Intel Core i7-4960X “Ivy Bridge-E” Gets Pitted Against Core i7-3970X in a Clock-To-Clock Benchmark Comparison
Intel’s Core i7-4960X has also been benchmarked by Toppc at Coolaler Forums, the processor is the flagship part of the upcoming Ivy Bridge-E lineup which would replace the current HEDT “Sandy Bridge-E” platform. The CPU was benchmarked against the current flagship Core i7-3970X processor and clock frequencies were kept the same for a fair comparison.
Intel Core i7-4960X – Flagship Ivy Bridge-E CPU Benchmarked
Intel’s Core i7-4960X is based on the latest 22nm Tri-gate transistor technology, features 6 cores/12 threads and comes with a base clock of 3.30 GHz. The turbo boost frequency is kept at 3.50 GHz. The Core i7-4960X has 15MB of L3 Cache and has a lower TDP of 130W compared to 150W on the Core i7-3970X. As with Sandy Bridge-E CPUs, the Ivy Bridge-E lineup is also compatible with the Socket LGA 2011 on X79 chipset motherboards. The upcoming Haswell-E (2015) lineup would also remain compatible with Socket 2011 but would get a new chipset and DDR4 memory compatibility.
| Intel Core i7-4960X (Ivy Bridge-E) | Intel Core i7-3970X (Sandy Bridge-E) | |
| Cores/Threads | 6/12 | 6/12 |
| Base Clock | 3.30 GHz | 3.50 GHz |
| Turbo Clock | 3.60 GHz | 3.90 GHz |
| Cache | 15 MB L3 | 15 MB L3 |
| TDP | 130W | 150W |
| Price | $999 | $999 |
The clock frequencies are lower than the last generation’s flagship processor however the could not be final since the chip is still in Engineering Phase. The Core i7-4960X was overclocked to match the frequency of Core i7 3960X. You can see the benchmarks results below:
CineBench R11.5 (Single Core):
- Intel Core i7-4960X: 1.52 Points
- Intel Core i7-3970X: 1.41 Points
CineBench R11.5 (Multi Core):
- Intel Core i7-4960X: 10.94
- Intel Core i7-3970X: 10.16
Super PI 1M:
- Intel Core i7-4960X: 10.171 Seconds
- Intel Core i7-3970X: 10.905 Seconds
Super PI 32M:
- Intel Core i7-4960X: 9m 55 Seconds
- Intel Core i7-3970X: 9m 22 Seconds
3DMark Vantage (CPU Score):
- Intel Core i7-4960X: 38644 CPU Marks
- Intel Core i7-3970X: 35804 CPU Marks
3DMark 06 (CPU Score):
- Intel Core i7-4960X: 8586 Marks
- Intel Core i7-3970X: 8099 Marks
WPrime 32M:
- Intel Core i7-4960X: 4.601 Seconds
- Intel Core i7-3970X: 5.01 Seconds
WPrime 1024M:
- Intel Core i7-4960X: 138.169 Seconds
- Intel Core i7-3970X: 149.167 Seconds
At best, these benchmarks represent an 8-10% average performance improvement over the old Sandy Bridge-E architecture. This is a similar performance jump we witnessed from Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge processors on the LGA 115* platforms. The complete Ivy Bridge-E lineup is expected to launch in Q3 2013 while its successor the Lituya Bay based Haswell-E processors arrive in 1H of 2015.
Following images are courtesy of TechPowerUp!
