Intel Core i7-3960X Review: Sandy Bridge-E And X79 Express

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Intel's Sandy Bridge design impressed us nearly a year ago, but it was intended for mainstream customers. The company took its time readying the enthusiast version, Sandy Bridge-E. Now, the LGA 2011-based platform and its accompanying CPUs are ready.

Benchmark Results: World Of Warcraft

Ironically, the most mainstream game in this comparison is the one best able to take advantage of Intel’s new $1000 processor. World of Warcraft doesn’t fully tax our GeForce GTX 580 graphics card, so swapping CPUs in and out does impact performance quantifiably.

Core i7-3960X consistently enables the best frame rates, followed by both Sandy Bridge-based chips. Gulftown and Bloomfield are next. And all three of AMD’s tested processors serve up disappointing numbers, comparatively.

Finally, though, when we hit 2560x1600 with 8xAA turned on, the graphics load is high enough to equalize all eight platforms.

Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.