Intel Sandy Bridge-E has arrived. Two models are currently available: the more-money-than-brains 3.3GHz Core i7-3960X ($990 MSRP) and the still-crazy-but-not-certifiably-so 3.2GHz Core i7-3930K ($555 MSRP). A third model, the 3.6GHz Core i7-3820, will be available early next year.
Today’s new CPUs have six cores, unlocked multipliers, and require a new motherboard using Intel’s X79 chipset on an LGA 2011 socket. The big difference is in the L3 cache—the 3960X has 15MB while the 3930K has a ‘mere’ 12MB.
A few new or improved features have been added. The memory controller has been upgraded to support four channels of DDR3-1600 RAM. Many of the motherboards, as a result, will support eight sticks of RAM. The number of PCI Express lanes has been increased to 40 (from 16), allowing dual GPUs to utilize their full speeds in Crossfire or SLI configurations or quad 8x speeds.
One feature is missing from Sandy Bridge-E that was previously available—the onboard graphics have been removed. While this may seem to be a good thing, there is one drawback—the high-end processors do not support QuickSync, which uses the integrated graphics to speed up video transcoding.
Oh, and none of the new CPUs comes with a heatsink. Intel either cut their margins that thin (yeah, right), couldn’t produce a cheap heatsink to cool these 130W monsters (possibly) or figure nobody that is buying one of these CPUs would use the stock heatsink anyway (way more likely). An option for an $85-100 Intel-branded Asetek water cooler (very similar to the one offered by AMD) will be available soon.
While we don’t have a review sample, there are several reviews out there.
Parts
Of course with a new CPU comes two requirements: a motherboard to house it and a heatsink to cool it.
The motherboard selection is a bit limited right now, but this will change soon enough.
With a new socket comes new heatsink mounting. Thanks guys! Fortunately most heatsink manufacturers are ready for the change. Thermaltake has updated its FrioOCK and Contac 30 heatsinks as well as the Bigwater 760 Plus water cooler, while Noctua has a special LGA 2011 edition of their NH-D14 as well as free upgrades for heatsinks made since 2005 (after proving your own an X79 board). EVGA also has a mounting bracket for their Superclock CPU Cooler.
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