Sandy Bridge-E is here

[vesseblah]

First proper benchmarks/reviews of new Intel i7-3960X Sandy Bridge-E processor are coming in, here's one...

http://hothardware.com/Reviews/Intel...ridgeE-Review/

TL;DR

The Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition is the fastest desktop processor we have tested to date, bar none. In all of our multi-threaded benchmarks, the higher Turbo Boost frequencies and additional compute resources of the six-core Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition allowed it to easily overtake every other processor we tested, including the six-core Core i7-990X and pseudo eight-core AMD FX-8150. In our single and dual-threaded tests, the Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition also offered excellent performance and outpaced every other processor, save for the Core i7-2700K which features a similar microarchitecture and peak Turbo Boost frequencies. The Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition also proved to be an excellent overclocker.

Pricetag for the top of the line processor is around $1k as expected, so it's far from Average Joe's hands for a very long time.

[Deleted]

Its good for the rendering/editing/workstation stuff.
But for gaming it doesnt matter if you get a SB-E or a SB, as was expected i think ^^

[Ghâzh]

Its good for the rendering/editing/workstation stuff.
But for gaming it doesnt matter if you get a SB-E or a SB, as was expected i think ^^

It seems to scale nicely (and surprisingly) in WoW, though ^^.

[DeltrusDisc]

It seems to scale nicely (and surprisingly) in WoW, though ^^.

Even though WoW is a CPU-intensive game.... I wouldn't really tell anyone to be buying this system at all to play WoW on it. If WoW is the main thing someone does, this isn't worth it. Is it worth it if you do a lot of other more real tasks? Yes.

[Ghâzh]

Even though WoW is a CPU-intensive game.... I wouldn't really tell anyone to be buying this system at all to play WoW on it. If WoW is the main thing someone does, this isn't worth it. Is it worth it if you do a lot of other more real tasks? Yes.

If the guy had unlimited amount of money and only played WoW? Even though it was more of a fun fact than a serious suggestion targeted at the previous poster stating that in gaming it didn't matter .

[BicycleMafioso]

I read the SweClockers test this morning, and I must say I didn't expect that much of a direct improvement, to be quite honest.
Now I'll probably make a plunge (albeit in the second stepping or the second release of their 3900K-series).


(And no, buying this CPU if you're only doing gaming or watching movies is a bad idea. That's why it's obviously not targetted at gamers)

[DeltrusDisc]

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/c...reme_review/13

Mighty fine F@H PPD though! *drools*

[Deleted]

Ima sit here with my Bulldozer and cry. :'(

[insmek]

It just blows my mind that they couldn't have stuck with the same socket.

[BicycleMafioso]

It just blows my mind that they couldn't have stuck with the same socket.

I don't understand why they would? This is not a Sandy Bridge replacement. Ivy Bridge is.
This is a completely different platform and whom they target. Just like AMD has different platforms for their segment. FM1, AM3+ and whatever Zacate runs on.

[DeltrusDisc]

It just blows my mind that they couldn't have stuck with the same socket.

Different sockets and chipsets are aimed at different groups of people. If they never made new sockets we would never move forward in technology, it's this thing called innovation.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/innovation

Without it, we'd be no where near where we are today. Hell we would probably still be living in caves.

* Mod Edit: You probably could've explained it with a bit of explaining of what the different chipsets could do, or the fact that they're totally different architectural-wise, or the fact that the i7-3900-series are twice the physical size of the i#-2000-series. No need for the slap in the face.

[insmek]

I don't understand why they would? This is not a Sandy Bridge replacement. Ivy Bridge is.
This is a completely different platform and whom they target. Just like AMD has different platforms for their segment. FM1, AM3+ and whatever Zacate runs on.

Seems to me like this is targeting the exact same users who were using the high-end i7s before. Except now they have to upgrade their motherboard as well, instead of just dropping $500 plus on the new CPU.

Now, those people probably have the money anyway, so it's a moot point. But it's one of those moves that rubs me the wrong way.

Aside: I'm aware of the technical differences, it really just rubs me the wrong way.

[BicycleMafioso]

Seems to me like this is targeting the exact same users who were using the high-end i7s before. Except now they have to upgrade their motherboard as well, instead of just dropping $500 plus on the new CPU.

Now, those people probably have the money anyway, so it's a moot point. But it's one of those moves that rubs me the wrong way.

