Before we get into the testing, I need to clarify one point from my launch coverage. In that piece, I used Intel’s DX79SI motherboard, along with a 16 GB memory kit from G.Skill to measure memory bandwidth scaling. Except that the modules wouldn’t operate above DDR3-1600, forcing me to switch to an alternative platform.
In working with Intel afterward, it was determined that the board’s firmware had an XMP bug that kept profiles from loading, necessitating manual specification of looser timings at higher data rates. A subsequent beta update fixed this, putting the Intel board back into shape for testing here today.
The blue bars you see across the following pages represent all of the tested processors at their default settings. For all Sandy Bridge-E-based platforms, testing is performed on Intel’s DX79SI, just as it was in my launch piece, with 32 GB of Crucial memory stomping out any potential capacity limitations.
The two red bars are indicative of both overclocked, cost-optimized platforms. There, I’m using the least-expensive X79 Express-based motherboard and quad-channel memory kit currently available on Newegg: ASRock’s X79 Extreme4-M and G.Skill’s F3-12800CL9Q-8GBZL.
| Test Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Processors | Intel Core i7-3930K (Sandy Bridge-E) 3.2 GHz (32 * 100 MHz), LGA 2011, 12 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled |
| Intel Core i7-3820 (Sandy Bridge-E) 3.6 GHz (36 * 100 MHz), LGA 2011, 10 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled | |
| Intel Core i7-3960X (Sandy Bridge-E) 3.3 GHz (33 * 100 MHz), LGA 2011, 15 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled | |
| Intel Core i7-990X (Gulftown) 3.43 GHz (26 * 133 MHz), LGA 1366, 12 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled | |
| AMD FX-8150 (Zambezi) 3.6 GHz (18 * 200 MHz), Socket AM3+, 8 MB Shared L3, Turbo Core enabled, Power-savings enabled | |
| AMD Phenom II X4 980 BE (Deneb) 3.7 GHz (18.5 * 200 MHz), Socket AM3, 6 MB Shared L3, Power-savings enabled | |
| AMD Phenom II X6 1100T (Thuban) 3.3 GHz (16.5 * 200 MHz), Socket AM3, 6 MB Shared L3, Turbo Core enabled, Power-savings enabled | |
| Intel Core i7-2600K (Sandy Bridge) 3.4 GHz (34 * 100 MHz), LGA 1155, 8 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled | |
| Intel Core i5-2500K (Sandy Bridge) 3.3 GHz (33 * 100 MHz), LGA 1155, 6 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled | |
| Intel Core i7-920 (Bloomfield) 2.66 GHz (20 * 133 MHz), LGA 1366, 8 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled | |
| Motherboard | Intel DX79SI (LGA 2011) Intel X79 Express Chipset, BIOS SI.0280B |
| Asus Rampage IV Extreme (LGA 2011) Intel X79 Express Chipset, BIOS 0067 | |
| Asus Crosshair V Formula (Socket AM3+) AMD 990FX/SB950 Chipset, BIOS 0813 | |
| Asus Rampage III Formula (LGA 1366) Intel X58 Express, BIOS 0505 | |
| Asus Maximus IV Extreme (LGA 1155) Intel P67 Express, BIOS 0901 | |
| Memory | Crucial 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR3-1333, MT16JTF1G64AZ-1G4D1 @ DDR3-1600 at 1.65 V on Socket AM3+ and LGA 2011, DDR-1333 at 1.65 V on LGA 1155 |
| Crucial 24 GB (3 x 8 GB) DDR3-1333, MT16JTF1G64AZ-1G4D1 @ DDR3-1066 at 1.65 V on LGA 1366 | |
| Hard Drive | Intel SSD 510 250 GB, SATA 6 Gb/s |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 1.5 GB |
| Power Supply | Cooler Master UCP-1000 W |
| System Software And Drivers | |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit |
| DirectX | DirectX 11 |
| Graphics Driver | Nvidia GeForce Release 280.26 Nvidia GeForce Release 285.62 for all SLI testing |
| 3D Game Benchmarks And Settings | |
|---|---|
| Benchmark | Details |
| Crysis 2 | Game Settings: Ultra Quality Settings, Anti-Aliasing: Disabled, V-sync: Disabled, High-Quality Textures: Enabled, DirectX 9 and DirectX 11, 1680x1050, 1920x1200, 2560x1600, Demo: Central Park |
| DiRT 3 | Game Settings: Ultra Quality Settings, Anti-Aliasing: Disabled and 8x AA, Anisotropic Filtering: Disabled, Sync Every Frame: No, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 2560x1600, Demo: Built-in Game Demo |
| World of Warcraft: Cataclysm | Game Settings: Ultra Quality Settings, Anti-Aliasing: 1x AA and 8x AA, Anisotropic Filtering: 16x, Vertical Sync: Disabled, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 2560x1600, Demo: Crushblow to The Krazzworks, DirectX 11 |
| Audio Benchmarks and Settings | |
| Benchmark | Details |
| iTunes | Version: 10.4.10, 64-bit Audio CD ("Terminator II" SE), 53 min., Convert to AAC audio format |
| Lame MP3 | Version 3.98.3 Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s) |
| Video Benchmarks and Settings | |
| Benchmark | Details |
| HandBrake CLI | Version: 0.95 Video: Big Buck Bunny (720x480, 23.972 frames) 5 Minutes, Audio: Dolby Digital, 48 000 Hz, Six-Channel, English, to Video: AVC Audio: AC3 Audio2: AAC (High Profile) |
| MainConcept Reference v2.2 | Version: 2.2.0.5440 MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV |
| x264 Software Library | AMD-Supplied AVX- and XOP-Optimized builds, TechARP's x264 HD Benchmark 4.0, Modified to accommodate new versions of x264 and CPU-Z 1.58 |
| Application Benchmarks and Settings | |
| Benchmark | Details |
| WinRAR | Version 4.01 RAR, Syntax "winrar a -r -m3", Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload |
