i7 3960X / GTX 580 Lightning / Sabertooth X79 / GTX8

[massman]

So, for a long time I wasn't interested in Sandy Bridge-E because it's basically the same architecture like Sandy Bridge and it has the same annoying overclocking problems. Just like with Sandy Bridge, you'll just have to test a lot of CPUs to find a good one (or be very lucky). Last night, I drove too Leeghoofd's place to have one quick test with the platform before it was launched so I would at least have some hands-on experience with it. It was quite a long bench session: from 8PM untill ~3AM ... but of course a lot of fun!!

Setup:

- Core i7 3960X (ES)
- MSI GTX 580 Lightning (x5)
- Sabertooth X79
- Dominator GTX8
- AX1200 PSU
- Inflection Point CPU pot
- Ryba Fat GPU pot

OC Results:

- CPU clock: 5320MHz
- MEM clock: DDR3-2240 CL9-11-10
- VGA clock (3way): 910/1150 and 925/1150
- VGA clock (single): 1450/1200 Vantage and 1500/1200 3D11

- 3DMark Vantage - Performance: 44589 marks with GeForce GTX 580 [-155.0 degrees °C under load] at 1450/1200MHz
- 3DMark11 - Performance score: 12034 marks with GeForce GTX 580 [-155.0 degrees °C under load] at 1500/1200MHz
- 3DMark Vantage - Performance score: 62985 marks with 3x GeForce GTX 580 at 925/1200MHz
- 3DMark11 - Performance score: 19094 marks with 3x GeForce GTX 580 at 910/1150MHz
- 3DMark06 score: 40409 marks with 3x GeForce GTX 580 at 925/1200MHz



Pictures:





Conclusion:

So, as expected, Sandy Bridge-E is nothing too special aside from the +5% we can easily get in benchmarks such as Vantage and 11. Aside from those two benchmarks, this chip isn't so interesting for overclockers and even with a gem Gulftown you can get close to the performance of an average Sandy Bridge-E. In Vantage, a 5300MHz Sandy Bridge-E will deliver similar performance like a 6000MHz Gulftown; if you're lucky and find a 5500+ chip, you're safe.

Like I've told some people already: I hate the fact that I care so much about the +5% performance gain we can get by using Sandy Bridge-E. Fact is, however, that it's much easier to get a competitive score with this new chip than with the old one ... it's almost as easy like benching Sandy Bridge.

Fyi, compare between 3x580 Vantage GT and SBE:

- 62919 with 6000 i7 990X
- 62958 with 5300 i7 3960X

Maxed out GPU completely, need to find better CPU, should probably try the R4E, GTX8 needs to be clocked higher. We'll see.

[der8auer]

I realy like the performance/MHz of this chip but the overclocking capability seems to be even worse than with SB-N. Pieter did you test whether LN2/DICE is realy needed on the CPU? Does it even scale on cold?

[massman]

Yes, Sandy Bridge-E needs LN2 to reach the maximum clock because the heat output of 6 cores is higher than with a regular Sandy Bridge. We needed approximately -30°C to get 5320MHz stable, but with 0°C we could already check the maximum possible MHz. I think a good single stage will be fine for these chips.

The binning will be similar to Sandy Bridge regarding CPU MHz, but now you also want to test the maximum memory overclocking of each chip (memory oc differs from chip to chip and also is heavily affected by cold)

[e-Killer]

what about wprime?

[massman]

It's the same like the 2600k in Wprime: same CPC like LGA1366 counterparts. Since you cannot get the same clock, Sandy Bridge-E is not interesting for Wprime either.

Example: http://hwbot.org/submission/2221280_...60x_97sec_33ms

Just look at the 4x CPU rankings: http://hwbot.org/benchmark/wprime_10...start=&cores=4

[fuzz3l]

Nice scores and pictures Pieter!

[Eldonko]

Disagree. SS was more than enough to max mine out at 5481 and at 1.58v full load temps never exceeded -37. A strong SS is more than enough IMO.

Yes, Sandy Bridge-E needs LN2 to reach the maximum clock because the heat output of 6 cores is higher than with a regular Sandy Bridge.

[Leeghoofd]

I think massman quoted that too El donko.... he said this : "I think a good single stage will be fine for these chips." It's just behind the part that you quoted :p

The "yes" might be confusing, I think it referred to "Does it scale on cold ? question... Massman is French , that might be why :p

[Perica_Barii]

Great inside info..... Thanks for shearing....

[G H Z]

Nice mobo

[massman]

Nice mobo

For some reason, we asked Asus a mainboard to "overclock with" and they gave us a Sabertooth .

Maybe we did something to upset them I dunno

[Leeghoofd]

Why do you say WE ???? That's really upsetting

[massman]

Which 'we' in particular is upsetting you?

[Leeghoofd]

All of them grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[SoF]

lol ppl be carefull - sb-e eatz your brainz as you can see at these two individuals

[Khalam]

some really nice benching Lads, really appreciate the hard work you've put in to this if any one will be interested ill be getting my MSI GD65 probably at the end of next week with a 3930k and ill run all the tests on my water setup as well as my single stage. Shame they only support 3 way sli but once Big Bang Xpower 2 comes out ill do quad 580 lightning as well

[kikicoco1334]

wow that's amazing!

[bingo13]

For some reason, we asked Asus a mainboard to "overclock with" and they gave us a Sabertooth .

Maybe we did something to upset them I dunno

Well, you probably asked the wrong person.

Sabertooth is not too bad, H60, 32GB of cheap ram and a very expensive MarsII to keep things warm...

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/722...pack32gblo.png

Since you are on the cold stuff, the RIVE is the way to go with a good chip and especially good memory.

[Leeghoofd]

Don't forget to set the ram selection to the max G

I like the sabretooth, but it's not intended to be used for maximum tweaking. Partly puzzles me why we ended up with this sample as enthousiast website :p I'll try 0802 bios for some more testing, moff to hunt down a better a CPU

[massman]

The Sabertooth is fine for this kind of stuff.

[Llunker]

Massman,

i am trying to decide which platform to go with. I am beginning from scratch off an old AMD system. I wanted to go 2600K, then 2700K, the SB-E came out and thought i will for sure go with the 3930K. But after looking at your efforts here I might go back a step or two and go with a 2700K. Would these be somewhat comparable?

[hirsch]

Nice scores!

[gandalfone]

Hi Massman. After 2 years I see that you are always...great

Claudio.

[k|ngp|n]

Great stuff Pieter So out of 5 MSI cards, one could do 1500mhz single card? YOu guys gonna tear it up in 4-way? ASUS only sent you a three way board huh? You prolly pissed someone off over there eh? lol. You need to get a 4-way board and run those LIGHTNINGS in quad man, doesn't GIGA have a 4-way board?

[massman]

Don't have the cards anymore, man. Only had a brief moment I could use them.

Giga has a 4way X79, sure. MSI soon too. Already got the R4E. But I read somewhere CLASSIFIED works too