Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

Core i7-3970X: Faster, But Less Efficient At The Same Price

Core i7-3970X Extreme Review: Can It Stomp An Eight-Core Xeon?
By

Intel didn’t have to launch the Core i7-3970X. Its -3960X was already the fastest single-socket workstation processor you could buy. But, in the year that has passed since Sandy Bridge-E first debuted, Intel also introduced its Ivy Bridge architecture. Better per-cycle performance gave enthusiasts something to consider: do you save some money by buying a quad-core Ivy Bridge-based processor, or splurge on an older architecture for its higher core count and more generous PCI Express connectivity?

With the Core i7-3970X, Intel gives power users with money to spend a little more reason to lean in favor of Sandy Bridge-E. An extra 200 MHz under full load is reflected in apps like Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Autodesk 3ds Max, Microsoft Visual Studio, and Maxon Cinema 4D. A 100 MHz-higher Turbo Boost bump helps iTunes, PowerPoint, and Lame.

Although Intel is maintaining its $1000 pricing on this desktop flagship, you’ll need to pay closer attention to cooling. A massive 150 W TDP is more than Intel’s LGA 2011-oriented heat sink can handle. Instead, the company recommends its closed-loop thermal solution, adding nearly $80 to the already-steep CPU's cost.

Unfortunately, at least in our suite of tests, the extra infusion of performance isn’t significant enough to counteract higher power consumption. Efficiency suffers as a result. There’s a good chance you won’t care if more speed in a money-making application covers the difference.

Though, in that case, we’re obligated to mention Intel’s Xeon E5-2687W. It’s a $1900 processor, yes. It’s also rated for 150 W. But if you need your software to run as quickly as possible, this eight-core monster armed with 20 MB of L3 cache tears through threaded workloads—and it does so more efficiently than even a year-old Core i7-3960X.

Ask a Category Expert

Create a new thread in the Reviews comments forum about this subject

Example: Notebook, Android, SSD hard drive

Display all 74 comments.
This thread is closed for comments
Top Comments
  • 31 Hide
    tumetsu , November 10, 2012 7:26 PM
    I've recently started facepalming every time I see BF3 in CPU benchmarks. "Boy oh boy, this hasn't been confirmed like a hundred times already but the single player is decidedly graphics-bound, so here, have these charts with identical results anyway."
  • 28 Hide
    jaquith , November 10, 2012 6:59 PM
    Boo on Intel for not enabling all 8-cores especially at that price!
  • 26 Hide
    amuffin , November 10, 2012 6:45 PM
    100mhz faster than the 3960X, not worth the extra premium.

    Same thing goes for the 3960X compared to the 3930K....not worth the extra 100mhz for $400....
Other Comments
  • 26 Hide
    amuffin , November 10, 2012 6:45 PM
    100mhz faster than the 3960X, not worth the extra premium.

    Same thing goes for the 3960X compared to the 3930K....not worth the extra 100mhz for $400....
  • 28 Hide
    jaquith , November 10, 2012 6:59 PM
    Boo on Intel for not enabling all 8-cores especially at that price!
  • 31 Hide
    tumetsu , November 10, 2012 7:26 PM
    I've recently started facepalming every time I see BF3 in CPU benchmarks. "Boy oh boy, this hasn't been confirmed like a hundred times already but the single player is decidedly graphics-bound, so here, have these charts with identical results anyway."
  • 15 Hide
    dragonsqrrl , November 10, 2012 7:29 PM
    jaquithBoo on Intel for not enabling all 8-cores especially at that price!

    They don't have much of a choice when it comes to the i7's. With the 32nm Sandy Bridge-E Intel has to make a choice between prioritizing clocks or core count within a 150W TDP, based on the target workload for a particular processor. For Xeon's the choice is easy, more cores. For desktop applications the choice isn't as clear, but I think most users would still benefit more from a higher clocked 6-core than a lower claocked 8-core. That's slowly changing though.

    Intel also doesn't want a situation where their LGA 1155 processors outperform their $1000 extreme edition in lightly threaded workloads, which is yet another reason to favor 6-core for now.

    I'd personally like to see an 8-core i7, even if it means lower clocks, but I don't think that'll happen until Ivy Bridge-E. At 22nm Intel probably won't have to make a choice, we'll get the best of both worlds.
  • 19 Hide
    samuelspark , November 10, 2012 7:36 PM
    So much money...
  • -7 Hide
    nebun , November 10, 2012 7:56 PM
    jaquithBoo on Intel for not enabling all 8-cores especially at that price!

    why would they....they don't need to do it at this time....amd's top cpu is still very slow when compared with even intels mid rannge cpus
  • 9 Hide
    unknown9122 , November 10, 2012 8:15 PM
    Why do people still benchmark on itunes 10.4? 10.7 is out... as for the 8 cores as said above^, there is no need to have more than 6. Because if it had 8, then xeons would not sell to pros.
  • 0 Hide
    dark_wizzie , November 10, 2012 8:17 PM
    Why are we not manually overclocking this expensive CPU? Why do we do benchmarks against stock ig 2500k?
  • 12 Hide
    A Bad Day , November 10, 2012 8:19 PM
    You also forgot something when comparing against Xeon:

    Stability test.

