Ironically, when it comes
to performance, Intel’s Core i7-3960X is the real Bulldozer. Since its
power consumption levels are lower than the Gulftown-based Core i7, it
should also deliver amazing performance per watt as well. Is that really
the case?
Intel's Sandy Bridge-E design takes the company's 32 nm Sandy Bridge architecture to the next level. As you likely saw in Chris Angelini’s full review on Sandy Bridge-E And X79 Express, the new high-end processor family offers more of almost everything: more cores, more cache, more memory channels, and more PCI Express connectivity, resulting in better benchmark scores in almost every discipline.
While the new processor design, which is now available as the Core i7-3960X and Core i7-3930K (and Core i7-3820 some time next year) delivers more performance, we've already seen the first review machines based on X79 Express lowering power consumption versus the Gulftown/X58 combination thanks to the dual-chip platform layout. AMD might not want to learn in detail what this could mean in terms of performance per watt, since the six-core Core i7-990X was already faster than its flagship FX-8150.
In short, Sandy Bridge-E facilitates up to six cores (rather than the four you max out with on LGA 1155), includes four 64-bit memory channels (rather than LGA 1366's maximum of three), boasts official memory data rates as high as 1600 MT/s, and features 40 PCI Express 3.0-capable lanes. Moreover, the 2.27 billion-transistor processor occupies 434 mm2 of die space, too.
The promise, then, is one of new efficiency records, particularly in applications able to leverage Sandy Bridge-E's parallelism. Just recently, we looked at the performance per Watt of AMD’s FX processor in the article AMD FX: Energy Efficiency Compared To Eight Other CPUs. In today’s article, we’re performing the very same experiment.
So, if you’re in search of information on power efficiency, have a look at the aforementioned story. Or, if it's architectural details you're after, make sure you've already read our Sandy Bridge-E launch article for more the story about design and performance.
Sporting six cores, 32 nm lithography, 15 MB of shared L3 cache, and clock rates between 3.3 and 3.9 GHz, depending on workload, is the Core i7-3960X a good foundation on which to enable great power efficiency? It seems like it could be, as the idle power consumption of 87 W measured in our launch coverage represents a record low for a high-end desktop PC.
The test sample Intel provided to our German crew is the same as the
one that landed in the U.S.: the six-core Sandy Bridge-E chip branded as
Core i7-3960X. It is specified to run at a base frequency up to 3.3 GHz
with all six cores, but Turbo Boost 2.0 can take it up to 3.9 GHz when
one or two cores are active.
In order to ensure maximum thermal headroom, we also received a closed-loop liquid cooling kit designed by Asetek and very similar to the products offered by Antec, Corsair, Cooler Master, and Cool IT. Interestingly, the solution provided here is not as large or as powerful as the one AMD delivered with its FX sample. We'll use the same liquid cooler when we analyze efficiency at overclocked settings in the very near future. Intel plans to make it available somewhere between $85-100, and it should fit all current Intel platforms.
There aren't many folks who'd spring for a $1000 CPU and the handicap
it with insufficient cooling. So, we're using the closed-loop system
for our efficiency exploration at stock clocks today. The result of
ample cooling is better heat dissipation, which results in Turbo Boost
holding its elevated clock rates for longer stretches without running
into thermal bottlenecks.
Intel’s DX79SI is the company's highest-end motherboard, competing against products from ASRock, Asus, ECS, Evga, Gigabyte, and MSI, amongst others. If history is any indication, Intel's own retail platforms tend to be more conservative than the flagships from its third-party board partners. As such, they're generally not the first choice of hardcore enthusiasts. Now, that doesn't mean Intel's team isn't capable of designing a great motherboard; in fact, the DX79SI is perhaps its best effort to date. Notably, eight DIMM slots and three PCI Express slots represent inclusions that any power user is going to demand.
Thus, the DK79SI represents a good, stable platform for us to test
on. It's not loaded with the number of features you'd expect to find on
some of the more extravagant boards that Thomas is in the process of
rounding up. However, it facilitates all of Sandy Bridge-E's
performance, it enables its salient features, and it's stable.
