Intel Core i7 3820 Review: $285 Quad-Core Sandy Bridge E

Intel Core i7 3820

If you are a normal desktop user or even a power user with plans to run at over 4GHz, the vanilla LGA-1155 Sandy Bridge platform is good enough. You get some of the fastest CPUs on the market today paired with reasonably priced motherboards and the ability to use Quick Sync to transcode video...er...quickly. If that's not enough, Intel launched a higher end platform last month: the LGA-2011 Sandy Bridge E.

Take a regular Sandy Bridge, add PCIe 3.0 support, increase the number of PCIe lanes that branch off of the CPU (from 16 to 40 lanes), double the number of memory channels (4 x 64-bit DDR3 memory controllers) and you've got Sandy Bridge E and its LGA-2011/X79 platform. SNB-E is currently available in two forms: a $999 6-core Extreme Edition part (Core i7 3960X) and a $555 6-core unlocked version (Core i7 3930K). Neither is exactly cheap but if you need the PCIe lanes, core count and memory bandwidth, they are your only ticket.

LGA-2011 SNB-E (left) vs. LGA-1155 SNB (right)

Sandy Bridge E is a fairly niche platform to begin with, but what about the niche within the niche (extremeception?) of users who just need the LGA-2011 platform but not necessarily a 6-core behemoth? For those users, there's the Core i7 3820:

LGA-2011 SNB-E (left) vs. LGA-1155 SNB (right)

The Core i7 3820 is the first (and only) quad-core Sandy Bridge E CPU. It's so new that the chip isn't even available for sale nor will it be until early 2012. Unlike the relationship between the 3960X and 3930K, the 3820 is an entirely new die.

The chip features four Sandy Bridge cores and is paired with a 10MB L3 cache, giving it a slight advantage over the highest end LGA-1155 Sandy Bridge CPUs on the market today. The result is a die that's bigger than a regular SNB but significantly smaller than a 6-core SNB-E:

There's a small improvement in base clock frequency over the fastest SNB (3.6GHz vs. 3.5GHz) but max turbo remains unchanged at 3.9GHz. For single threaded applications the 3820 should be just as fast as a Core i7 2700K or a 3960X. The same is true for if all heavily threaded workloads, at least when compared to other quad-core parts (the 3960/3930 still maintain an advantage because of their two additional cores).

There's no on-die GPU, no heatsink/fan in the box and this isn't a fully unlocked part so the 3820 is actually cheaper than most of the high-end Sandy Bridge CPUs: it's priced at $285. If it weren't for the fact that you'll still need to spend over $200 on a motherboard I would say that the 3820 is a steal.

Overclocking

Let's start with the basics. All Sandy Bridge CPUs are clock locked by default, they can't operate at frequencies other than what they're sold at. There are two exceptions to this rule. All Sandy Bridge CPUs that support Turbo Boost are partially unlocked. Not only can they turbo up to frequencies that are higher than their default clock, but they can also be overclocked to frequencies even higher than their turbo speeds. By default, all Turbo enabled Sandy Bridge CPUs can be set to run at up to four bins (4 * bclk or 400MHz by default) higher than their standard turbo frequencies:

The second exception is any of the K or X-series SKUs. If your Sandy Bridge model number ends in a K or X, then the chip is fully unlocked and can be overclocked up to 5.7GHz using only clock multiplier adjustments.

The Core i7 3960X and 3930K fall into the latter category, which makes overclocking them a breeze. The 3820 on the other hand is partially unlocked, which means that we can run it at up to 4.3GHz using multiplier adjustments alone. Note that the 4.3GHz limit only applies to the 1-core active state, in the worst case scenario of all cores active with no room to turbo the highest operating frequency of the chip when overclocked would be 4.0GHz.

The max 3820 overclock without touching bclk settings

While these aren't bad targets, they're not all that exciting either. Thankfully Sandy Bridge E makes it even easier to overclock through the use of a few higher bclk frequencies. By default Sandy Bridge uses a 100MHz bclk, but SNB-E allows for 125MHz, 166MHz and 250MHz options as well. The 166/250MHz settings are a bit too aggressive, but the 125MHz bclk setting proved to be the perfect companion for the 3820.

Intel's DX79SI makes it extremely easy to overclock, especially with the latest BIOS update. There are built in overclocking profiles for each bclk setting that you can choose from. I simply selected the 1.25x (125MHz) profile option and then went through the list of target frequencies until I found one that seemed promising. I also went in and tweaked some of the settings myself to get a bit more clock speed (4.63GHz is the fastest profile this board allows by default) and improve stability. In the end I was fairly pleased with what the 3820 could do: 4.75GHz with Intel's RTS2011LC closed loop cooling system.

