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Intel Sandy Bridge E 3930K CPU Review

CPU by leeghoofd @ 2011-12-13

On the 14th of November Intel has shown it's brand new high end platform baptized Sandy Bridge E to the world. Almost all of the press sample kits included only the Extreme version aka the 3960X CPU. Some lucky hardware sites got a 3930K version, with unlocked multiplier, from a 3rd party to test or review. Since this K skew CPU is retailing at only half the price it could become quite a steal. This if it performs alike it's bigger brother. Major difference between the Extreme and the K version is the reduced L3 cache from 15Mb down to 12Mb. Yet, as mentioned before, the multiplier remains fully unlocked, similar to the K skews of the little 2500K and 2600K socket 1155 models, the latter two being heavily popular, as speeds over 4.5Ghz are a breeze. Before continuing with the review : a big thanks to the guys from Tones webshop to supply us with a brand new retail 3930K CPU. Now let's get it on !

Gaming Tests

So in most synthetic tests the Extreme version was a bit faster. Logic as first, it has 100Mhz to play with and a slightly bigger cache. Yet is it worth the double in price for gamers ? Let's see if the game tests can clear up things for us.

Mafia II, seems to get fully GPU limited with one GTX480 card. Even at the 4X MSA setting at 1280 x 1024 it seems to hardly scale with any extra raw CPU calculating power. Let's see if an older title can show us where the difference is at.

Capcoms Resident Evil 5 directX10 differs the boys from the men. The entire AMD lineup limping behind, big time. Though honestly can you spot the difference between 83 or 114FPS ? Both SB-E CPUs are in front too with Streetfighter IV. A big performance difference there's not...

Lost Planet II scores are a close call. All CPUs able to power this game even with all details maxed out.

Racing around the Monte Carlo track, at the high detail setting for 1280 x 1024 and Ultra setting for the 1920 x 1080 resolution is a real treat for the human eye. The new Intel lineup just snatching the lead from the socket 1155 lineup.

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