The DX79SI comes armed with lots of USB 2.0 connectivity, a couple of USB 3.0 ports, gigabit Ethernet, and six SATA ports (two of which operate at data rates as high as 6 Gb/s), as well as software-based RAID support. The X79 Platform Controller Hub facilitates eight lanes of second-gen PCIe connectivity, while the processor contributes 40 lanes of PCI Express 3.0, which drive the board's three 16-lane slots.
Intel’s highest-end thermal solution is manufactured by Asetek, but
it’s not a true high-end part as far as liquid cooling is concerned.
Benchmarks and Settings
We also ran the efficiency test's applications in the following order:
Single-Threaded:
Adobe Acrobat
WinZip
iTunes
Lame
Multi-Threaded:
3ds Max
Blender
HandBrake
MainConcept
After Effects
Photoshop
Premiere
Matlab
7-Zip
Intel's Sandy Bridge-E design takes the company's 32 nm Sandy Bridge architecture to the next level. As you likely saw in Chris Angelini’s full review on Sandy Bridge-E And X79 Express, the new high-end processor family offers more of almost everything: more cores, more cache, more memory channels, and more PCI Express connectivity, resulting in better benchmark scores in almost every discipline.
While the new processor design, which is now available as the Core i7-3960X and Core i7-3930K (and Core i7-3820 some time next year) delivers more performance, we've already seen the first review machines based on X79 Express lowering power consumption versus the Gulftown/X58 combination thanks to the dual-chip platform layout. AMD might not want to learn in detail what this could mean in terms of performance per watt, since the six-core Core i7-990X was already faster than its flagship FX-8150.
The Numbers Game
The secret sauce of Sandy Bridge-E turns into a relatively simple recipe, which reads: do more of the same. This is made possible by the solid performance per core of Sandy Bridge, and the parallelism of a six-core implementation. In other words, it appears that Sandy Bridge scales very well, so it makes sense that Intel would introduce it as a six-core desktop offering and, later, an eight-core server-oriented Xeon processor.In short, Sandy Bridge-E facilitates up to six cores (rather than the four you max out with on LGA 1155), includes four 64-bit memory channels (rather than LGA 1366's maximum of three), boasts official memory data rates as high as 1600 MT/s, and features 40 PCI Express 3.0-capable lanes. Moreover, the 2.27 billion-transistor processor occupies 434 mm2 of die space, too.
Getting Rid Of Dead Weight
But Sandy Bridge-E also sheds certain elements that might otherwise contribute to its overall power consumption. As on Sandy Bridge, power gating allows unused parts of the processor to be almost completely shut down, minimizing power consumption. Add that to the single-chip platform, which replaces its predecessor's two-chip layout, and you have the foundation for new lows in idle and peak power usage compared to any other six-core CPU in the lab.The promise, then, is one of new efficiency records, particularly in applications able to leverage Sandy Bridge-E's parallelism. Just recently, we looked at the performance per Watt of AMD’s FX processor in the article AMD FX: Energy Efficiency Compared To Eight Other CPUs. In today’s article, we’re performing the very same experiment.
So, if you’re in search of information on power efficiency, have a look at the aforementioned story. Or, if it's architectural details you're after, make sure you've already read our Sandy Bridge-E launch article for more the story about design and performance.
Sporting six cores, 32 nm lithography, 15 MB of shared L3 cache, and clock rates between 3.3 and 3.9 GHz, depending on workload, is the Core i7-3960X a good foundation on which to enable great power efficiency? It seems like it could be, as the idle power consumption of 87 W measured in our launch coverage represents a record low for a high-end desktop PC.
In order to ensure maximum thermal headroom, we also received a closed-loop liquid cooling kit designed by Asetek and very similar to the products offered by Antec, Corsair, Cooler Master, and Cool IT. Interestingly, the solution provided here is not as large or as powerful as the one AMD delivered with its FX sample. We'll use the same liquid cooler when we analyze efficiency at overclocked settings in the very near future. Intel plans to make it available somewhere between $85-100, and it should fit all current Intel platforms.
