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How We Tested Core i7-5960X, -5930K, And -5820K

Intel Core i7-5960X, -5930K, And -5820K CPU Review: Haswell-E Rises
By , Igor Wallossek
Test Hardware
ProcessorsIntel Core i7-5960X (Haswell-E) Eight cores, 3.0 GHz (30 * 100 MHz), LGA 2011-3, 20 MB Shared L3 Cache, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled

Intel Core i7-5930K (Haswell-E) Six cores, 3.5 GHz (35 * 100 MHz), LGA 2011-3, 15 MB Shared L3 Cache, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled

Intel Core i7-5820K (Haswell-E) Six cores, 3.3 GHz (33 * 100 MHz), LGA 2011-3, 15 MB Shared L3 Cache, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled

Intel Xeon E5-2687W v2 (Ivy Bridge-EP) Eight cores, 3.4 GHz (34 * 100 MHz), LGA 2011, 25 MB Shared L3 Cache, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled

Intel Core i7-4960X (Ivy Bridge-E) Six cores, 3.6 GHz (36 * 100 MHz), LGA 2011, 15 MB Shared L3 Cache, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled

Intel Core i7-3970X (Sandy Bridge-E) Six cores, 3.5 GHz (35 * 100 MHz), LGA 2011, 15 MB Shared L3 Cache, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled

Intel Core i7-4790K (Haswell) Four cores, 4.0 GHz (40 * 100 MHz), LGA 1150, 8 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Turbo Boost enabled, Power-savings enabled
MotherboardASRock X99 WS (LGA 2011-3) Intel X99 Express, BIOS 1.18

MSI X79A-GD45 Plus (LGA 2011) Intel X79 Express, BIOS 17.8

MSI Z97 Gaming 7 (LGA 1150) Intel Z97 Express, BIOS 1.5
Memory
G.Skill 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000, F4-3000C15Q-16GRR @ DDR3-2133 at 1.2 V (for stock run tests)

G.Skill 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) DDR3-2133, F3-17000CL9Q-16GBXM @ DDR3-1866 and -1600 at 1.5 V (for stock run tests)
Hard Drive
Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB, SATA 6 Gb/s
Graphics
Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan 6 GB
Power Supply
Corsair AX860i, 80 PLUS Platinum, 860 W
Heat Sink
Noctua NH-D15, Fan set to 100% duty cycle
System Software And Drivers
Operating System
Windows 8.1 Professional x64
DirectX
DirectX 11
Graphics DriverNvidia GeForce Release 340.52

A number of companies helped us prepare for Haswell-E.

Because Intel is no longer in the motherboard business, it doesn’t have a platform of its own to send out. Instead, we worked closely with ASRock to benchmark using its X99 WS. MSI also supported our efforts by sending over several X99 SLI Plus boards.

Noctua helped us standardize on one high-performance air cooler by sending over its NH-D15, which is LGA 2011-3-compatible.

Representatives at G.Skill diligently helped us troubleshoot memory issues early in our testing, passing along their own experiences dialing in higher DDR4 data rates.

And of course, several other standardized components carry over from our existing bench setup: Corsair’s AX860i power supply, Samsung’s 840 Pro SSD, and a GeForce GTX Titan graphics card.

Benchmark Configuration
Adobe Creative Suite
Adobe After Effects CCVersion 12.0.0.404 x64: Create Video which includes three Streams, 210 Frames, Render Multiple Frames Simultaneosly
Adobe Photoshop CCVersion 14.0 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates
Adobe Premeire Pro CCVersion 7.0.0, 6.61 GB MXF Project to H.264 to H.264 Blu-ray, Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality
Audio/Video Encoding
iTunesVersion 11.0.4.4 x64: Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format 
LAME MP3Version 3.98.3: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s)
HandBrake CLIVersion: 0.9.9: Video from Canon EOS 7D (1920x1080, 25 FPS) 1 Minutes 22 Seconds
Audio: PCM-S16, 48,000 Hz, Two-Channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile)
TotalCode Studio 2.5Version: 2.5.0.10677: MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV
Productivity
ABBYY FineReaderVersion 11.0.102.583: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages
Adobe Acrobat XIVersion 11.0.0: Print PDF from 115 Page PowerPoint, 128-bit RC4 Encryption
Autodesk 3ds Max 2012 and 2013
Version 14.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080
BlenderVersion: 2.68a, Cycles Engine, Syntax blender -b thg.blend -f 1, 1920x1080, 8x Anti-Aliasing, Render THG.blend frame 1
Visual Studio 2010Version 10.0, Compile Google Chrome, Scripted
File Compression
WinZipVersion 18.0 Pro: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r"
WinRARVersion 5.0: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3"
7-ZipVersion 9.30 Alpha: THG-Workload (1.3 GB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5"
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
3DMark 11
Version: 1.0.5
PCMark 8
Version: 2.0, Creative (Conventional)

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  • 1 Hide
    wireframed , 29 August 2014 18:24
    Well, that's a bit of a mixed bag. The review was nice, though.

    Personally, the 3DS and After Effects benchmarks were of most interest, since they are what I spend most of the CPU time on. (3DS in particular, right now I'm logging dozens of CPU hours a day on 3DS alone). It's pretty clear that unless the platform costs of Haswell-E are much higher than IB-E, going with the old won't make sense. The 5930k beats the 4960X. which is at least 50% more expensive.

    I've been waiting forever for an upgrade to my i7 930 based workstation, and I didn't feel like jumping on an IB-E a couple months before a brand-new HEDT platform is released.

    I had hoped Haswell-E would be a bit more impressive, but OTOH, investing in a DDR4 platform now might be a good idea, given my workstations typically have 3-4 years in them. At the very least, a drop-in upgrade to Broadwell-E would be nice to have as an option.

    Now to see how big a pounding I'll take in Denmark for X99/DDR4/Haswell-E... :o 
  • 0 Hide
    haider95 , 30 August 2014 17:56
    sweepstakes only for US users?
  • 0 Hide
    Robi_g , 30 August 2014 22:06
    Text on the competition PC says EVGA motherboard, but the picture has an ASrock one.
  • -1 Hide
    Robi_g , 30 August 2014 22:06
    Text on the competition PC says EVGA motherboard, but the picture has an ASrock one.
  • -1 Hide
    Robi_g , 30 August 2014 22:07
    Text on the competition PC says EVGA motherboard, but the picture has an ASrock one.
  • -1 Hide
    BigBadBeef , 2 September 2014 05:45
    I am an enthusiast and even I say "NO" to this marketet prototype. I will not participate as Intel's guinea pig.
  • 0 Hide
    LePhuronn , 4 September 2014 14:59
    Although I agree with the logic behind the "smart choice" at the end of this article, in the real world the PCI-E lane count for gaming is a moot point. X99 is NOT a gaming platform. It is a workstation and productivity platform. Regardless of how much you hobble your CPU, you're still paying £300 for the motherboard and £400 for comparatively paultry amounts of RAM, so the price of overall Haswell-E adoption is very high.

    Therefore anybody who's going to load up on GPUs enough to worry about PCI-E lanes will have sufficient money to drop in a 5960X on principle. Anybody who's adopting X99 for productivity purposes will not skimp on core count and also go 5960X, especially considering they're likely to go at least 32GB RAM and therefore shelling out a lot of money. Those producing on CUDA cards may not even go X99 at all because 1150 Haswell has more than enough power to run the software. Folders and CUDA Miners similarly will want all GPUs running at full tilt so will likely invest in the 5960X to get all the PCI-E lanes.

    So really, the only "smart choice" is 5960X or don't go X99 at all.
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