Intel Core i7-3820 Pro Reviews

The Intel Core i7-3820 processor is a fine performer, but it lacks the impressive features of other CPUs in the Sandy Bridge–Extreme line.

The Second Generation Core i7 3820 is a small step-up in terms of performance when compared to Intel's Socket 1155 platform. Originally, the release of the X79 platform was limited to 6-core chips that were priced from $550 up to $999; not the easiest cost pill to swallow when the top Sandy Bridge Socket 1155 chip was a mere $330. If a 6-core chip is a requirement for your system build, there is no better option out right now than Sandy Bridge-E. However, most users play at a lower cost point; even those on the "Extreme" side. This is where the cheaper i7 3820 comes in. At its very least, the 40+ PCIe 3.0 lanes should pay dividends for multi-GPU gamers who are looking at the next crop of video cards or to take advantage of the added memory bandwidth from 4 channels of DDR3 memory in excess of 2400 MHz. As a step up from the venerable Socket 1366 Core i7 920, the Core i7 3820 offers a massive leap in performance and is a viable upgrade choice over the Socket 1155 platform. It will cost a little more to transition towards LGA 2011, but with the Core i7 3820 going for $320 and quad-channel kits of DDR3 1600 MHz dropping below $100, the cost concerns are not that great.

As we have explained in the past, it's very hard to isolate a single component within a system. While we try to keep as many of the components static throughout the testing environment, it's impossible to keep everything the same. Any of these other components can cause fluctuations in the performances shown by the benchmarks. With that in mind, the i7-3820 performed pretty much just where it should have in our tests. It topped out the quad-core CPUs in most of the tests and beat out the six-core 980X in many of the tests. Of course, so did the i7-2600K. I would have liked to see a little better performance, but it sits nicely for its price. While the Sandy Bridge Extreme CPUs brought on six-core processors, the i7-3820 isn't one of them. In fact, the i7-3820 resembles a normal Sandy Bridge CPU in architecture more than one of the six-core Extreme CPUs. It trades in the on-die GPU for an extra 2MB of cache. In the end, however, there is nothing new or unexpected about the i7-3820.

To conclude, the Core i7-3820 is an excellent processor and an ideal choice for those who need the inherent bandwidth advantages of the LGA2011 platform, but it is not for everyone. If a high-end multi-GPU configuration, a series of enterprise-class PCI-E SSDs, or 32GB+ of RAM are not part of your plans, a Core i7-2600K/Z68 motherboard combo will get you similar performance, roughly equal overclocking potential, an integrated GPU if you need it, guaranteed support for Ivy Bridge and the savings a few bucks. Not only that, but you can buy it right now, which is no easy task when it comes to Sandy Bridge-E chips since Intel has thus far had some serious supply issues. These caveats don't overshadow the good though, and we can wholeheartedly recommend the i7-3820 to well-informed buyers.

The introduction of the Core i7-3820 brings Intel's best consumer platform within the financial reach of a substantially greater number of enthusiasts. Set to retail at around £250 and harnessing many of the performance-centric features of the more expensive Core i7-3930K/3960X, this release should be trumpeted with gay abandon, right? The quad-core, eight-thread Core i7-3820 ticks a lot of the right mainstream boxes, absolutely, but Intel has aced this particular paper before. For example, the equivalently-priced Core i7-2700K can generally match the performance of this new SNB-E chip, at stock speeds and when overclocked, while consuming less power. What's more, the 2700K - and the same applies to 2600K - also offers 'free' graphics if you choose a particular motherboard, which in turn is fundamentally cheaper than the £175 that needs shelling out for a basic X79. You see, bringing SNB-E to the mainstream pits it against the best-engineered chips of recent years, and whilst the Core i7-3820 is very good, Core i7-2600K/2700K are simply excellent. And before I'm fully sated with explaining just what the 3820 is up against, Intel is going to release the improved version of 2600K/2700K in a few months, imbued with Ivy Bridge trickery, that'll be a drop-in upgrade on most present 6-series boards.

At its $285 price point, the Core i7-3820 actually comes in somewhat cheaper than the similarly performing Core i7-2700K. That may seem like a clear win for the 3820, but when the entire platform is considered, the Core i7-3820 will actually be somewhat more expensive due to the higher cost of X79 Express chipset-based motherboards versus the Z68 and the need for quad-channel memory (versus dual-channel) to attain peak performance. Ultimately, whether or not the Core i7-3820 makes sense for you, over the somewhat more affordable Sandy Bridge platform, is going to depend on the type of applications you run or the configuration you’re after. If you have a need for the additional memory bandwidth offered by SBE or a need for more than 32GB of memory, SBE is the way to go. Hardcore gamers who plan to run two or more high-end graphics cards would also be better served by Sandy Bridge-E’s additional PCI Express lanes and due to the fact that Intel integrated graphics aren't required. Or if you just want the latest Intel chipset, namely the X79 Express, SBE is for you.

For $285, the Core i7-3820 is a worthwhile entry as it repeatedly exceeded the Core i7-2600K's performance output. The new SB-E chip looked particularly favorable in our encoding benchmarks, while its showing was satisfactory in the application tests, in which it managed to match the 2600K. It didn't do as well in our gaming tests, as it was disappointing to see the processor fall in the vicinity of the last-generation i7-920 and i5-750. To be fair, the i7-3960X isn't all that impressive when gaming either, though it's at least on par with the 2600K. I believe the SB-E parts struggle here because they have inferior memory performance to the 2500K and 2600K. Despite the newer chips supporting quad-channel RAM, the SB-E processors have a higher memory latency, which attributes for the loss in bandwidth.

The Intel LGA2011 platform finally has an affordable processor with solid performance numbers and a great overclocking potential!

It's a decent chip, offering the extra bandwidth of the Sandy Bridge E platform for straight Sandy Bridge prices. But the vast majority of us don't need that bandwidth.

Those debating between the Core i7-3820 and the Core i7-2700K then have to decide if the added memory support and additional PCIe bandwidth are worth the added cost. If you are a heavy multi-GPU user then that might be the case, otherwise we are kind of at a standstill. Motherboards based on the Z68 platform available now should be able to support Ivy Bridge in the coming months but in truth we don't expect the processor portion of that upgrade to be particularly noteworthy - only the GPU side of the processor will see significant jumps. On the other hand, Ivy Bridge-E may or may not even actually use the LGA2011 socket, as Intel hasn't confirmed, though all indicators show that it will. So with similar remaining life spans for the sockets, deciding which one is right for you is rather difficult. Do you want more than the 16 lanes of PCIe that SNB offers? Do you want to make sure you're ready for PCIe 3.0 speeds? Do you want larger memory capacities or have particular application scenarios that will utilize it? If so, the Core i7-3820 is going to be a great value for your next system build. If you answered no to those questions, or have a particular interest in processor graphics and QuickSync, then going with a lower cost Z68 platform looks like the way to go.