| WinZip 14 | Version 14.0 Pro (8652) WinZip Commandline Version 3, ZIPX, Syntax "-a -ez -p -r", Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload |
| 7-Zip | Version 9.20 (x64) LZMA2, Syntax "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5", Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload |
| Adobe Premiere Pro CS 5.5 | Paladin Sequence to H.264 Blu-ray Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality, Mercury Playback Engine: Hardware Mode |
| Adobe After Effects CS 5.5 | Create Video which includes 3 Streams Frames: 210, Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously: on |
| Blender | Version: 2.59 Syntax blender -b thg.blend -f 1, Resolution: 1920x1080, Anti-Aliasing: 8x, Render: THG.blend frame 1 |
| Adobe Photoshop CS 5.1 (64-Bit) | Version: 11 Filtering a 16 MB TIF (15 000x7266), Filters:, Radial Blur (Amount: 10, Method: zoom, Quality: good) Shape Blur (Radius: 46 px; custom shape: Trademark sysmbol) Median (Radius: 1px) Polar Coordinates (Rectangular to Polar) |
| ABBYY FineReader | Version: 10 Professional Build (10.0.102.82) Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages |
| 3ds Max 2012 | Render Space Flyby, 1440x1080, from Y: RAM Drive |
| Adobe Acrobat X Professional | PDF Document Creation (Print) from Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 |
| SolidWorks 2010 | PhotoView 360, 01-Lighter Explode.SLDASM Benchmark File, 1920x1080 Render, 1.44 Million Polygons, 256 AA Samples |
| Visual Studio 2010 | Miranda IM Compile, Scripted |
| Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
| Benchmark | Details |
| PCMark 7 | Version: 1.0.4 |
| 3DMark 11 | Version 1.0.2 |
| SiSoftware Sandra 2011 | Version: 17.80 Processor Arithmetic, Multimedia, Cryptography, Memory Bandwidth, .NET Arithmetic, .NET Multimedia |
- Core i7-3930K And -3820 Get Reviewed
- Overclocking Sandy Bridge-E On A Budget
- Test Setup And Benchmarks
- Benchmark Results: PCMark 7
- Benchmark Results: 3DMark 11
- Benchmark Results: Sandra 2011
- Benchmark Results: Content Creation
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Benchmark Results: Media Encoding
- Benchmark Results: Crysis 2
- Benchmark Results: DiRT 3
- Benchmark Results: World Of Warcraft
- Core i7-3930K And -3820: Stock Versus Overclocked
- Core i7-3930K and -2600K: Making The Tough Choice
- Core i7-3930K: The Smart Sandy Bridge-E Choice
If by "noticeable" you mean "perceivable to mere mortals", then no.
If you can in fact notice the difference between 105 vs 110 FPS, then you are a god, and you deserve only the best.
Intel did an awesome job with the SBE line - despite the fact that we're missing some wanted/promised features (native support for USB and PCI-Express 3.0. I'm waiting out for the PCI 3.0 cards before I upgrade my graphics... curious if the Asus P9X79 Pro will hold it's promises.
Thanks Chris for reviewing this processor. I felt like I went out on a limb getting this processor over the Extreme, but the $600 was well worth it.
FX-8150 benchmark with no AA says "68.8" FPS. I think it's more like "48.8".
If by "noticeable" you mean "perceivable to mere mortals", then no.
If you can in fact notice the difference between 105 vs 110 FPS, then you are a god, and you deserve only the best.
Intel did an awesome job with the SBE line - despite the fact that we're missing some wanted/promised features (native support for USB and PCI-Express 3.0. I'm waiting out for the PCI 3.0 cards before I upgrade my graphics... curious if the Asus P9X79 Pro will hold it's promises.
Thanks Chris for reviewing this processor. I felt like I went out on a limb getting this processor over the Extreme, but the $600 was well worth it.
Glad you're enjoying. You do, actually get PCIe 3.0 support, but no USB 3.0, unfortunately.
Dacatak,
Yup, typo--fixing now!
it is a good thing
Indeed, fixed! At 3.6 V, we'd have dead Sandy.
Intel has made sure reviewers dont highlight on this factor, and instead asks reviewers to focus on the 6 core performance.
Intel didnt release the 4 core 3820(at launch) for this reason, it makes it easy to compare to normal sandy bridge and would show that even with a socket that is double the size, and quad channel memory X79 doesnt give you any better performance than Z68.
I always buy the high-end but X79 is a big letdown, Intel knows it and they're trying to control the reviews so it doesnt look as bad as it is
This shouldn't be necessary. Same architecture = same per-clock performance. If you need numbers, look at iTunes, WinZip, and Lame benchmark results. If you need yet additional proof, check out the original Sandy Bridge-E review, where I explicitly run the results you're saying don't get run.
Finally, as is mentioned in *this* story, the CPUs didn't come from Intel. -3930K came from Newegg and -3820, which isn't out yet, came from an unnamed other source.
Thanks,
Chris
it cant be the yield in Intel fab are so bad that all 2011 CPU produce by Intel have only 6 working cores at best.
This is the same as LGA 1366 v. LGA 1155 once the later was released. 1366 offered higher memory bandwidth and more Pci-e lanes, but even most enthusiasts wouldn't get the higher end platform due to price for performance.
Most settled for the i5-750(or lower since you could overclock anything then) just like most are settling for the 2500k now.