Intel Core i7-3820 Quad-Core CPU Review – Get Ready for Some Great 5.0 GHz Speeds!

FINAL THOUGHTS (a bunch of them)

THE CHIPSET

When we first began testing with this processor the natural inclination is to do the standard ‘2700K vs. 3820″ review that has been the norm with several reviews already.

To us that just didn’t make sense as we felt that it is truly comparing two different platforms that are designed for different classes of users. It just strikes me as incredibly narrow minded to compare the two platforms to one other. The P67 platform is for the general users, and the X79 is for the power users. This has been stated by Intel since the inception of the platform, and they have delivered on that.

It is easy to make blanket statements such as “If you don’t need 40 PCIe lanes, you don’t need the 3820”, but that doesn’t make sense to the overwhelming majority of users. What about the functionality that those extra PCIe lanes afford the user?

How many P67 chipsets have 12 SATA ports and 12 USB ports? With the X79 Chipset, this is possible. This type of connectivity is the result of the extra PCIe lanes, not to mention that this chipset is PCIe 3.0 out of the box. There are also users who would require the extra lanes for multiple-GPU setups and those who utilize RAID controllers.

In a sense this gives the chipset an ‘on-the-fence’ approach, a blurring of the lines between an enterprise class workstation and a consumer level product. With the newer stepping of X79 motherboards there will be sure to be some great improvements ahead.

The users who need the performance of 32+GB of RAM, the increased memory bandwidth, or the plethora of connections that come with the X79 chipset already know what they need, so the question becomes which processor to buy.

THE PROCESSOR

The entry level pricing of the Sandy Bridge Extreme six core chips is very costly, with the cheapest coming in around $600.00 USD. For those users who need the X79 functionality, this can be a tough pill to swallow. The 3820 comes in and fills a nice gap in pricing for Intel with this chipset. At roughly $319.00 this processor does have a lot to offer.

The performance in single threaded applications can be at or above the performance of its six core counterparts. This is very important for users as many would mistakenly think that the 6 core processor is faster or more powerful in all applications. This simply is not the case.

We did a lot of power testing over the course of our testing, and why might not be clear to many readers beyond how it might affect their utility bills.

Power also equals heat. The more power that is consumed generates more heat that must be dealt with. Fans must eventually be used in 99 percent of applications to cool the processor, even when using liquid cooling. Even with water cooling, at the end of the water line there will be a radiator with a fan on it. Fans also tend to be the chief generator of noise in any computer. The less heat that has been generated by the processor means cooler performance and less fan and noise needed to handle that heat output.

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Power usage also directly leads to heat dumped into the users case. Extremely hot processors lead to hot cases, and with GPUs becoming larger and hotter there certainly is no lack of heat sources in the computer case.

One key consideration over the years for many to use AMD processors is the fact that they operate with a much lower power threshold, so they operate quietly and efficiently. At the end of the day less power consumption leads to a cooler, quieter computer! It also provides higher headroom for overclocking, and facilitates using smaller, quieter cooling solutions. Intel has really delivered in this respect with the 3820.

A good balance must be struck when it comes to several of these considerations. Price V Power is a huge consideration in terms of sheer performance as well. The 3820 performs very well when compared to the other solutions on the X79 Chipset. It is quite simply amazing to see the 3820 actually outperform the 3930K in several areas of our PCMark Vantage testing.

One big takeaway here is that the performance from 6 cores is seen very sparingly in real life usage for a huge percentage of users. The 3930K is extremely powerful , and for those who need that power, it is a wonderful processor. For gaming and general use computers, one would rarely, if ever, witness a benefit from the extra cores. In situations (the vast majority) where the extra cores are never used, the 3820 will give you equal or faster performance while consuming drastically lower amounts of power, be it overclocked or not.

If you are looking for the X79 Chipset and a good CPU at a reasonable price, the i7-3820 certainly fits the bill!

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15 comments

  1. blank

    Speed is too far away to reach to it,

    I do just fine in i5 2450

    I’ve yet to experience those numberss

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    Did the article really saw there is a 5.0Ghz Overclock profile in BIOS?

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    125×40 = 5000 = 5Ghz 😉 the chip will do it on any board regardless of “overclocking profile” but I have a feeling that this is a “great” chip and could be a dime a dozen. cant wait to try one myself, I might be buying one soon but would not be pairing it with this board.

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    Yup, there is a 5.2 as well!

    Dont underestimate this board fellas, shes a beauty!

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    Guys, you erroneously marked the i7-3820 as i7-3820K here:

    https://ssd1.thessdreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/PCMV-POWER-Comparison.png

    Just a heads up.

    And thanks for posting this today. Thanks to your post, I am buying this baby tonight! SB-E FTW – thanks to i7-3820. Just don’t have enough cash to throw away for the other SB-E, and not enough patience to wait for IvyB.

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    “5.0 overclock with 1.48 Vcore is rather good”
    I have a 2500k at 4.7 ghz Vcore 1.3. I could get 5 ghz at 1.48, but,
    You DO know that you will be buying a new cpu after a few days
    or months when you fry it. 1.48 volts is way over spec, and will
    definately rapidly degrade your cpu or kill it completely. It’s OK
    for a power benchmarking run, but not 24/7

    • blank

      I understand your hesitation, and some heavy OCs arent for everyone. I have seen people run 1.5 for 24.7 for years on the X58 chips!

  7. blank

    Thanks for the CPU review and benchmark, very good review and insightful test results. One last thing, you guys tested with 1866mhz RAMs, no? The i7-3820 can only support up to 1600mhz, do you guys think this is a bit disheartening for the cost? Anyone got some thoughts? What I have with me is 16gb G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series at 2133mhz (unopened, will be used on LGA2011).

    I’ve been stuck deciding between 3820 and 3930 (budget issue, therefore I’ll never even consider the 3960x). The problem with the 3930k is the unstable demand along with its restocking issue. I can afford the 3820 now, but I really am not sure which CPU to consider. I decided to start building an LGA2011 rig back in December and since then started buying parts.

    I really would just want to start running LGA2011 as soon as possible. People recommend I settle with 3820 and upgrade to the 3930k when I can afford it. If it’s a matter of patience vs. cost, I think patience is starting to dissipate. Help D:

    • blank

      Dask-
      even though the chipset only supports 1600 you can easily go to whatever speed yoiu need (within reason). 1866 and 2000 are just a bios change away 🙂
      personally, i wouldnt wait!

      • blank

        Hey Paul,

        Thank you! I’m sold, I purchased it after reading your comment. I look forward to using this CPU. Thanks again!

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    Dask I just built a system using the 3930K with 16GB G.Skill RAM at 2133 and made the system blue screen till we clocked it back to 1600MHz

    • blank

      Oh, damn. I thought something like that would be happening. Since the RAM’s clock speed should be somewhat in par or in an input that the processor wants to cooperate with, I think. But lucky, you! I’m still waiting for the semester to finish so I can focus on building my LGA2011 rig.

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    Hello, would this processor be viable for streaming? Other technology I have: Evga GeForce GTX 670 4GB, Asus – Sabertooth X79 Desktop Motherboard.

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    I have a 3820 with an ECS board and Mushkin 2133 ram and this will not overclock at all when I try to raise voltage +40, mabey I am not high enough but am afraid to use any higher voltage. I like add a little voltage and get a little o/c. I don’t like, burn up the cpu by not knowing what to do. I am going to buy some PC16000 and hope it works. Then hope I find some recommendations for this board, I have not seen even one yet and ECS, they don’t communicate, except once.

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