awhile and everyone speculate it was the 8-core version. It's obviously not on the roadmap anymore..but I think that's what the next one will be.

http://www.donanimhaber.com/islemci/...-sunabilir.htm
http://wccftech.com/wp-content/uploa.../S11324447.jpg

[El Mano]

If you look at the Anandtech 2600k review the difference in performance between 2500k and 2600k is much larger than you would think. I really think that the engine likes the extra cache.

As far as I know, games love CPU cache.
IMHO the winner of this generation is going to be the 3820. It looks great for gaming.

[paulbagz]

So the i7 3980X?


That was on the roadmap for awhile and everyone speculate it was the 8-core version. It's obviously not on the roadmap anymore..but I think that's what the next one will be.

http://www.donanimhaber.com/islemci/...-sunabilir.htm
http://wccftech.com/wp-content/uploa.../S11324447.jpg

Yeah, hopefully it won't be out for a while

Need to save them pennies!

-PB

[AliG]

As far as I know, games love CPU cache.
IMHO the winner of this generation is going to be the 3820. It looks great for gaming.

Games love low-latency cache. Back when conroe first came out, there was a lot of debate between the 2mb and 4mb l2 cache and whether it was worth the price premium. Most tests showed that the 4mb had in general only a added few percent at most over the 2mb.

However if you look at the 2600k vs the i7 990 (which has double the l2 cache) the 2600k wins every time even at the same clockspeed. Apples to oranges to some degree, but as a whole the biggest improvements SNB brought over Nehalem were in power consumption and drastically more efficient cache.