4930k vs 4960x

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Jammy Duel

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Dec 4, 2013
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I was wondering, given the 4930k is just over half the price of the 4960x, what do you actually get for the extra cash?
Am I right in thinking it's just a higher base clock and turbo and a larger L3 Cache, and if so what benefit does that larger L3 cache actually give? After all, the Clock speed can be disregarded since the 4930k can easily be OC'd well over the 4GHz mark. And then in what situations would the 4960x actually be significantly better (OCing to give them equal clock speed)?

 
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Specification wise the extra L3 cache is all that you get. However, Intel's Extreme Edition chips are picked from higher quality silicon which yields greater overclocking potential and less heat output.
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Pinhedd

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Aug 7, 2007
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Specification wise the extra L3 cache is all that you get. However, Intel's Extreme Edition chips are picked from higher quality silicon which yields greater overclocking potential and less heat output.
 
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vertexx

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Apr 2, 2013
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Yes, it is exactly what you said. When it comes down to it, the 4960x provides about a 10% performance boost over the 4930k, so unless you absolutely have to have the maximum performance available, the 4930k offers almost identical performance for nearly 1/2 the price. In almost all cases, the 4930k is the better choice.
 
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Pinhedd

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I can't speak for the IvyBridge-E microprocessors, but the 6 core Sandybridge-E microprocessors are actually fabricated as 8 core microprocessors with 20 megabytes of L3 cache (the 3930k and 3960x are physically identical). Defect density in semiconductor products is measured in defects per square centimeter. The larger the chip, the larger the number of defects. Due to their large size, many of the chips had defects which were compensated for by locking out the defective parts. As such, 2 out of 8 cores were disabled and between 5 and 8 megabytes of L3 cache were disabled. Which cores are disabled and which chunks of cache is determined on a case by case basis.

Microprocessors that have all 8 cores and all cache functional were reserved for high end Xeon microprocessors, but even with all components functional, it does not necessarily follow that the resulting product will operate at a high speed or within the specified thermal envelope. 8 core Sandybridge Xeon microprocessors start at around 2Ghz and retail for about $1100. They scale up to about 3Ghz for $2000
 
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Pinhedd

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That's test is a bit premature. Asus released a large number of firmware updates in the October through January period addressing issues with Ivybridge-E. A rematch is probably in order.

With that said, my 3960x runs at 4.5Ghz with only 1.325 volts whereas most 3930k owners seem to require between 1.35 and 1.4 volts to achieve 4.2Ghz. I could probably take it significantly higher if I so desired.
 
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