Aside: I'm aware of the technical differences, it really just rubs me the wrong way.

The architectural advancements since the LGA1366 are hard to ignore. Even though it wouldn't even physically fit into an LGA1366-socket, the changes where it ties everything to the FSB with SB-E (to my great disappointment; I had hoped to have that flexibility back).

Even if Intel had made staggered changes such as AMD did with say, AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+, they've also come to realise that sooner or later, you'll be sitting there, stuck with old tech.
Which is also why AMD has said that AM3+ is the last iteration, and will move on to FM2 with no backward compability to AM3+.

AMD also has a different way to operate the chipset, wheras much of it is on the board itself. Intel carrying a lot on the actual die itself means the startoffs are different.

And TBH, if you've had the same motherboard long enough from i7-920 til now, it's due for a change. :P It's only been 3+ years.

[insmek]

The architectural advancements since the LGA1366 are hard to ignore. Even though it wouldn't even physically fit into an LGA1366-socket, the changes where it ties everything to the FSB with SB-E (to my great disappointment; I had hoped to have that flexibility back).

Even if Intel had made staggered changes such as AMD did with say, AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+, they've also come to realise that sooner or later, you'll be sitting there, stuck with old tech.
Which is also why AMD has said that AM3+ is the last iteration, and will move on to FM2 with no backward compability to AM3+.

AMD also has a different way to operate the chipset, wheras much of it is on the board itself. Intel carrying a lot on the actual die itself means the startoffs are different.

And TBH, if you've had the same motherboard long enough from i7-920 til now, it's due for a change. :P It's only been 3+ years.

Given that information, it's curious to me that they're not making the change across the board. Is this what we should expect to be making the switch to, post-Ivy Bridge?

[Deleted]

Hm, perhaps I had too high expectations, but I'm not entirely impressed given who much the 3960X actually costs. Yes, it's a beast but I think one would enjoy the ride with a 2500k/2600k much more. Shame the cooling was bottling for the Sweclockers guys.

[Cyanotical]

I'm not entirely impressed given who much the 3960X actually costs.

thats kind of the point, the price is intentional, it's what separates enthusiasts from normal users

[BicycleMafioso]

Given that information, it's curious to me that they're not making the change across the board. Is this what we should expect to be making the switch to, post-Ivy Bridge?

Which change? The inherent northbridge? That's been going on for a while, I'm not sure where it started; With 1366, I think.

Post-Ivy Bridge and Ivy Bridge-E (ie, the successor of Sandy Bridge on the same motherboards as Sandy Bridge, and the same with this Sandy Bridge-E), Intels intention is to use Haswell across the board, except *possibly* in an enthusiast-platform - no information is known there.
Meaning, the same architecture in mobile, portable, desktop and ultraslim designs, forgoing Atom for instance.

[insmek]

Which change?

The socket type, specifically. I was merely curious if we could expect widescale implementation of the LGA 2011 post-Ivy Bridge. If so, it may have been worth it to me to incorporate it into my new computer build, with an eye towards a bit of future-proofing.

Just an idea though.

[Deleted]

thats kind of the point, the price is intentional, it's what separates enthusiasts from normal users

Not diisputing the price but rather the potential - granted it's an initial test I'm eager to see if it can push the limits like the previous enthusiast models did. Still anticipate some very nice clocks with extreme cooling.

Off topic, beauty of a rig you got there.

[BicycleMafioso]

The socket type, specifically. I was merely curious if we could expect widescale implementation of the LGA 2011 post-Ivy Bridge. If so, it may have been worth it to me to incorporate it into my new computer build, with an eye towards a bit of future-proofing.

Just an idea though.

Not likely. The idea of futureproofing is a great one, but not a very real one. Sadly.
If you would invest in the LGA2011, you'd only reach as far as the 22nm Ivy Bridge-E. Speculation, of course, but I would be surprised if intel changed its way now.

One has to find the balance between piling large chunks of money few times with smaller amounts more often to find out what will give you a better flow; In my experience, less money more often might be a bit more expensive overall, but you'll have a competetive system more often of the time, while not losing huge amounts of money all at once.

A better way of 'future-proofing' would've been to make the plunge for Sandy Bridge, LGA1155 in Jan and then Ivy Bridge.

Personally, I'm torn between the second stepping of LGA2011 or waiting for Haswell. :P