Now let's start to push things. Test setup comprises of the following components :

• Asus Sabretooth 0709 bios
• Intel ES i7 3960X CPU
• Corsair CMGTX8 2400 C10 rams
• MSI GTX580 Lightning card
• Corsair AX1200 PSU.
• LN2 cooling

We opted to swap the Intel for the Asus board, as on air we only managed to get into windows at 4.7Ghz with the Siler board. The Sabretooth without much tuning allowed a straight boot at 4.9Ghz 1.5Vcore. Plz take into consideration we are still working with early biosses and an engineering sample CPU.

I had issues with the Intel board and the brand new GTX8 Corsair rams to get them soaring over 2400Mhz. Bclocking was close to non existant. Sadly for us this was the same on the Asus Sabretooth board. Not even 101 Bclock would post. Since we had similar issues on two boards we must conclude that our sample CPU's memory controller is not up for it when going high speeds in combination with sub zero temps. We have heard similar stories from other overclockers, experiencing identical problems.

From a reliable source we were also informed that most retails will do 5.1-5.4Ghz. And only a minority will go over 5.5-5.6Ghz. So we tried to find max clocks of our CPU first. 5300Mhz was no problem at -20°C, 5400Mhz however never allowed us to go into windows, always freezing at the splash sceen of windows 7. Time to see if Bclocking could help us to find the real maximum of this 3690X. Trying different ram dividers, Bclock mulitpliers, we quickly discovered this CPU was 5330ish CPU, 5340Mhz got us very "unstable" into windows. Again too bad the 2400Mhz dimms of Corsair could not be exploited to their fullest potential as we had to keep them underclocked (2133 divider). The 4000mhz CPC tests already showed us this CPU architecture is not a match for it's little brother in SuperPi, 3DMark01/05. So we opted to quickly test the GTX 580 on air for the review, a Tri-SLI 580 setup and then go subzero with the MSI GTX580 Lightning card in both Vantage and 3DMark 11.

Here are some screenshots of our first X79 LN2 session :

What we've discovered is at a certain point we were running out of steam with our CPU. If you want this platform as a future bench setup and run with multiple modern GPUs, you will need at least a 5.4Ghz or better CPU. I think many benchers will hold on to their precious 980/990X CPUs that can do 6000Mhz or more in 3D. And even the happy few with a 5.6Ghz or better SB, there's no need to upgrade. The real strength of this SB-E CPU is that it gives an amasing CPU score in Vantage. Even at at only 5.3Ghz it's comparable with a GT at +/- 5800Mhz. Same outcome for the Physx test in 3Dmark11. Though with higher ram speeds ( 2400+ ) there's still some room for improvement for X79.

So the binning process has to start again, yet adding an extra factor : the memory controller. It's nice to have a 5.6Ghz CPU, but if your controller can't do at least 2400mhz under cold, then it's similar having a 990X CPU that can do +6Ghz but with only 4000Mhz uncore. It's still about finding a balanced CPU.

Some action piccies :