Legit Processor Reviews

Intel Core i7-3960X Sandy Bridge-E Processor Review

Manufacturer: Intel
Product: Intel Core i7-3960X CPU
Date: Mon, Nov 14, 2011 - 02:00 AM
Written By: Nathan Kirsch -
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SiSoftware Sandra 2011 SP5

Sisoftware Sandra 2011 SP5

The Sisoft Sandra 2011 SP5 benchmark utility just came out a few weeks ago and we have started to include it in our benchmarking. Sandra 2011 comes with support for Virtualisation (Virtual PC/Server, Hyper-V, VMware) and GPGPU (OpenCL, DirectX 11 DirectCompute), but today we will be using the program to look at memory and CPU performance!

Sandra 2011 SP5 Memory Benchmark Scores

Results: The Intel Core i7-3960X is the first processor that uses quad-channel DDR3 memory and we were blown away by the bandwidth this platform has. Our Core i7-3960X running 1866MHz had 39.5GB/s of memory bandwidth. We tried running 1600MHz memory in it as well and hit 38GB/s, so this platform has gobs of bandwidth available for the processor.

Sisoftware Sandra 2011 SP5

The Sandra Processor Multi-Media benchmark has been a long time favorite of ours to look at floating point performance on processors.

Sandra 2011 SP5 Benchmark Scores

Results: The Intel Core i7-3960X rules the roost when it comes to CPU performance in this benchmark that put all the cores to 98% load.

Sisoftware Sandra 2011 SP3

Cryptography has become an important part of our digital life: it allows us to conduct safe transactions online, certify programs and services, keep our data secure and much more. Sandra 2010c has a dedicated benchmark built-in that measures cryptographic performance, which is important on the new Intel 32nm processors like the Core i7 980X. It includes features like AES-NI! Intel AES-NI is a new set of Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) instructions that are going to be introduced in the next generation of Intel processors, as of 2009. These instructions enable fast and secure data encryption and decryption, using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), defined by FIPS Publication number 197.  The architecture introduces six instructions that offer full hardware support for AES. Four of them support high performance data encryption and decryption, and the other two instructions support the AES key expansion procedure. Let's take a look at how this feature impacts Cryptography performance.

Sandra 2011 SP3 Benchmark Scores

Results: The processors with the AES-NI instruction set are very evident in this benchmark. The Intel Core i7-3960X obviously supports AES-NI instructions and it easily beats out all of the other processors. 

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Review Index
Page 1 - Intel Sandy Bridge-E LGA 2011 CPUs Arrive
Page 2 - The Intel X79 Express Chipset & DX79SI Mobo
Page 3 - 32 in 32 Promotional Unboxing
Page 4 - The Test System
Page 5 - SiSoftware Sandra 2011 SP5
Page 6 - x264 HD Encoding
Page 7 - CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5
Page 8 - Handbrake
Page 9 - POV-Ray 3.7 RC3
Page 10 - Cinebench R11.5
Page 11 - PCMark 7
Page 12 - 3DMark Vantage
Page 13 - Resident Evil 5
Page 14 - H.A.W.X. 2 Benchmark
Page 15 - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
Page 16 - Total System Power Consumption
Page 17 - Intel Core i7-3960X CPU Air Temp Testing
Page 18 - Intel Core i7-3960X CPU Water Temp Testing
Page 19 - Core i7-3960X CPU Overclocking
Page 20 - Final Thoughts and Conclusions