Intel Releases Core i7-3820
by Kristian Vättö on February 14, 2012 2:05 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- Sandy Bridge E
Intel has finally filled out the Sandy Bridge E lineup by releasing the Core i7-3820. The initial Sandy Bridge E lineup launched back in November 2011 and it consisted of two SKUs, the i7-3960X and i7-3930K. While the i7-3820 wasn't released until this week, we reviewed it over a month ago, so head there for a longer analysis. The table below summarizes the current Sandy Bridge E lineup:
| Processor | Core Clock | Cores / Threads | L3 Cache | Max Turbo | Max Overclock Multiplier | TDP | Price |
| Intel Core i7 3960X | 3.3GHz | 6 / 12 | 15MB | 3.9GHz | 57x | 130W | $999 |
| Intel Core i7 3930K | 3.2GHz | 6 / 12 | 12MB | 3.8GHz | 57x | 130W | $583 |
| Intel Core i7 3820 | 3.6GHz | 4 / 8 | 10MB | 3.9GHz | 45x | 130W | $294 |
The short summary is that i7-3820 is Sandy Bridge E on a budget. In terms of CPU performance and price, it's equivalent to the i7-2600(K) but provides higher I/O performance due to the quad-channel memory and 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes. Anand summed it up nicely in his review, so we'll just repost here.
There are three reasons why you'd want the Core i7-3820:
- You need PCIe 3.0 today and/or you need more PCIe lanes than a Core i7-2600K can provide.
- You need tons of memory bandwidth for a particular application.
- You want a 2600K but you need a platform that can support more memory (32GB+).
So in general, most users will be better off with a LGA 1155 based platform. While the i7-3820 is actually cheaper than the i7-2600K, the total price of the platform is not. LGA 1155 based motherboards go for as little as ~$50 (e.g. Gigabyte GA-H61M-DS2). If you want more features such as Intel Rapid Storage Technology, you can get a Z68 based motherboard for around $90 (e.g. ASRock Z68M/USB3). In contrast, the cheapest LGA 2011 based motherboard starts at $210. Unless you benefit from the extra features that Sandy Bridge E offers, your money is better spent else (e.g. on an SSD).
Source: Intel
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Hector2 - Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - link
Since the TDP hasn't changed, it's pretty clear that Intel is recovering 6-core i7-39xx units that have 1 or 2 defective cores and selling as 4-core. AMD has done this with their many Core units as well.Kevin G - Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - link
Actually all the six core socket 2011 chips are binned 8 core chips. I suspect yields are good enough that Intel wouldn't need to cripple additional cores on their larger chips. Various reports are indicating that this is a new die 294 mm^2 in size.Kristian Vättö - Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - link
That's true, this is a new die. Anand covered this in our review (see the table)http://www.anandtech.com/show/5276/intel-core-i7-3...
MySchizoBuddy - Thursday, February 16, 2012 - link
are their any immediate plans for the chipset to include PCIe 3 as well.crimson117 - Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - link
Regarding the CPU image and others like it, sharpie does offer thinner permanent markers which would be easier to write with:http://www.sharpie.com/enUS/Pages/ultra-fine-point...
Just sayin' ;)
Kristian Vättö - Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - link
Haha, you need to bug Anand about this, it's his picture and sample ;-)Taft12 - Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - link
Yes, but do you know Anand's handwriting well enough to out him as the perpetrator of this bad penmanship :DEtern205 - Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - link
If you imagine to look at it from bird's eye view. It's like someone doing the Chinese ribbon dance. :DJarredWalton - Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - link
If I'm not mistaken, Intel is the one that writes on the chips -- but then again, it might be Anand.Etern205 - Tuesday, February 14, 2012 - link
Seen that type of hand writing before on this site, so I doubt it's Intel, but if it was. I wonder how much that person gets paid just to write model numbers on ES CPUs to be sent out for reviews.