Confrontation
So, Intel Core i7 3820 runs at a similar
level as the high-end standard Sandy Bridge. We have to say that this a bit
disappoints us. This chip is considered to become a base for Intel’s desktop
enthusiasts, but soon-to-be-replaced Sandy Bridge setting is also no less good at
the quad-core level.
There will be cases where the combination
of i7 3820 and X79 creates benefit, such as for the offline 3D rendering
servers or other seirous productivity-increasing tasks requiring no heavy
multi-threads. But it is only a corner of a narrow market.
Most of us – and all gamers – can have
enough performance from a standard Sandy Bridge setting. Core i7 2700K or
quad-core 2600K is still the processor we recommend.
We gave a hope to the more impressive and
attractive appearance of Sandy Bridge E’s quad-core version. What a pity, Intel
has alrealdy had the best quad-core chip in the market, and as a general base,
i7 2700K and Z68 chipset may be good bargains for us.
However, i7 3820’s low price is quite
attractive. This means if you want to build an excellent server, you can choose
a reasonbable processor and pay much for a 6-core CPU if you can afford or
really need more cores later. But you have to wonder whether you really need
memory support or PCIe 3.0 technology.
Specs analysis
Core i7 3820 reach some quite good points,
especially when being clocked. We made the chip run at 4.36GHz, a good increase
compared to the default initial speed of 3.6GHz.
In spite of that, it is Core i7 2700K that
creates the best impression thanks to some execellent comparisons and tests. In
simple-threaded apps, Sandy Bridge is dominant in the test, which shows the
reason why game’s performance is also higher.
Simple thread CPU performance
|
Cinebench R11
|
The higher, the better
|
|
Core i7 3820
|
1.53
|
|
Core i7 3820 (overclocked)
|
1.77
|
|
Core i7 3930K
|
1.53
|
|
Core i7 2700K
|
1.63
|
Multi-threaded CPU performance
|
Cinebench R11
|
The higher, the better
|
|
Core i7 3820
|
7.24
|
|
Core i7 3820 (overclocked)
|
8.31
|
|
Core i7 3930K
|
10.22
|
|
Core i7 2700K
|
7.89
|
Video encoding performance
|
X264 v4
|
Frames/second: the higher, the better
|
|
Core i7 3820
|
38
|
|
Core i7 3820 (overclocked)
|
44
|
|
Core i7 3930K
|
48
|
|
Core i7 2700K
|
42
|
CPU game performance
|
World in Conflict
|
Frames/second: the higher, the better
|
|
Core i7 3820
|
107
|
|
Core i7 3820 (overclocked)
|
119
|
|
Core i7 3930K
|
105
|
|
Core i7 2700K
|
124
|
CPU game performance
|
Shogun 2
|
Frames/second: the higher, the better
|
|
Core i7 3820
|
27
|
|
Core i7 3820 (overclocked)
|
31
|
|
Core i7 3930K
|
27
|
|
Core i7 2700K
|
32
|
1080p game performance
|
Shogun 2
|
Frames/second: the higher, the better
|
|
Core i7 3820
|
74
|
|
Core i7 3820 (overclocked)
|
75
|
|
Core i7 3930K
|
75
|
|
Core i7 2700K
|
75
|
Verdict
It is a good chip, provides more bandwidth
of the Sandy Bridge E base. However, most of us do not need that bandwidth.
