Intel Core i7-3820

When you?re building your own computer, the first thing to decide is: How much of an enthusiast do you want to be? If you have the desire and the money, you can go for an all-out bleeding-edge system; if not, there are usually more reasonable options. Well, the Intel Core i7-3820 CPU is certainly reasonable by the standards of the company?s Sandy Bridge?Extreme line: Priced at $294 list, it?s noticeably less expensive than either the top-tier Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition ($999 list) or the nipping-at-its-heels Core i7-3930K ($583 list). With the Core i7-3820 you?ll still get a fine chip for your money, but you?ll have to sacrifice the eye-popping performance and features of the pricier chips to get it. If you?re okay with that, you?ll be okay with this CPU.

The Core i7-3820?s differences are apparent just from its specs. In several ways it is much the same as its bigger brothers: It?s based on the same 32nm production process, it has the same 130-watt TDP, and it will require you to also have an X79 Express motherboard (with the LGA2011 socket), a discrete video card (there?s no integrated graphics system on the chip), and a separate CPU cooler (Intel doesn?t bundle one with any CPU in this line). But there the similarities end. The Core i7-3820 has only four processing cores rather than six and thus can handle only eight threads rather than 12. (Though, of course, you?ll most readily notice that deficit if you work regularly with highly threaded applications.) The Core i7-3820 has less cache, too (10MB, versus 12MB for the Core i7-3930K and 15MB for the Core i7-3960X), but it compensates with a clock speed of 3.6GHz that puts it at the front of the Sandy Bridge?Extreme line by that particular metric (the Core i7-3930K?s is 3.2GHz, the Core i7-3960X?s is 3.3GHz). The Core i7-3820?s clocks can rise up to 3.9GHz when Turbo Boost is active; that?s the same rate as the Core i7-3960X (and higher than the Core i7-3930K?s 3.8GHz).

Another variation from the other designs is what hurts the Core i7-3820?s street cred more. Whereas the other two chips have fully unlocked Turbo mode multipliers, this chip?s is only partially unlocked, which means it can be increased by a maximum of four speed bins over the stock clock rate?thus topping out at 4.3GHz. Because Sandy Bridge?Extreme chips provide additional flexibility in terms of adjusting the base clock (with 125MHz, 166MHz, and 250MHz straps), you can push the chip?s overall clock speed further than that. But still, if overclocking is your thing, expect that roadblock to be a bit frustrating.

All this is not to say, however, that you don?t get good performance with the Core i7-3820?you do. For example, when installed in a test system loaded with an Asus P9X79 Deluxe motherboard, it completed our Adobe Photoshop CS5 test in 2 minutes 55 seconds, just 2 seconds behind the Core i7-3930K and 7 seconds behind the Core i7-3960X. But you get (expectedly) bigger gaps elsewhere: In CineBench R11.5, the Core i7-3820 scored 7.07 with multiple cores activated, compared with 10.17 for the Core i7-3930K and 10.48 for the Core i7-3960X. On the Futuremark 3DMark 11 physics test, the Core i7-3820 dropped just below our threshold for smooth pliability, with a score of 8,679 and 27.6 frames per second (or fps) compared with 10,958 and 34.78fps for the Core i7-3930K and 11,509 and 36.54fps for the Core i7-3960X.

There are a couple of additional characteristics worth mentioning about the Core i7-3820?s performance. First, it easily beats out not only other high-end chips from AMD like the FX-8150 and the Phenom II X6 1100T, but in many cases the most powerful model from Intel?s previous generations, the Core i7-990X?a nice accomplishment that shows how quickly ?fast? filters downward. The Core i7-3820?s gains are considerably less significant against the regular Sandy Bridge?based Core i7-2600K, and its follow-up the Core i7-2700K, both of which are only slightly more expensive. But compared with the Core i7-3830K, you won?t see much of a difference in single-threaded applications: Both chips scored the same (1.53) in the CineBench R11.5 single-core test, showing where you can save money if you don?t heavily depend on highly threaded programs.

A nice dip also occurs in power usage: As measured with an Extech Datalogger, the Core i7-3820 pulled 121 watts while idle and 197.3 watts under full load, whereas the Core i7-3930K had a draw of 122.5 watts at idle and 233.7 watts at full load. This may not make a huge difference, but depending on your usage pattern could add up over the life of the chip.

We still think that if you?re going to go all out on a Sandy Bridge?Extreme CPU, the best choice is the Editors? Choice Intel Core i7-3930K: It may cost nearly $600, but it?s a terrific performer that only slightly lags behind the Core i7-3960X. But if you can?t afford that, and if you don?t already have a Core i7-2600K? or Core i7-2700K?based system that will for all intents and purposes be just as good, the Intel Core i7-3820 is still a compelling compromise. You?ll just need to be sure you can live without the bells and whistles the more expensive chips offer.

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