Intel’s DX79SI is the company's highest-end motherboard, competing against products from ASRock, Asus, ECS, Evga, Gigabyte, and MSI, amongst others. If history is any indication, Intel's own retail platforms tend to be more conservative than the flagships from its third-party board partners. As such, they're generally not the first choice of hardcore enthusiasts. Now, that doesn't mean Intel's team isn't capable of designing a great motherboard; in fact, the DX79SI is perhaps its best effort to date. Notably, eight DIMM slots and three PCI Express slots represent inclusions that any power user is going to demand.
The DX79SI comes armed with lots of USB 2.0 connectivity, a couple of USB 3.0 ports, gigabit Ethernet, and six SATA ports (two of which operate at data rates as high as 6 Gb/s), as well as software-based RAID support. The X79 Platform Controller Hub facilitates eight lanes of second-gen PCIe connectivity, while the processor contributes 40 lanes of PCI Express 3.0, which drive the board's three 16-lane slots.
| LGA 2011 Platform | |
|---|---|
| LGA 2011 Platform | Intel DX79SI, Chipset: Intel X79 Express |
| LGA2011 Processors | Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition (32 nm, Sandy Bridge-E), 6C/12T, 3.3 GHz, 6 x 256 KB L2 Cache, 15 MB Shared L3 Cache, 130 W TDP, 3.9 GHz max. Turbo Boost |
| Socket AM3+ Platform | |
| Socket AM3+ Platform | Asus Crosshair Formula V (Rev. 1.0), Chipset: AMD 990FX, BIOS: 9905 (2011-10-03) |
| AM3 Processors | AMD Phenom II X4 980 (45 nm, Deneb, C3), 4C/4T, 3.7 GHz, 4 x 512 KB L2 Cache, 6 MB Shared L3 Cache, 126 W TDP AMD Phenom II X6 1100T (45 nm, Thuban, E0), 6C/6T, 3.3 GHz, 6 x 512 KB L2 Cache, 6 MB Shared L3 Cache, 126 W TDP, 3.7 GHz max. Turbo Core |
| AM3+ Processors | AMD FX-8150 (32 nm, Zambezi), 8C/8T, 3.6 GHz, 8 MB L2 Cache, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache, 125 W TDP, 3.9 GHz Turbo Core, 4.2 GHz max. Turbo Core |
| LGA 1156 Platform | |
| LGA 1156 Platform | Gigabyte P55A-UD7, Chipset: Intel P55 Express, BIOS: F8b |
| LGA 1156 Processors | Intel Core i7-870 (45 nm, Lynnfield, B1), 4C/8T, 2.93 GHz, 4 x 256 KB L2 Cache, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache, 95 W TDP, 3.6 GHz max. Turbo Boost Intel Core i5-750 (45 nm, Lynnfield, B1), 4C/4T, 2.66 GHz, 4 x 256 KB L2 Cache, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache, 95 W TDP, 3.2 GHz max. Turbo Boost |
| Socket LGA 1155 Platform | |
| LGA 1155 Platform | Intel DP67BG, Chipset: Intel P67 Express, BIOS: 2040 |
| LGA 1156 Processors | Intel Core i7-2600K
(32 nm, Sandy Bridge, D2), 4C/8T, 3.4 GHz, 4 x 256 KB L2 Cache, 8 MB
Shared L3 Cache, w/ HD Graphics 3000, 95 W TDP, 3.8 GHz max. Turbo Boost Intel Core i5-2500K (32 nm, Sandy Bridge, D2), 4C/4T, 3.3 GHz, 4 x 256 KB L2 Cache, 6 MB Shared L3 Cache w/ HD Graphics 3000, 95 W TDP, 3.7 GHz max. Turbo Boost |
| LGA 1366 Platform | |
| LGA 1366 Platform | MSI BigBang-Xpower, Chipset: Intel X58 Express, BIOS: 1.2 |
| LGA 1366 Processors | Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition (45 nm, Bloomfield, D0), 4C/8T, 3.33 GHz, 4 x 256 KB L2 Cache, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache, 130 W TDP, 3.6 GHz max. Turbo Boost Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition (32 nm, Gulftown, B1), 6C/12T, 3.33 GHz, 4 x 256 KB L2 Cache, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache, 130 W TDP, 3.6 GHz max. Turbo Boost |
