Intel Core i7-4960X vs Core i7-3960X 3-way SLI Gaming-Performance
Category : 2014
Published by Marc Büchel on 24.06.14
Gamers are always curious to know what benefit they get from an expensive CPU in terms of frames per second. In this series of articles we will have a look at different CPUs, running at different clock speeds and with each article we will compare two CPUs. These CPUs will be place in a test system that's been equipped with no less than three high-end graphics cards in order to open the GPU bottleneck.
[pagebreak]
Test Setup
Hardware
|
Mainboard |
|
| CPUs |
- Intel Core i7-4960X @ Stock (Turbo On)
- Intel Core i7-4960X @ 4.5GHz (Turbo On)
- Intel Core i7-3960X @ Stock (Turbo On)
- Intel Core i7-3960X @ 4.5GHz (Turbo On)
|
|
Memory |
- 4x4GB Corsair Dominator Platinum @ CL9-9-9-24 1T DDR3-1600 MHz
|
|
Graphic Cards (Driver) |
-
3 x
ASUS GeForce GTX
780 DC2 OC @ 889 MHz /
1'500 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 Patinum SS-1000XP / 1000 Watts
|
[pagebreak]
3DMark - Fire Strike
| Overall Score |
Points |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
17'605 |
106.19 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
18'985 |
114.52 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
16'587 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
18'890 |
113.94 % |
| |
More is better |
| GPU Score |
Points |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
25'202 |
100.22 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
25'301 |
100.61 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
25'147 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
25'204 |
100.23 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Unigine Heaven 4.0 Extreme Preset
| Basic Preset |
Points |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
6'720 |
126.37 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
6'780 |
127.49 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
5'318 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
5'856 |
110.12 % |
| |
More is better |
| Extreme Preset |
Points |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
3'840 |
101.35 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
3'850 |
101.61 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
3'789 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
4'020 |
106.10 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
BattleField 4
| 1280 x 1024, Low
details |
fps |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
169.53 |
114.34 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
173.05 |
116.71 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
148.27 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
165.39 |
111.55 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
108.32 |
103.88 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
117.29 |
112.49 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
104.27 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
116.32 |
111.56 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
BattleField 3
| 1280 x 1024, Low
details |
fps |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
193.29 |
115.83 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
201.43 |
120.71 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
166.87 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
190.20 |
113.98 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
142.43 |
129.24 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
143.90 |
130.57 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
110.21 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
131.25 |
119.10 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Bioshock Infinite - Benchmark
| 1280 x 1024, Low
details |
fps |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
272.65 |
110.65 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
343.61 |
139.45 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
246.40 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
297.20 |
120.62 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
246.23 |
105.52 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
295.55 |
126.65 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
233.36 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
285.76 |
122.45 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Crysis 3
| 1280 x 1024, Low
details |
fps |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
139.06 |
111.06 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
164.70 |
131.60 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
125.21 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
153.48 |
122.58 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
94.32 |
105.39 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
110.21 |
123.14 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
89.50 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
90.10 |
100.67 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Call of Duty Black Ops 2
| 1280 x 1024, Low
details |
fps |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
528.20 |
135.23 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
670.97 |
171.78 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
390.60 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
606.73 |
155.33 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
391.40 |
136.03 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
410.54 |
142.68 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
287.74 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
301.94 |
104.93 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Sleeping Dogs - Benchmark
| 1280 x 1024, Low
details |
fps |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
195.47 |
107.28 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
234.98 |
128.97 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
182.20 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
217.50 |
119.37 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, max
details, max AA, max AF |
fps |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
70.80 |
102.76 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
115.30 |
167.34 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
68.90 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
114.90 |
166.76 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
| 1280 x 720, Low details |
fps |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
311.25 |
117.71 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
358.98 |
135.76 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
264.42 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
332.82 |
125.87 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, All set to
Max |
fps |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
133.50 |
103.46 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
156.50 |
121.29 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
129.03 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
144.39 |
111.90 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Metro: Last Light - Benchmark
| 1280 x 1024,
Preset low |
fps |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
145.68 |
109.95 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
170.20 |
128.45 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
132.50 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
161.50 |
121.89 % |
| |
More is better |
| 1920 x 1080, Preset
high |
fps |
Scaling |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
71.20 |
108.70 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
74.10 |
113.13 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
65.50 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
68.50 |
104.58 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Power
Consumption
| idle |
Watt |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
130 |
73.03 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
190 |
106.74 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
178 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
250 |
140.45 % |
| |
less is better |
| Furmark |
Watt |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
792 |
95.58 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
890 |
108.54 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
820 |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
955 |
116.46 % |
| |
less is
better |
[pagebreak]
Performance Index
| Low |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
115.26 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
134.18 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
123.90 % |
| |
More is better |
| High |
Index |
| Intel Core i7-4960X Stock |
111.87 % |
| Intel Core i7-4960X 4.5G |
129.66 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X Stock |
100.00 % |
| Intel Core i7-3960X 4.5G |
117.74 % |
| |
More is better |
[pagebreak]
Conclusion
Having a closer look at the results we gathered
while testing eight 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 15 percent faster than the
Core i7-3960X. Switching to our "high-preset" makes the Intel Core
i7-4960X
become 12 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
34 percent
and when it comes to the high-preset
the increase in performance is 30 percent. Regarding the Core i7-3960X the
situation is a little bit different: 24 percent gain with "low-preset" and
18 percent
with "high-preset". Other than that a quick look at power consumption
is also interesting. In this case we see that overclocking the Core
i7-4960X to 4.5 GHz makes power consumption of our system go up by 12 percent. With the
Core i7-3960X we see there is an additional 16
percent needed.
In the past we've been testing the same system equipped with one as well as two high-end
single GPU graphics cards. Especially with one GPU and in case of our high-preset the graphics
card is then going to be the limiting factor, meaning changing the CPU or even
overclocking processors doesn't make for a decent performance difference. As
soon as we're adding a second or even a third high-end graphics card, the bottleneck regarding
graphics cards is open and overclocking CPU architecture as well as CPU clocks
will make a difference even with the high preset.
Should you be thinking about buying a Core i7-4960X processor for your gaming
PC, in which you have three high-end graphics cards running in SLI, then the
performance gain, when upgrading from a Core i7-3960X to a Core i7-4960X is
going to be about 12 percent on average. Keeping in mind this CPU costs about
870 Euro we should be asking ourselves if this is really worth the
additional money. If you put in perspective what difference a new graphics card
can make regarding frames per second, then the answer is simply: no. But should
you be one of the power users who always demands the best possible components,
then the Core i7-4960X certainly is an upgrade.
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