Intel Core I7 7700hq 2.8 Ghz

Intel Core i7-5960x

MSRP $999.00

"The Core i7-5960X is the most powerful consumer processor always. Information technology'southward so quick, in fact, that it's overkill fifty-fifty for most enthusiasts."

Pros

• Astonishing multi-core performance
• X99 platform offers splendid connectivity
• Surprisingly efficient

Cons

• Very expensive
• Not uniform with previous LGA2011 sockets
• Doesn't piece of work with DDR3 RAM

Time flies, doesn't it? While it still feels relatively fresh, Intel's Haswell architecture is now more than year one-time. Its replacement, which is code-named Broadwell, is being prepared for release this holiday flavour. Soon, Haswell volition be old news, replaced by fifty-fifty more efficient hardware that will likely outperform its predecessor by every metric. This relentless march forrard has get Intel's signature style, and delivers a regular burst of excitement to the stagnant PC market.

Before Haswell goes away, however, Intel has decided to permit it accept one last hurrah in the form of Haswell-Eastward. This new line of processors offers 6 to 8 cores, and is launching alongside the X99 platform, which is the first ever to back up DDR4 RAM. The star of the show is the Core i7-5960X processor, an 8-cadre behemoth clocked at iii GHz.

Such extreme hardware is sure to make enthusiasts salivate but, equally usual, Intel's quickest Extreme Edition comes with an equally extreme price of $999.

How much performance tin a k buy you?

Same old architecture

From a technical perspective, the Core i7-5960X is the to the lowest degree exciting component of this launch. Though it manages to provide eight cores, which is a first for any Intel processor (previous Extreme Editions maxed out at half dozen), it does so without any fancy footwork. Intel has merely added more Haswell cores, and slapped on more than enshroud (20MB, split between all cores) to match.

Of class, fitting this many cores onto a flake requires more space, and the 5960X is physically larger as a upshot. This ways it works only in LGA2011 sockets. In fact, it will work merely in the new LGA2011-v3 socket. Owners of older LGA2011 motherboards are out of luck.

That will disappoint some enthusiasts. The technical reasons for this are understandable; the new X99 platform offers several advancements that are incompatible with earlier engineering science, which nosotros'll soon accost. However, it's disappointing that owners of older vi-core Extreme Edition chips have been locked out of an upgrade path.

In addition to eight cores, the 5960X of course offers two of Intel'due south two signature features; Hyper-Threading, and Turbo Heave. Hyper-Threading, which processes ii logical threads on a single concrete core, lets the 5960X handle a whopping xvi threads at in one case. Turbo Boost, meanwhile, can automatically overclock the processor to a default maximum of 3.5 GHz (500 MHz above the base clock) when thermal conditions permit, and the workload demands it. All of the CPU cores are unlocked too, so enthusiasts tin can manually overclock the 5960X to even higher speeds.

One affair this processor doesn't include is integrated graphics. This is not odd for a high-cease Intel chip, but it's worth mentioning because it can surprise people who are new to enthusiast hardware. Every Haswell-East desktop needs a defended graphics carte.

Exciting new platform

While the processor itself offers few surprises, the new X99 platform is a unlike story. As Intel'south latest flagship platform, it offers a buffet of features, some of which are firsts. While releasing a radically revised platform may seem odd with Broadwell right around the corner, Intel has indicated that it will launch with mobile chips, then follow upwards with desktop parts. X99 will probable be Intel'southward latest-and-greatest until the spring of 2015.

Anyone editing video at 4K will do good immensely from the ability put forrard past Intel's newest CPU.

The big story is support for DDR4 RAM. Everyone needs retentivity, of grade; the quicker is amend. This is a large win for anyone running large, complex programs. For this niche, the fact that X99 supports DDR4 with speeds upwards to 2133 MHz across iv channels may prove to be important. It makes sense that Intel would release DDR4 kickoff on an expensive platform meant for expensive processors, as buyers interested in such chips are those most likely to be interested in quicker RAM.

DDR4 isn't entirely a boon, however, as in that location are several problems. Like all new technologies, information technology comes with a hefty early on adopter tax. 4 sticks of DDR4 memory totaling 16GB (that's four per stick) will set you dorsum well over $200.

That's about three times more equivalent DDR3 memory. X99 also supports speeds only up to 2133 MHz, which is lower than the standard'due south maximum. Owners of this platform won't be able to use the quickest DDR4 RAM available.

Another point of contention is the LGA2011-v3 socket. This socket provides no backwards compatibility at all. Haswell-East processors volition not piece of work in older motherboards, and X99 motherboards with LGA2011-v3 won't have older processors. This is an intimidating barrier to entry.

While the features mentioned so far have pros and cons, there are some indisputable wins. One is the inclusion of back up for up to 40 third-generation PCI Express lanes. This lets the X99 platform run ii video cards at total 16x speed, and a third at 8x speeds. Upwardly to five PCIe cards can be installed in total, all at 8x speed, but this is possible just with specific motherboards that enable it with third-political party hardware. Most motherboards volition max out at four detached cards, which is still quite impressive.

Note that simply the 5960X and 5930K offer this regardless of the motherboard they're paired with. The entry-level 5820K only has 28 PCI Express 3.0 lanes, and can devote a full 16 lanes to just a single video card.

The Intel Core i7-5960X pushes the haemorrhage edge of desktop functioning forward.

