Performance per Dollar
In our initial review we knew going in that the performance per dollar of the Core i7-3960X was going to be poor – all Intel Extreme Edition processors end with that result. We pined for the Core i7-3930K to see how it compared, and now we can finally show you.
As expected, this lower cost Sandy Bridge-E offering simply blows away the previously tested model in cost efficiency. The $555 Core i7-3930K ranges from 55-80% better performance per dollar compared to the $990 Core i7-3960X and really settles in at about the 70-75% mark in most tests.
To be clear though, the Core i7-3930K isn’t capable of returning the same value as the Core i7-2600K and really even AMD’s FX-8150 Bulldozer processor. So while this lower cost Sandy Bridge-E definitely improves the picture, the Core i7-3000 processors are not going to be the budget user’s processor of choice.
Guys, you really need to
Guys, you really need to switch from the old version of Blender to the new one now that 6 core CPUs are becoming more common. The old version doesn’t scale across more than 8 threads where as the new version will utilize the 12 threads of the new CPUs.
Fair enough – we just haven’t
Fair enough – we just haven’t updated that cycle in a bit.
Thanks!
Additionally there is another
Additionally there is another setting that needs to be adjusted.
in the “performance” tab of blender, there is a tile setting. This by default is set to x=4 y=4 resulting in only 16 tiles that the image is separated. This results that a lot of cores become idle to quickly.
I’ve informed anandtech of the same thing for their Opteron/Xeon tests. Results speak for them selves.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5183/quick-update-more-interlagos-testing
Finally, for Blender 2.61 (latest release) they included Cycle Render engine. It supports CPU and GPU (Cuda only) rendering. OpenCL is still being developed.
Still, with the Cycles render, it would be interesting to compare performance of the CPU’s and Nvidia GPUs to show how much untapped potential there is in our current GPU’s
Interesting…thanks!
Interesting…thanks!
125W TDP? if one is flying a
125W TDP? if one is flying a work station & the user attitude is ‘thermals be damned’, then yeah, such a chip may be worth it, but for everyone else, such a TDP is likely a significant step in the wrong direction, if not even a complete bar to adoption – is certainly of no interest to me, no matter how well it performs
125w is pretty typical for
125w is pretty typical for peak TDP is standard desktop computers. In fact, AMD’s Bulldozer is as high as that, and even Llano will have 100w SKUs.
So what? Gulftown consumes
So what? Gulftown consumes more power in reality and offers slightly less performance anyway.
Ergo, in heavily threaded apps SB-E offers more perf/W than Gulftown, which BTW is clearly shown on charts.
Getting hung up on TDP is useless since actual power consumption varies from chip to chip (slightly different volts), while TDP is often the same for entire CPU series.
Popular motherboard
Popular motherboard manufacturers like Asus, MSI and
Gigabyte are now all out on supplying and selling their X79
mobos to their partners and they are happy to what Intel
did on this model and in the early weeks next year or, on
the up coming months of 2012 for sure their low X79 mobo
sales will go up because of this and as far as enthusiast
level of gaming and media encoding performance is
concerned, this processor can pretty much take whatever you
can throw at it all at the same time and get faster results
specially if its overclocked.
Speaking of X79 motherboard, im also waiting for EVGA’s SR3
Dual X79, 12 DIMM slot, 4 Way SLI / Xfire enthusiast level
motherboard. Talking about enthusiast level motherboards
from Asus? Their “ROG Rampage extreme” series is a no match
to EVGA’s SR3 and putting Two Intel Core i7-3930K Sandy
Bridge-E procs on it and overclocked both of it to 4.5ghz
my 3D design rendering, After Effects preview and video
editing experience will be more easier.
Finally,….
An actual Intel
Finally,….
An actual Intel Core i7 3930K review!!! A little tardy to the party but welcome just the same.
The real gaming cpu will be
The real gaming cpu will be the 3820.
plus new revisions of the cpu/motherboard will be out also i hear.
