Core i7 4960X processor review - Conclusion

Final Words & Conclusion

You know, when the Sandy Bridge-E platform was released I called it a power-house bound to set some new records. That statement was so right as the two extra logical processor cores make all the difference.

The Experience

Unfortunately for Intel, with Ivy Bridge-E the processor might have received a die shrink, but the performance remains roughly the same. I'll advance that statement even further, ever since the Gulftown (Core i7 980X) back in 2010 release, performance wise nothing much has changed in terms of raw per core performance. Intel has not been able to make big steps any more as again the performance difference inbetween the 3960X and this 4960X is maybe 10% at best.

Now I am talking raw CPU performance here, but as an example let me take Handbrake transcoding (higher = better) as virtual example:

• The Gulftown Core i7 980X pushed out 28 FPS in 2010.
• The Sandy Bridge-E based Core i7 3960X pushed 30 20 2011.
• Now the Ivy Bridge-E Core i7 4960X manages 33 transcoded frames per second in 2013.

You need to wonder, what happened to the raw processor performance increase? This is not exactly Moore's Law anymore. That's gonna be hard to justify the 1000 USD price tag if you ask me. Now my comment here only applies to the 4960X really. That said, the 4930K (555 USD) and four core 4820K (310 USD) will be the products that are the more interesting onces as far as I can predict.

Now I understand the above is a bit of a weird statement to make for a start in the conclusion, but yeah it is the reality. That doesn't mean though that we also have to acknowledge that Intel's six-core processors are as fast as a lightning bolt, really, it's just seriously fast stuff and offers great fun for the enthusiast PC user. But ever since a couple of years people do not feel they need to upgrade anymore, as the performance stays roughly the same. This is a huge part of the problem why the industry is seeing much less desktop PC sales, nothing is really advancing to a new level of performance. 

Overall Performance

The overall per core performance remains seriously nice, Turbo 2.0 kicks in nicely up-to 4.0 GHz. For the professional user who uses heavily threaded software like content creation, that's where Ivy Bridge-E will make a difference. Add to that quad-channel memory with near silly bandwidth and plenty of PCIe lanes and you'll have a platform that will be hard to beat. The Intel X79 chipset is by all means sufficient, but it is dated. I would have loved to see more chipset based SATA3 ports and native USB 3.0 ports amongst others. The manufacturers will adapt and react to that, the MSI X79A-GD65 motherboard used in today's review offers everything you wish and much more. However, the minute the manufacturers have to add ICs and compensate for the chipset, the more components are used driving prices upwards -- and that will make a Ivy Bridge-E PC very expensive.

So while I had hopes for a bigger more extensive step in raw processor performance, Ivy Bridge-E however remains to be a ridiculously fast platform. It is just as impressive as the Sandy Bridge-E platform, but not that different at all. Comparing Sandy Bridge-E and Ivy Bridge-E however is a tough thing to do. Both remain very close in both performance, features and overclock potential. I dare say that Sandy-Bridge-E might even be the better processor for overclockers as temperatures do look a notch better.

Final Words

Remember if you decide to upgrade the processor on your X79 towards Ivy Bruidge-E then update your BIOS first. Without proper support, your motherboard otherwise would not even boot. From A to Z it testing this processor was a very pleasant to test and tweak with. And that's really what high-end gear is all about. But realistically, the next gen E processors really need to be faster or get more cores for Intel to make a substantial enough difference. Still, this is great stuff to have in your uber-powered, enthusiast, l33t gaming rig alright. But if you already are on X79 with Sandy-Bridge-E, I just do not see a significant enough reason for you to upgrade. And as stated, the 4930K (555 USD ) and four core 4820K (310 USD) will be the products that are the more interesting onces we predict. Lucky you, we have a review on the 4820K ready as well.

Handy related downloads: 

• Prime95
• SiSoft Sandra
• AIDA
• CPU-Z
• HWMonitor
  
  
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