Core i7-3960X is undeniably fast. But at more than $1000, it’s hardly an option for most enthusiasts. We got our hands on the Core i7-3930K and Core i7-3820 to gauge their overclocked performance and determine if they’re able to best the flagship part.
Benchmark Results: PCMark 7
Although Futuremark tells us that PCMark 7 is able to utilize at least 16 cores (and, given the outcome of the Computation sub-test, we believe the company), the main battery of tests really only seems to exploit four. As a result, the Core i7-3820, with 2.5 MB of shared L3 cache per core and a 3.8 GHz maximum Turbo Boost frequency, actually lands in first place at its default settings.
We’re not particularly impressed, though; the Core i7-2600K really isn’t very far behind—and on a much more affordable platform. AMD’s chips and the Core i7-920 are the only losers here.
Overclocked, the Core i7-3930K flexes its muscle more visibly. The 4.625 GHz Core i7-3820 trails a ways, but still easily bests all of the processors operating at their factory settings.
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