Intel Core i7-3960X (Sandy Bridge-E) And X79 Platform Preview

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I hope you can clock the hell out of the athlon ii x4 because performance wise your just average at best.
14nm is sometime away and I would hate to be running such a mediocre chip trying to game, especially for the next 2 years.
my opinion.
 
Either software is really that unoptimized for the new proc. or the new Intel offerings just don't look to be all that of an improvement. Considering one would have to buy a new mobo and then not even know for sure if Intel will use a new socket for the following product like they always do. 2600k seems to be the clear winner. my X-48 and q9450 will just have to do until next one.
 
[citation][nom]happyballz[/nom]Either software is really that unoptimized for the new proc. or the new Intel offerings just don't look to be all that of an improvement.[/citation]

Most regular desktop software including games (with only a few rare exceptions) don't run on more cores than quad if even that. It makes the CPU only work at 2/3 of its power even when a software if WELL CODED for quad so yeah, most of the software is not "optimized" to take advantage of the 6 physical cores and even less so of the 12 hyper-threaded ones.

Much software would be a total waste of time to optimize for several threads but professional + games defiantly benefits from it and especially games are really hard to thread properly.
 
This is all very interesting, but.... what some of us enthusiasts need is a list of compatible parts to assemble a decent (hot) game machine. Just beating (until death) one part even if it is the "engine" is only so much help. Where can a box mechanic find a trustworthy list or lists of parts to do that very thing that would help us non-millionaires have a go at some new edge games??
KennG aka balonney yahoo
 
We can’t ignore the value still so apparent in the mainstream Sandy Bridge-based chips, though. Core i7-2600K holds its own against our pre-production Sandy Bridge-E sample, tying it in single-threaded apps, and trailing it in more threaded titles. That chip, along with the cheaper Core i5-2500K, remains a winner for budget-conscious power users and gamers alike.
Click to expand...

Long life to my recent born Core i5 2500k. I'm feeling that intel will have hard times finding a replacement for Sandy Bridge on the mainstream sphere, at least something to make it look like obsolete.
 
what the new gen video cards can do.
Click to expand...
I would not expect to see leaps and bounds in the future with everyone saying the PC is dead and we are in a Post PC era. I think more focus from GPU companies will be old school graphics reran as new tech tablet graphics.
 
[citation][nom]Agges[/nom]Fingers crossed that this brings a price drop on the LGA 1366 line..Okay, very optimistic of looking at the past but one can dream.[/citation]

Yeah, me too, haha. Say, $250 for the 990X?

😀
 
[citation][nom]tlg[/nom]Not full PCIE 3 ??? This is just a joke. AMD will put new PCIE 3 graphics card soon. What kind of gamer will buy a PCIE-2 super expensive platform when MSI and ASrock offers PCIE3 support on Z68 nowadays? I dont expect a performance jump in games with this platform... and I dont think I will upgrade from my current LGA1366. As many ppl say, i also hope the launch of X79 means a small price drop on CPU for LGA1366 socket. With what the X58 and Z68 can do (with overclocks), nall games will run smooth on these platforms before next gen consoles comes to the market cause most developers just develop console-based games. (and u know what this means)Most probably the X79 will be exactly in the same situation with X58. One year later a Z or P series will come out (something like Z89 ?) and will bring back all the missing features plus the PCIE 3 and USB3 full support).[/citation]

Just posted an update to indicate that the PCIe lanes *are* 8 GT/s-capable, but that apparently Intel cannot validate them yet. Our sources for this piece made it clear the preview platform is PCIe 2.0-only. But the processor itself *will* include support for the faster transfer rates.
 

that kind of blows to me, kind of like Intel offering software downloads to unlock the non K chips a few months ago..
suckers they are.
 


Why don't you like the 2500K / 2600K CPUs - they beat the X58 CPUs in nearly every category?
 
The reason the nehalem chips did so well was that they didn't wait a year until after the consumer platform was released to put out an enthusiast tier, they did it BEFORE the consumer chips hit market.

There is no reason to get an overpriced SB-E when Ivy Bridge next year will do to these chips what the i5 2500k did to every Nehalem chip on the market. And it won't take a year for it to happen, it will be in a span of 3 - 4 months.

I expect these chips will crush Bulldozer, but then Ivy Bridge will crush these chips. I expect high end bulldozer to match the 2600k in most situations, since AMD seems to be a generation behind the enthusiast market now.
 