Now we're talking

I couldn't get the 3820 as stable as I would like at 4.88GHz and 5GHz was unfortunately out of the reach of my sample. I can't really complain about 4.75GHz from a $285 chip though, especially without resorting to anything too exotic from a cooling standpoint. Overclocking is also extremely effortless thanks to the new bclk options on SNB-E. Although the Core i7 3820 isn't an unlocked part, that doesn't limit how far (or how easily) it can be overclocked. A big part of the ease of overclocking is due to how good of a job Intel did on the DX79SI BIOS options, but from what we've seen the third party boards also do a decent job of simplifying the process.

The Test

To keep the review length manageable we're presenting a subset of our results here. For all benchmark results and even more comparisons be sure to use our performance comparison tool: Bench.

Motherboard:	ASUS P8Z68-V Pro (Intel Z68) ASUS Crosshair V Formula (AMD 990FX) Intel DX79SI (Intel X79)
Hard Disk:	Intel X25-M SSD (80GB) Crucial RealSSD C300
Memory:	4 x 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws X DDR3-1600 9-9-9-20
Video Card:	ATI Radeon HD 5870 (Windows 7)
Video Drivers:	AMD Catalyst 11.10 Beta (Windows 7)
Desktop Resolution:	1920 x 1200
OS:	Windows 7 x64

Intel to launch 22nm Ivy Bridge processors on April 8

Intel is reportedly preparing to launch the upcoming 22nm Ivy Bridge series of processors on or around April 8. The company is expected to release a total of 25 Ivy Bridge chips during this time frame, according to PC makers in Taiwan as reported by DigiTimes.

17 of the CPUs set for launch are desktop models while the remaining eight will be designated for notebook and ultrabook use. Desktop parts include quad-core Core i7-3770K, 3770, 3770S, 3770T, and Core i5-3570, 3550 and 3450 models with prices ranging from $184 to $332. The Core i5-3470T should be available in May for $184. Desktop chipsets on the agenda include Z77 ($48), H77 ($43), Z75 ($40) and B75 ($37), with Q77 ($44) and Q75 ($40) coming on May 13, the sources said.
Notebook processors Core i7-3920Qm, 3820QM and 3720QM will be ready in April for $1,096, $568 and $378, respectively. Other models including Core i5-3520M, 3360M, 3320M and ultrabook-specific Core i7-3667U and Core i5-3427U will be unveiled at a later date. Accompanying notebook chipsets HM77 ($48), UM77 ($48), HM76 ($43) and HM75 ($40) are coming in April. QS77 ($53) and QM77 ($48) are expected in May.

Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors were originally rumored for a March 2012 release, according to a tip from motherboard manufacturers but it seems that Intel (or board makers) weren’t able to meet that deadline. The chips are expected to offer a 20 percent overall performance boost over comparable Sandy Bridge CPUs on the processing side. A reworked internal GPU will produce 30 to 60 percent better overall graphics performance with DirectX 11 and OpenCL 1.1 support.

source:www.techspot.com

Intel X79 DX79SI Motherboard Review

Before we get into this new motherboard from Intel, let’s first have a look at the new chipset that it uses. This chipset offers support for Intel’s new 2011 socket processors and it offers a whole host of new or improved features over Intel’s previous chipsets.

This new chipset does not feature Intel’s popular Smart Response Technology. This is unfortunate but many vendors will likely introduce their own version of this technology onto their boards. It does however feature native support for SATA 3.0. This chipset also lacks native USB 3.0 support though. This is something that you would think would have been resolved by now. This isn’t a huge deal because most of the 3^rd party USB 3.0 controllers are fairly good.

This has been a greatly anticipated upgrade from Intel’s previous flagship chipset, the X58 that supported their 1366 socket processors. One of the most impressive features of this new chipset is something that is immediately noticeable when you take one of these boards out of the box for the first time. I’m talking about support for quad channel memory up to a whopping 64 gigs, with speeds up to 2400 MHz with overclocking. This new feature alters the way these boards are set up because you will now have four ram slots on either side of the CPU socket. There is a foreseeable problem with this. With the way these boards are laid out now some CPU heat sinks are going to have clearance issues. This will be particularly true if you plan to use tall ram sticks in conjunction with a large CPU heat sink.

Another impressive feature of this chipset is that it uses a single Platform Controller Hub that provides all of the processor to interface communications. This isn’t really new; it just means that Intel is continuing to use a single chip to run communications between the processor and the various interfaces. Intel has led the way in this regard. AMD still uses a north bridge and a south bridge to relay information between the processor and the motherboard interfaces. This single solution has the potential of reducing overall power consumption and heat generation. Intel’s new chipset supports up to 40 PCI express 2.0 lanes for video card expansion as well as 8 additional lanes for PCI express 3.0. This will provide a tremendous amount of expansion and bandwidth for video cards and other peripherals that use these expansion slots.

