Intel Core i7-3930K And Core i7-3820: Sandy Bridge-E, Cheaper

Features
By Chris Angelini
published

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: Productivity

This finishing order is starting to look repetitive, isn’t it? The overclocked Core i7-3930K clinches a commanding finish, but because ABBYY’s FineReader 10 is well parallelized, the other two six-core Sandy Bridge-E-based setups snag second and third place ahead of Intel’s Core i7-3820 overclocked to 4.625 GHz.

In a single-threaded test, architecture and clock rate rule. The 4.625 GHz chip takes first, followed by the 4.5 GHz contender. The rest of the field drops in behind (led by the quad-core Core i7-3820, almost humorously enough).

Corel recently launched a newer version of WinZip, and we’re working on automating it. In the meantime, WinZip 14 demonstrates the same single-threaded behavior we’ve seen so many times before. The line-up is quite similar to what we just saw in our Lame conversion.

WinRAR is a different sort of compression app. And while it definitely uses more than one thread, the quad-core Sandy Bridge-E chip still holds onto first place, followed by the 4.5 GHz Core i7-3930K.

The more thoroughly parallelized 7-Zip rewards Intel’s six-core processors with top finishes. The only deviation is the overclocked quad-core model, which uses its searing clock rate to secure a second-place berth.

This seemingly single-threaded metric leaves us with what we can now say is a pattern. Sandy Bridge is the favored architecture, and enthusiasts able to get it running over 4 GHz stand to realize impressive performance.

Overclocking trumps all in this compile workload. The other six-core chips end up landing pretty close to each other, as Intel’s Core i7-3820 trails the Gulftown-based Core i7-990X at its stock settings.

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.
137 Comments Comment from the forums
  • compton
    This is a really excellent analysis. Clearly, I must be drinking at the wrong places because I never leave the pub with any hardware nicer than a hangover.
    Reply
  • theuniquegamer
    So nice overclocking at 4.5ghz. I can expect that the upcoming ivy bridge unlocked series may be stable atleast 4.2 will all 4 cores active. I can't wait till Q2 next year to see benchmarks .
    Reply
  • Dacatak
    Possible TYPO in the bottom graph for Dirt 3 benchmark.
    FX-8150 benchmark with no AA says "68.8" FPS. I think it's more like "48.8".
    Reply
  • JOSHSKORN
    For gaming (the high end CPU intensive), is there any noticeable difference between the 2500k and the 3960X?
    Reply
  • Dacatak
    JOSHSKORNFor gaming (the high end CPU intensive), is there any noticeable difference between the 2500k and the 3960X?
    If by "noticeable" you mean "perceivable to mere mortals", then no.

    If you can in fact notice the difference between 105 vs 110 FPS, then you are a god, and you deserve only the best.
    Reply
  • spunkyddog
    I bought the i7-3930K with 32GB of DDR3 1600 RAM last week and assembled a couple days ago. I have two Kingston 120GB SSDs in RAID that have been benched on my system at a theoretical 1,100MB/S Read and 1,300MB/S Write. Coming from a Pentium D 3.0GHz, this was like night and day. My renders went from 40minutes to 1minute. I'm not overclocking purely for the fact that this thing's a beast already and I'm doing high-end 3D work using Maya, Photoshop, After Effects, Video, etc. Also - I like the peace and quiet.

    Intel did an awesome job with the SBE line - despite the fact that we're missing some wanted/promised features (native support for USB and PCI-Express 3.0. I'm waiting out for the PCI 3.0 cards before I upgrade my graphics... curious if the Asus P9X79 Pro will hold it's promises.

    Thanks Chris for reviewing this processor. I felt like I went out on a limb getting this processor over the Extreme, but the $600 was well worth it.
    Reply
  • cangelini
    spunky,

    Glad you're enjoying. You do, actually get PCIe 3.0 support, but no USB 3.0, unfortunately.

    Dacatak,

    Yup, typo--fixing now!
    Reply
  • sna
    the only good reason to get X79 is the more ram .. u can get cheap 32G ram system , or go for 64G of ram and enjoy a ram disk

    it is a good thing
    Reply
  • soccerdocks
    The Overclocking Sandy Bridge-E On A Budget page states, "With all of that said, 4.5 GHz was rock-solid down at 3.61 V". I'm pretty sure you meant 1.36 V.
    Reply
  • cangelini
    soccerdocksThe Overclocking Sandy Bridge-E On A Budget page states, "With all of that said, 4.5 GHz was rock-solid down at 3.61 V". I'm pretty sure you meant 1.36 V.
    Indeed, fixed! At 3.6 V, we'd have dead Sandy. :)
    Reply