I ordered my i7-3930K last
I ordered my i7-3930K last week but my supplier is way back-ordered. Then I just came across a report that Intel is going to release a C2 stepping of the part on January 20, 2012 since the existing part had a problem with VT (Virtualization Technology) which they disabled in the C1 stepping (current part). Now I’m wondering if I’ll have to wait until the end of January before I get my CPU. Just Google “i7-3930K C2 stepping” for more info.
If its hard to get a Core i7
If its hard to get a Core i7 3930K CPU now just think how difficult it will be to find a specific stepping such as the C2 stepping when its released. Retailers / E-tailers specifying a guarantied C2 stepping in the future will likely be asking more for it. My understanding is that the Core i7 3930K was supposed to be ~$550 but I have yet to see it for significantly less then ~$600.
please explain; why the
please explain; why the difference on the price of
intel 6 core i7-3860X, and AMD x8 FX-8150; as the
specifications on AMD are better
I am about to buy a new box, and I want to know the
difference on the quality’ snd of course of the
price
thanks, & best regards
john
Whatever specs on paper say
Whatever specs on paper say about FX-8150 vs i7-39xx, all that you need to know is that in Real Life the new Intel CPUs utterly wipe the floor with AMD’s best efforts (which has been par for the course since Conroe was released back in 2006). Ergo, the market will happily bear a higher price on the Intel parts.
I am thinking about getting
I am thinking about getting one of these. I have a four year old Q9450 (OC @ 3.2 Ghz) which still serves well. I do play a little BF3, but typically get my rear handed back to me in a bag. It works fairly well with a GTX470 and tweak the settings in the Nvidia control panel to improve performance dramatically. I can get 99% GPU usage with it at 3.2 Ghz on BF3.
The reason I would go with this is because I’m looking at getting the most years out of the upgrade. So the extra $500 in parts over a 2600k upgrade is more palatable when I look at how long I want to keep it. And with RAM at record lows that really helps. Not so concerned about the hard drive prices as I am a big fan of SSD’s. Not into storing mass media as many I know are now doing and they are lamenting the price hikes.
Now if the FX-8150 would drop to $200, then I might pitch one for AMD. I know that I would be upgrading much sooner so that’s another reason for the big upgrade idea to the 3930K.
Can anyone who owns this
Can anyone who owns this processor (i7 3930k) run a test for me? I need to know if vmware ESXi 5.0 (the free version) will run on this processor.
I am debating between a Xeon processor and the i7 3930k. My primary use will be for virtualization using vmware ESXi 5.0, however if I’m spending the money I also want to be able to play games and such.
Vmware does not specifically support desktop processors, but some work and some don’t. ESX 5.0 got a little more strict when it comes to hardware requirements, specifically when it comes to processors (server models only) and networking adapters (gigabit only).
I would greatly appreciate anyone’s support with this! Please list all hardware in your system, including motherboard, network card, memory and hard drive. Thanks!
Hi,
Did you get feedback on
Hi,
Did you get feedback on the Intel i7-3960X and VMWare ESX 5.0 (of 4.x)? Does it runs on the 3960X? What motherboard was used?
Can you send me an email with your results/conclusions? (Luc ‘dot’ Krols ‘at’ gmail ‘dot’ com)
Thanks!
Kind regards,
Luc
Have you received any
Have you received any feedback? I want to know if I can buy this processor for a virtualizated lab too.
Many thanks.
I came across this: Intel
I came across this: Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 3930K
But I can not find it anywhere else.. the Extreme Edition of the 3930? http://www.frys.com/product/6901407#detailed
Whats the diff. w/ extreme and the standard 3930k, if the standard is already unlocked for over clock –
anyone?
hello
I’m considering
hello
I’m considering purchasing the Intel Core i7 3930K and wonder if someone could please do a render test using Cine bench to see what render score this processor comes up with? If so more could please do this it will be much appreciated. Thanks
can someone tell me whether
can someone tell me whether the i7-3930K will work with an ESX. please help me