Processors are the main independent components of PC and every other components either its Motherboard or GPU or RAM much depends on the processor as you have to take look at CPU support list before buying any other component for your PC. Enthusiasts are very choosey when it comes to selecting a CPU for their gaming PC and why not, if you want the best performance from PC. The Intel Sandy Bridge processors done a great business in the market and the performance is also top class of all the Sandy Bridge processors. The x79 based system is the ideal for a gaming PC these days in my opinion.
We has review three x79 based CPUs, i7 3960x, 3930k, 3970x which have been very famous because of their performance and especially consistent performance in real life , not only in benchmarks. The x79 based PC is best for gaming with multi 3 way or 4 way SLI/ Crossfire GPU setup as well. The x79 based PC is expensive but the performance is far more than the z68 based PC as the quad channel memory controller and 40 LAN PCIe controller is available. The Intel Core i7 3820 is another x79 based CPU from Intel. The core i7 3820 has 4 core / 8 threads with 10MB of cache memory and 40 LAN PCIe controller with quad channel memory controller as well. The i7 3820 is an locked processor but could be overclock by some trick but still its not easy as overclocking “k” Intel core processor which are ready for overclocking out of the box. The core i7 3820 is a LGA 2011 socket based but its smaller than the 3970x, 3960x and 3930k in size and the has only 1.72B transistor integrated on it which is a small amount than other LGA 2011 based CPUs.
Intel Core i7 3960x was the previous Extreme processor in Intel 2nd Generation of CPUs than 6970x comes couple of weeks ago but i7 3930k is still the most affordable Six-Core processor in the market till today with about 5% less performance than i7 3960x and 8% less than i7 3970x. The Core i7 3820 launch with Sandy Bridge-E tag but it is a quad core Hyper Threading Enabled CPU with 10MB of cache. PCIe generation 3 is also a latest feature of i7 3820 as well. When it comes to overclocking, not easy as you experienced with i7 3770k or other k CPUs, you have to set TDP and voltages and disable turbo manually and you will be able to overclock it about 4.29 Ghz.
Lets take a look at Benchmarks…..
The Core i7 3820 is a great CPU with low price than other LGA 2011 Processor. It has 4 cores with hyper threaing enabled and 10MB of cache with 40 LAN PCIe controller and quad channel Memory controller as well. The performance is Nice and better than LGA 1155 based quad core CPU e.g. i7 2600k, 2700, and i5 2500k as well. The overclocking is a bit difficult. The Intel Core i7 3820 is fastest quad core CPU available is market with Good GPU and RAM support but not the fastest LGA 2011 CPU. In my opinion if you are looking to build a x79 PC than go with i7 3930k instead of 3820.
- Reasonable Price.
- Good Performance.
- Overclock ability to ~4.3 Ghz.
- 10MB of cache, 40 LAN PCIe controller and quad channel controller are performing great.
- Limited Overclocking.
- I7 3820 is not ideal CPU for 3 or 4 way SLI/Cross Fire setup.
- Not the fastest LGA 2011 Processor and a little more performance than LGA 1155 based quad core CPUs.
