Core i7-3960X and Core i7-3930K Radeon HD 7970 Gaming-Performance-Difference
Category : 2012
Published by Marc Büchel on 10.02.12
In this article we're going to check gaming performance of Intels latest Sandy Brdige E flagship CPUs when they're being supported by a Radeon HD 7970 graphics card from XFX. We're curious if there will be a measurable performance gap between these to CPUs regarding modern games or if the 100 MHz and three megabyte more Cache, which the Core i7-3960X has to offer, aren't enough to make a difference.
Specifications
|
i7-3960X |
i7-3930K |
Codename |
Sandy Bridge E |
Sandy Bridge |
Socket |
LGA 2011 |
LGA 2011 |
Manufacturing |
32 nm |
32 nm |
Transistors |
2.27 Billion |
2.27 Billion |
Die-size |
435 mm2 |
435 mm2 |
Clock |
3.30 GHz (Turbo 3.90 GHz) |
3.20 GHz (Turbo 3.80 GHz) |
Cores / Threads |
6C / 12T |
6C / 12T |
Turbo |
Yes (2.0) |
Yes (2.0) |
Bus Speed |
100 MHz |
100 MHz |
Memory |
DDR3 |
DDR3 |
Memory controller |
Quad Channel |
Quad Channel |
QPI |
6.4 GT/s |
6.4 GT/s |
L1 Execution Cache |
32 KByte |
32 KByte |
L1 Data Cache |
32 KByte |
32 KByte |
L2 Cache |
256 KByte |
256 KByte |
L3 Cache |
15 MB shared |
12 MB shared |
TDP |
130 Watt |
130 Watt |
C1E technology |
Yes |
Yes |
Enhanced Intel Speed Step |
Yes |
Yes |
Virtualisation |
Vanderpool |
Vanderpool |
Instruction sets |
MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3
SSE4.2, AVX, AES EM64T |
MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3
SSE4.2, AVX, AES EM64T |
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[pagebreak]
Test setup
Motherboard |
ASUS Rampage IV Formula |
Processors |
Intel Core i7-3960X @ 3.30 GHz,
Turbo @ 3.90 GHz
Intel Core i7-3930K @ 3.20 GHz, Turbo @ 3.80 GHz |
Memory |
Kingston HyperX H2O @ 1'600 MHz CL 9-9-9-24 |
Grapics Cards |
XFX Radeon HD 7970 Double
Dissipation @ 925 MHz Reference |
Storage |
Corsair Force 3 120 Gigabyte |
Power Supply |
Enermax Max Revo 1350 Watt |
Software
Futuremark 3DMark Vantage
Unigine Heaven
- 1920 x 1080
- Shaders High
- Tessellation Extreme
- Max AA
- Max AF
Stone Giant
- 1920 x 1080
- Tessellation High
Crysis
- 1920 x 1080
- Max Details
- Max AA
- DX10
Resident Evil 5
- 1920 x 1080
- Max Details
- Max AA
- Max AF
Call of Juarez
- 1920 x 1080
- Max Details
- Max AA
Far Cry 2
- 1920 x 1080
- Max Details
- Max AA
Street Fighter 4
- 1920 x 1080
- Max Details
- Max AA
- Max AF
World in Conflict
- 1920 x 1080
- Max Details
- Max AA
- Max AF
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[pagebreak]
3DMark 11 - 3DMark Vantage
|
3DMark 11 Total |
3DMark 11 - Graphics |
3DMark 11 - Physics |
Core i7-3960X |
8'123 |
7'656 |
13'002 |
Core i7-3930K |
8'094 |
7'655 |
12'536 |
% difference |
0.36 % |
0.01 % |
3.72 % |
|
3DMark Vantage Total |
3DMark Vantage - Graphics |
3DMark Vantage - CPU |
Core i7-3960X |
34'673 |
33'236 |
39'836 |
Core i7-3930K |
33'845 |
32'537 |
38'486 |
% difference |
2.45 % |
2.15 % |
3.51 % |
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[pagebreak]
Unigine Heaven - Furmark - Stone Giant
|
Unigine Heaven - Points |
Unigine Heaven - fps |
Core i7-3960X |
1'061 |
42.1 |
Core i7-3930K |
1'060 |
42.1 |
% difference |
0.09 % |
0.00 % |
|
Furmark - Points |
Furmark - fps |
Core i7-3960X |
2'582 |
43 |
Core i7-3930K |
2'582 |
43 |
% difference |
0.00 % |
0.00 % |
|
Stone Giant - fps |
Core i7-3960X |
87 |
Core i7-3930K |
87 |
% difference |
0.00 % |
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[pagebreak]
Crysis - Resident Evil 5
|
Crysis - fps |
Core i7-3960X |
53.06 |
Core i7-3930K |
53.03 |
% difference |
0.06 % |
|
Resident Evil 5 - fps |
Core i7-3960X |
175.2 |
Core i7-3930K |
174.4 |
% difference |
0.46 % |
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[pagebreak]
Call of Juarez - Far Cry 2
|
Call of Juarez - fps |
Core i7-3960X |
71.90 |
Core i7-3930K |
71.80 |
% difference |
0.14 % |
|
Far Cry 2 - fps |
Core i7-3960X |
109.49 |
Core i7-3930K |
104.07 |
% difference |
5.21 % |
[pagebreak]
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Street Fighter 4 - World in Conflict
|
Street Fighter 4 - fps |
Core i7-3960X |
231.16 |
Core i7-3930K |
230.21 |
% difference |
0.41 % |
|
World in Conflict - fps |
Core i7-3960X |
101 |
Core i7-3930K |
99 |
% difference |
2.02 % |
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[pagebreak]
Conclusion
In general it is particularly noticeable that on average there is
almost no difference between the performance of these two CPUs. If there is a
bottleneck in recent games, then it is the graphics card, even if it is a high
end Radeon HD 7970 card. Looking at the numbers and figures we see that the in
Far Cry 2 we measured the biggest difference between the two CPUs. In this case
the performance gap is 5.21 percent. The next benchmarks which clearly show
different results are 3D Mark 11 and 3D Mark Vantage concerning their physix
test. In both cases you can see that the Core i7-3960X is roughly three percent
faster than the Core i7-3930K. The difference can be explained by the fact the
the Core i7-3960X clocks 100 MHz faster and has three megabyte more L3
cache. Furhtermore the Physix test in 3D Mark 11 and 3D Mark Vantage doesn't
scale with the GPU it only scales with the CPU. A closer look at Furmark, Stone
Giant and Unigine Heaven once again shows that the CPU has almost no impact
gaming performance. Especially in Furmark one can see that the benchmark really
doesn't care about 100 MHz and three Megabyte more L3 cache, because there is no
load going to the CPU, which needs to be processed very fast.
As concluding remarks we can say that for a gamer there is really no
difference in buying a Core i7-3960X over a Core i7-3930K. What's important in
this case is only the price and therefore the Core i7-3930K is a much more
reasonable choice than Intels flagship CPU, the Core i7-3960X.
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