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

Test Setup And Software

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Test Hardware
ProcessorsIntel Core i7-3970X (Sandy Bridge-E) 3.5 GHz (35 * 100 MHz), LGA 2011, 15 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled
Row 1 - Cell 0 Intel Core i7-3960X (Sandy Bridge-E) 3.3 GHz (33 * 100 MHz), LGA 2011, 15 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled
Row 2 - Cell 0 Intel Core i7-3930K (Sandy Bridge-E) 3.2 GHz (32 * 100 MHz), LGA 2011, 12 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled
Row 3 - Cell 0 Intel Xeon E5-2687W (Sandy Bridge-EP) 3.1 GHz (31 * 100 MHz), LGA 2011, 20 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled
Row 4 - Cell 0 AMD FX-8350 (Vishera) 4.0 GHz (20 * 200 MHz), Socket AM3+, 8 MB Shared L3, Turbo Core enabled, Power-savings enabled
Row 5 - Cell 0 AMD FX-8150 (Zambezi) 3.6 GHz (18 * 200 MHz), Socket AM3+, 8 MB Shared L3, Turbo Core enabled, Power-savings enabled
Row 6 - Cell 0 AMD Phenom II X4 980 BE (Deneb) 3.7 GHz (18.5 * 200 MHz), Socket AM3, 6 MB Shared L3, Power-savings enabled
Row 7 - Cell 0 AMD Phenom II X6 1100T (Thuban) 3.3 GHz (16.5 * 200 MHz), Socket AM3, 6 MB Shared L3, Turbo Core enabled, Power-savings enabled
Row 8 - Cell 0 Intel Core i7-3770K (Ivy Bridge) 3.5 GHz (35 * 100 MHz), LGA 1155, 8 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled
Row 9 - Cell 0 Intel Core i5-3570K (Ivy Bridge) 3.4 GHz (34 * 100 MHz), LGA 1155, 6 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled
Row 10 - Cell 0 Intel Core i5-3470 (Ivy Bridge) 3.2 GHz (32 * 100 MHz), LGA 1155, 6 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled
Row 11 - Cell 0 Intel Core i5-2550K (Sandy Bridge) 3.4 GHz (34 * 100 MHz), LGA 1155, 6 MB Shared L3, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled
MotherboardGigabyte X79S-UP5-WiFi (LGA 2011) Intel C606, BIOS F4m
Row 13 - Cell 0 ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Professional (Socket AM3+) AMD 990FX/SB950 Chipset, BIOS 1.9
Row 14 - Cell 0 Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H (LGA 1155) Intel Z77 Express, BIOS F17
MemoryG.Skill 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) DDR3-1600, F3-12800CL9Q2-32GBZL @ DDR3-1600 at 1.5 V
Hard DriveCrucial m4 256 GB, SATA 6 Gb/s
GraphicsNvidia GeForce GTX 680 2 GB
Power SupplyCooler Master UCP-1000 W
System Software And Drivers
Operating SystemWindows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
DirectXDirectX 11
Graphics DriverNvidia GeForce Release 306.97

We've transitioned over to Gigabyte's X79S-UP5-WiFi motherboard for benchmarking LGA 2011-based processors. Armed with Intel's C606 chipset, this board is designed to accommodate Intel's Xeon E5 processors. Not all motherboards include this support. So, if you plan to do a little Xeon testing of your own, make sure your platform features the requisite firmware to recognize Intel's more business-oriented processor family.

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3D Game Benchmarks And Settings
BenchmarkDetails
The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimGame Settings: High and Ultra Quality Settings, Anti-Aliasing: FXAA, V-sync: Disabled, 1680x1050, 1920x1200, 2560x1600, Custom Demo, 25-second Fraps run
Battlefield 3Game Settings: Ultra Quality Settings, Anti Aliasing: Disabled and 4xMSAA (Deferred)/High (Post), Anisotropic Filtering: 16x, Vertical Sync: Off, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 2560x1600, Demo: Going Hunting, 90-second Fraps run
World of Warcraft: Mists of PandariaGame Settings: Ultra Quality Settings, Anti Aliasing: 1x AA and 8x AA, Anisotropic Filtering: 16x, Vertical Sync: Disabled, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 2560x1600, Demo: Crushblow to The Krazzworks, DirectX 11
Audio Benchmarks And Settings
BenchmarkDetails
iTunesVersion: 10.4.1.10, 64-bit Audio CD ("Terminator II" SE), 53 min., Convert to AAC audio format
Lame MP3Version 3.99 Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s)
Video Benchmarks And Settings
BenchmarkDetails
HandBrake CLIVersion: 0.9.8Video: Big Buck Bunny (720x480, 23.972 frames) 5 Minutes, Audio: Dolby Digital, 48 000 Hz, Six-Channel, English, to Video: AVC Audio: AC3 Audio2: AAC (High Profile)
MainConcept Reference v2.2Version: 2.2.0.5440 MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV
Application Benchmarks And Settings
BenchmarkDetails
WinRARVersion 4.20 RAR, Syntax "winrar a -r -m3", Benchmark: 2012-THG-Workload, 1.35 GB
WinZipVersion 17 WinZip Commandline Version 3, ZIPX, Syntax "-a -ez -p -r", Benchmark: 2012-THG-Workload, 1.35 GB
7-ZipVersion 9.20 (x64)LZMA2, Syntax "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5", Benchmark: 2012-THG-Workload, 1.35 GB
Adobe Premiere Pro CS 6Hollywood Sequence to H.264 Blu-ray, Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality
Adobe After Effects CS 6Create Video which includes three StreamsFrames: 210, Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously: on
CinebenchVersion 11.5 Build CB25720DEMOCPU Test single- and multi-threaded
BlenderVersion: 2.63, Cycles Engine Syntax blender -b thg.blend -f 1, Resolution: 1920x1080, Anti-Aliasing: 8x, Render: THG.blend frame 1
Adobe Photoshop CS 6 (64-Bit)Version: 11 Filtering a 16 MB TIF (15 000x7266), Filters:, Radial Blur (Amount: 10, Method: zoom, Quality: good) Shape Blur (Radius: 46 px; custom shape: Trademark sysmbol) Median (Radius: 1px) Polar Coordinates (Rectangular to Polar)
ABBYY FineReaderVersion: 10 Professional Build (10.0.102.82) Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages
3ds Max 2012Render Space Flyby, 1440x1080, from Y: RAM Drive
Adobe Acrobat X ProfessionalPDF Document Creation (Print) from Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
SolidWorks 2010PhotoView 360, 01-Lighter Explode.SLDASM Benchmark File, 1920x1080 Render, 1.44 Million Polygons, 256 AA Samples
Visual Studio 2010Google Chrome Compile, Scripted
Synthetic Benchmarks And Settings
BenchmarkDetails
PCMark 7Version: 1.0.4
3DMark 11Version 1.0.3
SiSoftware SandraVersion: 2013 Beta Processor Arithmetic, Multimedia, Cryptography, Memory Bandwidth, .NET Arithmetic, .NET Multimedia
Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.