Intel Ivy Bridge-E Debuts: Core i7-4960X Review

[GhostRyder]

Yeah, tough break. Although, what the hell would AMD call an octa-core line? They've already run through all the heavy construction equipment names and haven't gotten an outhouse built........

Wait, I've got it, "The Chuck Norris Eight Banger".......(I eagerly await your rebuttal)..........

Yes

 

[dividebyzero]

Yeah, tough break. Although, what the hell would AMD call an octa-core line? They've already run through all the heavy construction equipment names and haven't gotten an outhouse built........

Might I suggest "Crawler-Transporter"? Here's an article aptly named " History in Slow Motion "

 

[captaincranky]

Such a pity the "Constellation" program and along with it "The Aries" rockets are cancelled.

Anything that huge, loud, and phallic, deserves to be visited upon space.

The crawler is impressive sure , but when you get right down to it, its TDP is probably less than would be necessary to power an 8 core AMD processor....

 

[Bink]

It isn't really worth the money to be honest. I've just built a new rig (Intel build) and I was going to wait but decided on 1150 Haswell instead. I've got the 4770K and it, excuse my French. Bloody fast and gaming wise SCBL runs so smoothly and flawlessly I can't fault it. IVB is old stock and the only reason why they've gone backwards instead of forwards is because Haswell isn't compatible with Intel's new chipset.

 

[GhostRyder]

It isn't really worth the money to be honest. I've just built a new rig (Intel build) and I was going to wait but decided on 1150 Haswell instead. I've got the 4770K and it, excuse my French. Bloody fast and gaming wise SCBL runs so smoothly and flawlessly I can't fault it. IVB is old stock and the only reason why they've gone backwards instead of forwards is because Haswell isn't compatible with Intel's new chipset.

The "E" series from Intel is a last gen architecture because that's all it really needs to perform. Haswell-E has already been talked about and shows some leaked images. The Ivy Bridge-E line is performance heavy processors, but the chipset is where the disappointments start to rear their ugly head. We can only hope in this regard some of the vendors come out with re-launched version of the boards containg some of these missing features to make up for it. Its still a nice chip and ill probably still grab a 4930k once the Asus Maximus 5 Formula board hits the market.

 

[amstech]

Being sum1 who still runs Bloomfield/X58 I wouldn't upgrade to a 4770k, IMO it would be a complete waste of money from the benchmarks I have seen (and I have seen just about all of them). Only a 6 core CPU would be a worthwhile upgrade but why do that when there might be some truth to this:

For starters, Intel will use Haswell-E to launch an eight core desktop CPU for the first time. Specifically, users will have their choice of six or eight core chips with up to 20MB of L3 cache. With Hyper Threading, we’re looking at 16 logical cores with a maximum TDP somewhere in the range of 130W to 140W. The chips will be built using Intel’s second generation 22nm Hi-k process.

https://www.techspot.com/news/52925...ip-to-carry-eight-cores-and-support-ddr4.html
20MB Cache, 8 Cores & 16 Threads?
Now thats an upgrade.

 

[Jad Chaar]

A still run Bloomfield/X58 and I wouldn't upgrade to a 4770k, IMO it would be a complete waste of money from the benchmarks I have seen (and I have seen just about all of them). Only a 6 core CPU would be a worthwhile upgrade but why do that when there might be some truth to this:

https://www.techspot.com/news/52925...ip-to-carry-eight-cores-and-support-ddr4.html
20MB Cache, 8 Cores & 16 Threads?
Now thats an upgrade.

I guess the lower power draw is attractive in IB-E, but not enough to move from X58.

 

[dividebyzero]

Its still a nice chip and ill probably still grab a 4930k once the Asus Maximus 5 Formula board hits the market.

Well, you'll be massively disappointed then. The Maximus series are Asus's mainstream socket boards. FWIW, the Maximus V is Z77 (LGA1155). Asus's ROG high end desktop boards (LGA 2011) bear the Rampage nameplate.

20MB Cache, 8 Cores & 16 Threads?
Now thats an upgrade.