[citation][nom]Zanny[/nom]The reason the nehalem chips did so well was that they didn't wait a year until after the consumer platform was released to put out an enthusiast tier, they did it BEFORE the consumer chips hit market.There is no reason to get an overpriced SB-E when Ivy Bridge next year will do to these chips what the i5 2500k did to every Nehalem chip on the market. And it won't take a year for it to happen, it will be in a span of 3 - 4 months.I expect these chips will crush Bulldozer, but then Ivy Bridge will crush these chips. I expect high end bulldozer to match the 2600k in most situations, since AMD seems to be a generation behind the enthusiast market now.[/citation]

Even if Bulldozer does match the 2600K - the 2600K is a proven product. I don't see why it would be worth going to AMD for just equal performance unless bulldozer overclocks better
 
I'm highly disappointed in the performance of Sandy Bridge-E. Current Nahalem CPU owners have waited all this time for this?? No performance gain whatsoever for regular consumers, only a minor improvement to server workstations - really? Guess I'll have to wait for Ivy Bridge to be released later next year 🙁
 

I never had the notion to wait for SB-E, I always wanted Ivy and not SB.
My i5-760 @ 3.4GHz can make it until Ivy comes, who needs SB.?
 
Looks like the 3960x is still lower base clock speed than 2600k, but its turbo seems a lil higher. What does this mean? Will it be a better processor? Are there other factors other than clock speed? Cause all of AMD's phenom ii x6 processors label themselves with ridiculously high ghz's and cores, but they don't perform as well.
 
[citation][nom]richboyliang[/nom]Looks like the 3960x is still lower base clock speed than 2600k, but its turbo seems a lil higher. What does this mean? Will it be a better processor? Are there other factors other than clock speed? Cause all of AMD's phenom ii x6 processors label themselves with ridiculously high ghz's and cores, but they don't perform as well.[/citation]

I guess I was just hoping the SB-E CPUs would perform better. I upgrade about every two years, but my 980X is holding out strong and just there isn't a resson to upgrade. Haven't had a CPU/mobo for more than 3 years, so this may set a new record for me by keeping my system for 3 years...lol. Still can't wait for Ivy Bridge to arrive in Spring 2012...(fingers crossed)
 
[citation][nom]Zanny[/nom]The reason the nehalem chips did so well was that they didn't wait a year until after the consumer platform was released to put out an enthusiast tier, they did it BEFORE the consumer chips hit market.There is no reason to get an overpriced SB-E when Ivy Bridge next year will do to these chips what the i5 2500k did to every Nehalem chip on the market. And it won't take a year for it to happen, it will be in a span of 3 - 4 months.I expect these chips will crush Bulldozer, but then Ivy Bridge will crush these chips. I expect high end bulldozer to match the 2600k in most situations, since AMD seems to be a generation behind the enthusiast market now.[/citation]

Not sure to what you are referring? My Nahalem ties with the 2600K in just about every gaming benchmark and beats it hands down in almost every multimedia benchmark. My 980X does get beat in those few that are optimized for the new SB-E microcoding, but so what? I'm definitely not switching from a hexacore back to a quad-core. These benchmarks (albeit using an engineering sample) show that it's just not worth upgrading. In fact, I would say you wasted your money if you upgraded from Nahelem to Sandy Bridet-E! Yup, you heard me. Nahalem owners should wait for Ivy Bridge. Always worth the money going from Intel's "tick to tick" and not "tick to tock" within the same generation. Even better is upgrading from "tock to tock" as you get the most benefits from each generation's revisions/improvements.
 
I love intel tech... I use it and will continue to, but if you look at entire platform cost for the uses intended, it is not always the best value per dollar. I can buy a Phenom II X4, motherboard, cpu, ram and video card for the price of an i5 2500 cpu alone. We are not talking $50 difference here. platform costs on the low end often favor AMD by $150-$200 and for decent gaming rig $300-$400. I love my e5200 @ 4.0 Ghz... its in my home server now, solid as a rock and I love my Phenom II X6 1090T @ 4.0 Ghz. But honestly, its the GTX 460 that makes my games play... whatever 3.0 Ghz + quad I use whether $100 AMD or $1000 intel makes little to no difference. I am looking to upgrade both the homeserver and the main box in 2012. I may get a bulldozer because I CAN PLUG THAT INTO MY EXISTING AM3 MOTHERBOARD... HINT HINT HINT! or I may buy a 2600K because the Phenom X6 would make a great powerful homeserver since virtual servers on the AMD Hex works so well I can run WHS1, WHS2011 plus a faster Debian/Ubuntu file server. Don't tell me AMD is dead. If you think so you are fooling your self
 
“So why not show what this system can do with three cards able to more fully populate the processor’s 40 PCI Express lanes, Chris?”

Because it'd be the same neck to neck affair and hopefully no one would ask such a stupid question. Hope your E-Peen is treating you well.

Regards, Holden
 
Eagerly waiting what Asus is going to do this time.There flagship product Rampage III black edition is an excellent enthusiast Board For LGA 1366,Fabulous both in performance as well as the look of the Board.
 
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