| Common Platform Components | |
| Dual DDR3 Memory | 2 x 4 GB DDR3-1333, Kingston KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX |
| Discrete Graphics | AMD Radeon HD 6850, GPU: Cypress (775 MHz), Graphics RAM: 1024 MB GDDR5 (2000 MHz), Stream Processors: 960 |
| System Drive | Samsung PM810, 256 GB, SATA 3 Gb/s |
| Power Supply | Seasonic X-760, SS-760KM Aktive PFC F3 |
| System Software & Drivers | |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 |
| Drivers and Settings | |
| ATI Radeon Drivers | AMD Catalyst 11.8 Suite for Windows 7 |
| Intel Chipset Drivers | Chipset Installation Utility Ver. 9.2.3.1022 |
| Intel Rapid Storage | Ver: 10.6.0.1002 |
| Audio Benchmarks and Settings | |
|---|---|
| Benchmark | Details |
| iTunes | Version: 10.4.1.10 Audio CD ("Terminator II" SE), 53 min. Convert to AAC audio format |
| Lame MP3 | Version 3.98.3 Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min convert wav to mp3 audio format Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s) |
| Video Benchmarks and Settings | |
| Benchmark | Details |
| HandBrake CLI | Version: 0.95 Video: Big Buck Bunny (720x480, 23.972 frames) 5 Minutes Audio: Dolby Digital, 48000 Hz, Six-Channel, English to Video: AVC1 Audio1: AC3 Audio2: AAC (High Profile) |
| MainConcept Reference v2.2 | Version: 2.2.0.5440 MPEG2 to H.264 MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG2) Audio: MPEG2 (44.1 kHz, 2-Channel, 16 Bit, 224 Kb/s) Codec: H.264 Pro Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS) Profile: H.264 BD HDMV |
| Application Benchmarks and Settings | |
| Benchmark | Details |
| 7-Zip | Version 9.22 beta LZMA2 Syntax "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload |
| WinRAR | Version 4.01 RAR Syntax "winrar a -r -m3" Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload |
| WinZip 15.5 Pro | Version 14.0 Pro (8652) WinZIP Commandline Version 3 ZIPX Syntax "-a -ez -p -r" Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload |
| Autodesk 3d Studio Max 2012 | Version: 10 x64 Rendering Space Flyby Mentalray (SPECapc_3dsmax9) Frame: 248 Resolution: 1440 x 1080 |
| Adobe After Effects CS5.5 | Create Video which includes 3 Streams Frames: 210 Render Multiple Frames Simultaneosly: on |
| Adobe Photoshop CS 5.1 (64-Bit) | Version: 11 Filtering a 16 MB TIF (15000x7266) Filters: Radial Blur (Amount: 10; Method: zoom; Quality: good) Shape Blur (Radius: 46 px; custom shape: Trademark sysmbol) Median (Radius: 1px) Polar Coordinates (Rectangular to Polar) |
| Adobe Acrobat X Professional | Version: 10.0.0 == Printing Preferenced Menu == Default Settings: Standard == Adobe PDF Security - Edit Menu == Encrypt all documents (128 bit RC4) Open Password: 123 Permissions Password: 321 |
| Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 | Version: 2007 SP2 PPT to PDF Powerpoint Document (115 Pages) Adobe PDF-Printer |
| Blender | Version: 2.59 beta Syntax blender -b thg.blend -f 1 Resolution: 1920x1080 Anti-Aliasing: 8x Render: THG.blend frame 1 |
| Matlab | R2011a Internal Benchmark: 10 runs |
We also ran the efficiency test's applications in the following order:
Single-Threaded:
Adobe Acrobat
WinZip
iTunes
Lame
Multi-Threaded:
3ds Max
Blender
HandBrake
MainConcept
After Effects
Photoshop
Premiere
Matlab
7-Zip
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