Same deal as the current Xeon E5's ( a.k.a. the un-neutered version of Sandy Bridge-E), which pale besides the Ivy Bridge-EP parts ( 30MB LLC, 12 core/24 thread). Of course, by the time Haswell-E launches, it'll be the "Meh to" scenario all over again since mainstream Skylake wont be far off ( DDR4 and SATA Express for the mainstream, PCI-E 4.0, and likely AVX-512).
BTW: There are already Haswell-EP's in the wild. No 18 core/36 thread sightings yet, but it seems that the 35MB LLC, 14 core/28 thread version is undergoing qualification.

 

[amstech]

I guess the lower power draw is attractive, but not enough to move from X58.

Going from 4 Cores / 8 Threads & 12MB Cache to 8 Cores / 16 threads and 20MB Cache/3D transistors isn't enough to update from X58? I disagree, in simple math its basically double of what I have now.

Well, you'll be massively disappointed then. The Maximus series are Asus's mainstream socket boards. FWIW, the Maximus V is Z77 (LGA1155). Asus's ROG high end desktop boards (LGA 2011) bear the Rampage nameplate.

Agreed, the Rampage/Formula boards are usually overrated. When I bought my X58 board it was faster then the X58 Rampage & Formula on gaming benchmarks (still have the screens) and came with dual lan/7.1HD Soundmax.
I still miss my old P6T but my P6TD has been a phenomenal board.

 

[dividebyzero]

Agreed, the Rampage/Formula boards are usually overrated.

I was kind of referring to trying to shoehorn a 4930K (LGA2011) into a LGA1155 socket
As for the Rampage (or Maximus, Crosshair, Blitz, and Commando ROG boards for that matter) they are designed for a fairly niche market that probably starts at watercooling and TEC. A lot of boards will OC the CPU well, some boards also OC memory well, but very few do both simultaneously as well as the ROG boards*. There is a reason that HWBot is littered with submissions using these boards.
Their only real downsides are that historically they've lacked the connectivity of the high end workstation orientated boards, are overpriced, and the accessories package is usually overkill. The black and red motif is also a little stale, but that's more a subjective call.

* With the possible exception of the Striker Extreme/Formula and Striker II

 

[GhostRyder]

Well, you'll be massively disappointed then. The Maximus series are Asus's mainstream socket boards. FWIW, the Maximus V is Z77 (LGA1155). Asus's ROG high end desktop boards (LGA 2011) bear the Rampage nameplate.

It was a typo, good god, I was talking with someone about high end boards and typed Maximus instead of Rampage, point was the Asus Board and the next in line (which is a 5 btw in the Rampage line pointing to a small typo).

I don't think they are overrated either, when comparing features and price, they do at times seem to be overpriced in some instances, however the only competition in that category of motherboards are the gigabyte boards and the EVGA boards (Which the EVGA boards are ungodly overpriced). Im more interested in the one below the top from asus because I don't need some of the extra junk thrown on.

 

[EEatGDL]

Wow the 4770K kicked its butt (especially with the price difference). Come on AMD, this is your chance to pounce!

AMD has repeatedly said they're not targeting high end competition and so are out of the "Extreme CPUs fight"; even if they bring something new and beat it [which doesn't seem too hard] then that would be collateral damage to the Extreme Intel CPUs.

And that cheer "come on AMD, this is your chance!" I've read it already many times here in the last Intel reviews. Don't get me wrong, I considered AMD for my upgrade (from Core 2 Duo), but they haven't launched a Bulldozer succesor line [since the Sandy Bridge era], so I ended buying an i5 Haswell cheaper than the FX-8350 that could outperform it in many scenarios drawing a lot less power and getting a lot less hot.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Going from 4 Cores / 8 Threads & 12MB Cache to 8 Cores / 16 threads and 20MB Cache/3D transistors isn't enough to update from X58? I disagree, in simple math its basically double of what I have now.

Agreed, the Rampage/Formula boards are usually overrated. When I bought my X58 board it was faster then the X58 Rampage & Formula on gaming benchmarks (still have the screens) and came with dual lan/7.1HD Soundmax.
I still miss my old P6T but my P6TD has been a phenomenal board.

No I was saying going from X58 to Ivy Bridge E.

 

[Boilerhog146]

Glad I didn't wait for ivy-E, it's been about a month now ,and I'm completely Happy with Sandy-E,I build power houses for a living,Whats a few watts? lol...