
This finishing order is starting to look repetitive, isn’t it? The overclocked Core i7-3930K clinches a commanding finish, but because ABBYY’s FineReader 10 is well parallelized, the other two six-core Sandy Bridge-E-based setups snag second and third place ahead of Intel’s Core i7-3820 overclocked to 4.625 GHz.

In a single-threaded test, architecture and clock rate rule. The 4.625 GHz chip takes first, followed by the 4.5 GHz contender. The rest of the field drops in behind (led by the quad-core Core i7-3820, almost humorously enough).

Corel recently launched a newer version of WinZip, and we’re working on automating it. In the meantime, WinZip 14 demonstrates the same single-threaded behavior we’ve seen so many times before. The line-up is quite similar to what we just saw in our Lame conversion.

WinRAR is a different sort of compression app. And while it definitely uses more than one thread, the quad-core Sandy Bridge-E chip still holds onto first place, followed by the 4.5 GHz Core i7-3930K.

The more thoroughly parallelized 7-Zip rewards Intel’s six-core processors with top finishes. The only deviation is the overclocked quad-core model, which uses its searing clock rate to secure a second-place berth.

This seemingly single-threaded metric leaves us with what we can now say is a pattern. Sandy Bridge is the favored architecture, and enthusiasts able to get it running over 4 GHz stand to realize impressive performance.

Overclocking trumps all in this compile workload. The other six-core chips end up landing pretty close to each other, as Intel’s Core i7-3820 trails the Gulftown-based Core i7-990X at its stock settings.
- 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.