CPU Limited Gaming Performance

The Core i7-5960X reached what appears to be a GPU limitation in Watch Dogs, hitting 52fps at 1680x1050. This placed it on par with the Core i7-4790K and Core i5-4670K.

The Core i7-5960X's extra cores don't provide any advantage in Thief and its lower clock speeds place it at a disadvantage when compared to the Core i7-4960X, 4790K and 4670K. In fact here the mighty 5960X is no better than a low-end Core i3 processor.

Company of Heroes also fails to utilize the Core i7-5960X, delivering just 54fps at 1680x1050 -- slower than the older 4960X.

Hitman Absolution is the first game to really show the Core i7-5960X at an advantage. With 80fps at 1680x1050 it was 7% faster than the 4790K and 10% faster than the 4960X.

Arma 3, like most games, doesn't utilize enough cores to make the Core i7-5960X shine despite being a very CPU intensive game. As a result the 5960X was faster than the 4960X, but slower than the 4670K and 4790K.