Intel Core i7 3970X Extreme Edition (Sandy Bridge-E) CPU Review
PCMark 7
Version and / or Patch Used: 1.04
Developer Homepage: http://www.pcmark.com
Product Homepage: http://www.pcmark.com
PCMark 7 includes a range of tests that give different views of your system's performance. In the Advanced Edition you can choose which tests to run. The common use and hardware component tests are unavailable in the Basic Edition.
Overall system performance is measured by the PCMark test. This is the only test that returns an official PCMark score. The Lightweight test measures the system capabilities of entry-level systems and mobility platforms unable to run the PCMark test, but it does not generate a PCMark score. Common use performance is measured by the scenario tests - Entertainment, Creativity and Production - each of which results in a scenario score. Hardware component performance is measured by the hardware tests - Computation and Storage - each of which results in a hardware score.
As you'd expect performance out of the box for the 3970X is strong and comes out ahead of our other setups. Overclocking as you'd expect helps boost overall performance and you can see a decent jump in both the standard PCMark test and the Lightweight one.
HyperPi 0.99
Version and / or Patch Used: 0.99
Developer Homepage: http://www.virgilioborges.com.br
Product Homepage: http://www.virgilioborges.com.br
HyperPi is a front end for SuperPi that allows for multiple concurrent instances of SuperPi to be run on each core recognized by the system. It is very dependent on CPU to memory to HDD speed. The faster these components, the faster it is able to figure out the number Pi to the selected length.
For our testing we use the 32M run. This means that each of the four physical and four logical cores for the i7 and the four physical cores of the i5 is trying to calculate the number Pi out to 32 million decimal places. Each "run" is a comparative to ensure accuracy and any stability or performance issues in the loop mentioned above will cause errors in calculation.
Looking at our two Extreme Edition processors you can see just a second separates them and the 3770k actually manages to come in two seconds quicker again. Overclocked, though, we see a decent chunk of time taken off as we come down to the mid 11 minute mark.
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