Render Tests
CineBench 10
This rendering benchmark based off of the Cinema 4D engine is a terrific indicator for multi-threaded processing.

Intel Core i7-980X Gulftown Hexa-core Processor Review - Processors 83

Intel Core i7-980X Gulftown Hexa-core Processor Review - Processors 84

Intel Core i7-980X Gulftown Hexa-core Processor Review - Processors 85

Single threaded performance is about the same on the Core i7-980X as it is on the i7-975 as expected but the multi-threaded performance impresses yet again.  Here we see a 38% improvement in overall rendering time!


POV-Ray 3.7 Beta
POV-Ray has long been the poster child for multi-threaded processing and rendering.

Intel Core i7-980X Gulftown Hexa-core Processor Review - Processors 86

Intel Core i7-980X Gulftown Hexa-core Processor Review - Processors 87

POV-Ray actually sees a 50%+ scaling rate with the 980X compared to the 975.


Blender

Blender is a free open source 3D engine that is a popular choice amongst college students and small developers.

Intel Core i7-980X Gulftown Hexa-core Processor Review - Processors 88

Intel Core i7-980X Gulftown Hexa-core Processor Review - Processors 89

Even though this test wouldn’t let us go above 8 threads, there is a still a performance difference to be seen.  This is because the 8 threads running on the i7-975 utilize all four cores and both HyperThreading paths which is not as fast as the i7-980X that is fully utilizing HyperThreading on only two of the 6 cores.  This alone results in a 20% increase in performance.

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