    Run the i7 for one month under Prime95. It will crash. Run the Xeon for one month under Prime95. If it crashes, then you got a defective Xeon because they're not suppose to crash under 24/7 workload.
  • 14 Hide
    anthonyorr , November 10, 2012 8:28 PM
    nebunwhy would they....they don't need to do it at this time....amd's top cpu is still very slow when compared with even intels mid rannge cpus


    Why would you even include the 8350? It is 1/6th the price of this CPU. I couldn't imagine what a modern AMD desktop CPU would consist of at the $1000+ price range.
  • -4 Hide
    A Bad Day , November 10, 2012 8:29 PM
    dragonsqrrlI'd personally like to see an 8-core i7, even if it means lower clocks, but I don't think that'll happen until Ivy Bridge-E. At 22nm Intel probably won't have to make a choice, we'll get the best of both worlds.


    Or set the TDP to 195W and add a warning stating that Intel's stock coolers won't be sufficient for the thermal load.
  • 15 Hide
    merikafyeah , November 10, 2012 9:47 PM
    A Bad DayYou also forgot something when comparing against Xeon:Stability test.Run the i7 for one month under Prime95. It will crash. Run the Xeon for one month under Prime95. If it crashes, then you got a defective Xeon because they're not suppose to crash under 24/7 workload.

    The i7 isn't supposed to crash under 24/7 workloads any more than a Xeon is. The footnote to this statement however has everything to do with thermal envelopes. The primary reason why Intel charges $1000 more for a Xeon is because Xeons can operate stably at higher temperatures. This is very, very important because cooling costs lots and lots of money when you need to cool hundreds of server racks and rendering farms all year round and there can't be any downtime. Ever. Because lost time equals lost money. They say every minute of downtime means a million dollars lost, so you pay extra to ensure a sudden heat wave doesn't wipe out your business. (Though some companies could certainly use better flood protection as to not rape their customers for lost profits, but I digress.)
  • -9 Hide
    nebun , November 10, 2012 9:48 PM
    anthonyorrWhy would you even include the 8350? It is 1/6th the price of this CPU. I couldn't imagine what a modern AMD desktop CPU would consist of at the $1000+ price range.

    lol....here is the answer...a lsow cpu, lol
  • 11 Hide
    apache_lives , November 10, 2012 10:28 PM
    A Bad DayYou also forgot something when comparing against Xeon:Stability test.Run the i7 for one month under Prime95. It will crash. Run the Xeon for one month under Prime95. If it crashes, then you got a defective Xeon because they're not suppose to crash under 24/7 workload.


    Not correct

    Your talking about a processor (i7) vs a platform (Xeon, since the Xeon's usually require ECC memory, server boards, usually server OS etc) -- 99.999% of the time crashes/issues are NOT processor related.

    Crashes are usually from things like non JEDEC standard spec ram, poorly written SSD firmware, bad drivers and so on - not a processors fault.
  • 5 Hide
    A Bad Day , November 10, 2012 10:32 PM
    merikafyeah(Though some companies could certainly use better flood protection as to not rape their customers for lost profits, but I digress.)


    I recall seeing a picture of a tiny server room flooded with raw sewage from a busted pipe. The management of the small business attempted to ignore the laws of physics and told the IT that there will be no shutdowns.

    I'm pretty sure there was a smell of magic smoke accompanying the sewage odor shortly afterwards.
  • 1 Hide
    clonazepam , November 10, 2012 10:51 PM
    Great article.

    "Complete Tom's Hardware Suite" Chart... ugh I hate being color blind, must concentrate harder.

    The 3DMark 11 benchmark was a "Performance" run I'm guessing. Couldn't find that anywhere.
  • 6 Hide
    blazorthon , November 10, 2012 11:07 PM
    A Bad DayYou also forgot something when comparing against Xeon:Stability test.Run the i7 for one month under Prime95. It will crash. Run the Xeon for one month under Prime95. If it crashes, then you got a defective Xeon because they're not suppose to crash under 24/7 workload.


    If the i7 fails, then it's no less faulty than the Xeon. They're the same chips, just with different feature sets.
  • 7 Hide
    TheBigTroll , November 10, 2012 11:21 PM
    nah. xeons are binned for lower power consumption and lower heat output compared to the i7 counterparts
  • 7 Hide
    blazorthon , November 10, 2012 11:34 PM
    TheBigTrollnah. xeons are binned for lower power consumption and lower heat output compared to the i7 counterparts


    Same chips still. Binning doesn't change what they're made of. Similar to how the Tahitis in the 7970 GHz Edition are better binned than those in the regular 7970, but they're still the same chips.
  • 6 Hide
    TheBigTroll , November 10, 2012 11:45 PM
    true. but they are different in their own way
Display more comments