In that location's also a wealth of room for connectivity, including up to six USB three.0 ports, up to eight USB 2.0 ports, up to 10 SATA 3.0 ports, and back up for multiple Gigabit Ethernet connections forth with integrated Wi-Fi. A total of eight PCI Express ii.0 slots can exist provided, and Intel's Rapid Storage Engineering science is available, though back up for this feature is entirely optional (meaning some motherboards will not support information technology). The same can be said of Thunderbolt 2, which is available, but not mandatory.

No one can fence that X99 isn't sufficiently advanced. The real question is whether it's too advanced for its own good. Using DDR4 alone, rather than including backwards compatibility with DDR3, makes the overall cost of a Haswell-East desktop extremely high. You tin look to spend at least $500 on the motherboard and RAM solitary, and some combinations of the 2 could exceed $1,000. Pricing will come up down over time, of grade, but X99's early on adopter revenue enhancement is peculiarly harsh.

Benchmarks

At present that nosotros've gone over the details with a fine-toothed rummage, let'southward motility on to the main effect; the benchmarks. Equally complex as they are, processors are really quite uncomplicated to guess; it's (almost) all virtually performance. We tested the Intel Core i7-5960X using an ASUS X99-Deluxe motherboard.

Let's offset with SiSoft Sandra's Processor Arithmetic benchmark. This exam makes good use of multiple cores, but doesn't excessively prefer them. This makes information technology a nice, counterbalanced judge of overall speed. Nosotros're also including the Core i7-4960X, the Core i7-4970K, the Core i7-4770K (at its default clock), and the Core i5-4590 for comparing'due south sake.

These scores make a potent example for the 5960X, which blows abroad the six-core 4960X by achieving a score that'southward over threescore points higher. In addition, the 5960X almost doubles the i7-4770K, more than doubles the i7-4970K, and nearly triples the i5-4590. The Intel Core i7-5960X offers incredible functioning.

7-Zilch told the same story, delivering a score of 39,431. That hands beats the 4960X's score of 32,992, and trounces the 4970K's and 4770K's corresponding scores of 24,249 and 22,042. The i5-4590 is left far behind, obtaining a upshot of just xv,841.

Geekbench produced a single-cadre score of 3,308, and a multi-core marking of 23,216. The latter easily whips the 4770K'southward multi-core result of xiii,527, just the single core figure is actually behind the 4770K's grade of 3,587. The newer 4790K "Devil's Canyon" fleck too did well, managing a single-core score of 4,079, and a multi-cadre number of fifteen,058. This means applications that aren't optimized for multiple threads won't do good from the 5960X.

We as well fired up Cinebench R15, a synthetic test that emulates a demanding image rendering workload. In this benchmark, the Core i7-5960X scored 1,329. This over again annihilates the 4770K, which scored 749, and the 4970K, which got 702. Intel's quad-cadre CPUs can't promise to friction match a processor with double the number of cores.

Quick and efficient

We hooked up the 5960X and the X99 motherboard up to our wattmeter. We noted idle power describe of 74.vi watts, and load depict of 156.9 watts. An Nvidia GT 650 video card was also installed. These figures are much higher than a typical Intel quad core CPU, but are still solid given the platform'due south impressive performance. Falcon Northwest's Talon, which we reviewed before this twelvemonth, was equipped with an overclocked Cadre i7-4770K, and consumed only ten watts less.

Conclusion

The Intel Core i7-5960X pushes the bleeding edge of desktop performance forrard. In our tests, nosotros found it to be upwards to 43 percentage quicker than the 6-cadre 4960X, Intel'southward previous Extreme Edition chip, and up to 77 pct faster than the 4770K quad-cadre.

Unsurprisingly, Intel'due south newest flake achieves its greatest victories in tests which are reliant on multi-threaded performance, like the seven-Zip compression benchmark. In Geekbench'due south single-core test, the 5960X'due south relatively low clock speed puts information technology behind some of Intel'due south onetime quad-cores. This is worth noting, only shouldn't be terribly important, as we tin't remember of a demanding application that'due south non coded for multiple threads.

While the 5960X is impressive, its incredible performance is gated behind a barrier of Benjamins, Jacksons and Washingtons. The total price of a 5960X, motherboard, and RAM will exceed $1,500 at a minimum, and may reach well in a higher place $2,000 for buyers who need an extravagant motherboard or 32GBs of memory. Such costs will be difficult for many enthusiasts to justify. Even gamers volition detect this processor to be overkill.

The 5960X and its platform, X99, are exciting, just they're not meant for play. This is serious hardware that only makes sense for people and organizations that need truly extreme performance. Anyone editing video at 4K volition do good immensely from the power put forward by Intel's newest CPU, and can translate to hours saved over the course of a work day. The Intel Cadre i7-5960X is so powerful that it's just evidently overkill for everyone else, even hardcore enthusiasts.

High

• Astonishing multi-core operation
• X99 platform offers splendid connectivity
• Surprisingly efficient

Lows

• Very expensive
• Non compatible with previous LGA2011 sockets
• Doesn't work with DDR3 RAM

Editors' Recommendations

• You probably tin't hitting max clock speeds on AMD's Ryzen nine 7950X
• Intel accidentally leaks Raptor Lake specs, with i major surprise
• Intel Raptor Lake sets a sizzling new record for clock speeds
• Leak confirms Intel Raptor Lake may bring huge core increase
• Intel Raptor Lake boosts performance, merely the requirements are staggering

Intel Core I7 7700hq 2.8 Ghz,

Source: https://www.digitaltrends.com/gadget-reviews/intel-core-i7-5960x-review/

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