Intel Core i7-4960X vs Intel Core i7-3960X Gaming-Performance
Category : 2014
Published by Marc Büchel on 22.07.14
Once more we're having a look at gaming performance in combination with two different high-end processors. In this case we're rather curious to find out how much of a difference there will be between these two CPU's when it comes to theoretical benchmarks and a set of recent and demanding games.
[pagebreak]
Test Setup
Hardware
| Mainboard |
- ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition
|
| CPUs |
- Intel Core i7-4960X @ Stock (Turbo On)
- Intel Core i7-3960X @ 4.5 GHz (Turbo Off)
- Core i7-3960X @ Stock (Turbo On)
- Core i7-3960X @ 4.5 GHz (Turbo Off)
|
| Memory |
- 4x4GB Corsair Dominator Platinum @ CL10-12-12-31 DDR3-2400 MHz
|
| Graphic Cards (Driver) |
- AMD Radeon HD 7970
Matrix @ 1'100 MHz / 1'650 MHz
|
| Drivers |
|
| Games and OS |
- Windows 7 x64 (Up to date on the 25/07/2013
- All games were up to date on the 25/07/2013)
|
| HDD |
- OCZ Technology Octane 512 GB SSD
|
PSU
|
- Seasonic Platinum SS-1000XP / 1000 Watts
|
[pagebreak]
3DMark - Fire Strike
| Overall Score |
Points |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
7'687 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
7'673 |
99.82 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
7'497 |
97.53 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
7'674 |
99.83 % |
| |
More is better |
| GPU Score |
Points |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
8'446 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
8'453 |
100.08 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
8'443 |
99.96 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
8'453 |
100.08 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Unigine Heaven 4.0 Extreme Preset
| Basic Preset |
Points |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
4'166 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
4'177 |
100.26 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
4'093 |
98.25 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
4'104 |
98.51 % |
| |
More is better |
| Extreme Preset |
Points |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
1'191 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
1'186 |
99.58 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
1'182 |
99.24 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
1'197 |
100.50 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
BattleField 3
| 1280 x 1024, low
details |
fps |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
201.1 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
200.6 |
99.74 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
199.8 |
99.35 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
198.5 |
98.71 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
80.9 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
85.1 |
105.17 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
80.8 |
99.88 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
81.1 |
100.25 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Bioshock Infinite - Benchmark
| 1280 x 720, low details |
fps |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
231.24 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
248.52 |
107.47 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
190.43 |
82.35 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
248.26 |
107.36 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
160.19 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
158.98 |
99.24 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
151.84 |
94.79 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
162.00 |
101.13 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Crysis 3
| 1280 x 1024, low
details |
fps |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
151.6 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
151.8 |
100.13 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
159.2 |
105.01 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
159.1 |
104.95 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
21.4 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
21.0 |
98.13 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
21.4 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
21.2 |
99.07 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Call of Duty Black Ops 2
| 1280 x 1024, low
details |
fps |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
365.91 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
402.35 |
109.96 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
387.63 |
105.94 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
408.22 |
111.56 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
108.72 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
108.97 |
100.23 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
109.23 |
100.47 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
109.82 |
101.01 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Sleeping Dogs - Benchmark
| 1280 x 1024, low
details |
fps |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
221.50 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
244.20 |
110.25 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
183.60 |
82.89 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
237.03 |
107.01 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
55.1 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
55.2 |
100.18 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
55.1 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
54.9 |
99.64 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
| 1280 x 720, low details |
fps |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
198.60 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
224.60 |
113.09 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
169.87 |
85.53 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
180.36 |
90.82 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
114.10 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
115.10 |
100.88 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
109.56 |
96.02 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
115.28 |
101.03 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Metro: Last Light - Benchmark
| 1280 x 1024, low
details |
fps |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
162.88 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
172.48 |
105.89 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
148.11 |
90.93 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
169.32 |
103.95 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
38.25 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
38.18 |
99.82 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
35.28 |
92.24 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
35.45 |
92.68 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Power Consumption
| load (wPrime 1024M,
peak during first minute) |
Watt |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
225 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
290 |
128.88 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
215 |
95.56 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
271 |
120.44 % |
| |
less is better |
| peak (LinX, peak during
first run) |
Watt |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
272 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
340 |
125.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
261 |
95.96 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
324 |
119.12 % |
| |
less is
better |
[pagebreak]
Performance Index Games and Price
| Low |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
106.65 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
93.14 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
103.48 % |
| |
More is better |
| High |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
100.51 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
97.63 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
99.26 % |
| |
More is better |
| CPU |
Geizhals |
Toppreise |
| Intel Core i7-4960X |
 |
 |
| Intel Core i7-3960X |
 |
n/A |
[pagebreak]
Conclusion
Last
summer we published a similar series of articles, where we were analyzing gaming
performance on the basis of two different processors. Back in the days it became
very clear that performance differences between two CPU's at high resolutions
are close to zero. The reason for this can be found within the fact, that the
processor isn't the bottleneck of a system, when you're playing games at high
resolutions. In this case it's the graphics card, which has to work overtime. In
case of lower resolutions the influence of the processor becomes clearly
visible, since the graphics card isn't the limiting factor anymore.
Having a closer look at the results we gathered while testing seven different
games and two different benchmarks with two different presets, we see that the
Intel Core i7-4960X, with our "low-preset" is on average 6.86 percent faster than the
Core i7-3960X. Switching to our "high-preset" makes the Intel Core
i7-4960X's
become 2.37 percent quicker than the Core i7-3960X. Overclocking the Intel Core
i7-4960X to 4.5 GHz makes the performance
with our "low-preset" go up by almost 7 percent but when it comes to the high-preset
the increase in performance is only 0.5 percent. Regarding the Core i7-3960X the
situation is similar: 10 percent gain with "low-preset" and 1.6 percent
with "high-preset". Other than that a quick look at power consumption
is also interesting. In this case we see that in case of overclocking the Core
i7-4960X to 4.5 GHz make power consumption to go up by 29 percent. With the Core
i7-3960X we see a similar situation, where power comsumption rises by 25
percent.
Should you be one of the really happy gamers out there, who can afford buying
the latest and greatest CPU, no matter what it costs, then you now know, that
frame rate at high resolutions increases by about 2.3 percent in case of the two
CPU's we've tested here. Should you be worried about your budget at least a tiny
little bit, then we have to say, that it definitely doesn't make sense at all to
switch from an Intel Core i7-3960X to an Intel Core i7-4960X. Even if you get
quite good money for selling an "old" i7-3960X you still have to spend a few
hundred bucks to get an i7-4960X. If it's really frame rates you want you're
better of thinking about adding a second GPU to your gaming rig for the money
you didn't spend on that new CPU. A 2.5 percent performance increase for a few
hundred bucks is really rather out of proportion.
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