Intel Core i7-3960X (Sandy Bridge-E) And X79 Platform Preview

It's always interesting to get hands-on time with unreleased hardware. We were recently able to benchmark Intel's upcoming Core i7-3960X CPU, comparing it to Core i7-990X, Core i7-2600K, and AMD's Phenom II X6. Will you be in line for Sandy Bridge-E?

There was a lot to like about Intel’s Sandy Bridge launch earlier this year. Single-threaded performance increased significantly at any given frequency. Quick Sync demonstrated commanding dominance over GPU-based transcoding from AMD and Nvidia. And, although I wasn’t over-enthused about paying extra for a K-series SKU, a mature 32 nm process easily facilitated clock rates approaching 5 GHz on air cooling.

Combined, all of those attributes took the spotlight off of Intel’s old (but still flagship) LGA 1366 interface. Even the subsequent Core i7-990X refresh, which threw six cores and a higher clock rate into the ring, wasn’t able to outperform the Core i7-2600K in enough test scenarios to warrant its $1000 price tag. The very fastest (and most expensive) Sandy Bridge-based chip could satisfy 95% of enthusiasts at less than half of the cost.

The Gulftown design’s real redeeming quality was its core count advantage, which shone most brightly in well-threaded workstation apps. But really, that was pretty much it. We even went to great lengths to show the X58’s 36 lanes of PCI Express 2.0 weren’t a real advantage over Sandy Bridge’s 16 lanes in multi-GPU configurations through an exhaustive three-part series.

At the end of the day, we had to scratch our heads and wonder how many folks would be willing to spend almost $700 more on Core i7-990X when Core i7-2600K was already so fast, and priced at $315.

But what if it was possible to cram what originally made Gulftown sexy into the Sandy Bridge mold? That’s exactly the premise behind Sandy Bridge-E, set to become the next enthusiast-oriented platform, replacing Gulftown and its LGA 1366 infrastructure.

More important than what Sandy Bridge-E is going to do on the desktop is what it’ll become in the server space. Truly, this is a design destined to drive Intel’s Xeon E5 family, comprised of 1P-, 2P-, and 4P-capable parts.

A Naming Convention, Revised

For the time being, Sandy Bridge-E is expected to reach enthusiasts in three different trims: the Core i7-3960X, the Core i7-3930K, and the Core i7-3820.

Second-Gen Core i7 Processor Family
Processor	Base Clock	Max. Turbo Clock	Cores / Threads	L3 Cache	Memory	Interface	TDP
Core i7-3960X *Unlocked	3.3 GHz	3.9 GHz	6/12	15 MB	4-channel DDR3-1600	LGA 2011	130 W
Core i7-3930K *Unlocked	3.2 GHz	3.8 GHz	6/12	12 MB	4-channel DDR3-1600	LGA 2011	130 W
Core i7-3820 *Partially Unlocked	3.6 GHz	3.9 GHz	4/8	10 MB	4-channel DDR3-1600	LGA 2011	130 W
Core i7-2600K *Unlocked	3.4 GHz	3.8 GHz	4/8	8 MB	2-channel DDR3-1333	LGA 1155	95 W
Core i7-2600	3.4 GHz	3.8 GHz	4/8	8 MB	2-channel DDR3-1333	LGA 1155	95 W
Core i7-2600S	2.8 GHz	3.8 GHz	4/8	8 MB	2-channel DDR3-1333	LGA 1155	95 W

Mathematicians Calculate 10 Trillion Digits of Pi With Xeons

Mmm...3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201

For the first time mathematicians were able to calculate the Pi constant with 10 trillion decimal digits.

Ten trillion would represent a 1 with 13 zeros. If you were to print that number on paper, you would need about 2.87 billion sheets, based on a standard configuration of about 3500 digits per sheet. Such a stack of paper would reach a height of 21.4 miles.

According to an unofficial announcement the calculation of the 10 trillion digits, it took 371 days and an additional 45 hours to verify on a system equipped with two Intel Xeon X5680 processors, 96 GB of memory and 24 2 TB hard drives. Only the first 5 trillion are offered for download as decimals via five separate downloads totaling 1.91 TB at this time.

The record of 10 trillion records doubles the previous record of 5 trillion digits, which was posted in August of this year.

http://www.tomshardware.com/

Overclock Lanparty DK P45 T2RS Q8200 2.33GHz

Awalnya hanya coba-coba overclok dengan komputer sendiri dengan spect:

DFI Lanparty DK P45 T2RS
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz
OCZ Reaper PC 6400 1GB x 2
ATI HD4870 512MB
Seagate 500GB dan 80GB
Thermaltake Toughpower XT 650 Watt
Thermaltake Big Typ 120 VX

Tetapi hasli akhir overclocknya processor jalan di 3.01GHZ :









Saat ini saya masih berharap bisa mencari setingan yang pass untuk komputer ini bisa berjalan lebih dari 3.01GHz.