Benchmark Results: 3DMark 11
Although the Performance preset isn’t 3DMark 11's highest, it’s still very much a graphics-bound metric. Thus, the overall suite score is pretty boring to look at.
Not until you reach the physics measurements does this synthetic benchmark factor out graphics and emphasize each platform’s CPU. At that point, the conclusion is foregone. Six Sandy Bridge-based cores running at 4.5 GHz decimate the rest of the field.
The Core i7-3820 at 4.625 GHz slides in ahead of the Core i7-3930K at its factory settings, but the comparison is hardly a fair one. Perhaps more interesting is that the -3820 manages a notable lead against Core i7-2600K, which doesn’t enjoy as high of a base clock rate and consequently falls back a bit.