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

[notty22]

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


It actually gives a little twist to Intel's lineup. Overclock with flexible base clock adjustment with limited multi adjustment.

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:

 

[MrTransistorm]

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

Unlike the relationship between the 3960X and 3930K, the 3820 is an entirely new die.

That's interesting. I thought it would have been more efficient cost-wise to disable 4 cores on the existing die. Surely they have more plans for this intermediate-sized die than this. :hmm:

I don't expect it to be a big seller, especially not to overclockers. Maybe it makes sense as an entry-level CPU to the S2011 platform for workstation users who intend to upgrade later. IDK.

 

[gplnpsb]

That's interesting. I thought it would have been more efficient cost-wise to disable 4 cores on the existing die. Surely they have more plans for this intermediate-sized die than this. :hmm:

I don't expect it to be a big seller, especially not to overclockers. Maybe it makes sense as an entry-level CPU to the S2011 platform for workstation users who intend to upgrade later. IDK.

Perhaps they expect this to be a bigger success with OEM prebuilts? It gives the OEMs bigger numbers to advertise (ie 3.6 GHz, and 10 MB L3 cache) than 2600K or even the i7 3770K.

Another marker for this die might be lower end LGA2011 and LGA1356 server CPUs. They might make for cheap DP servers with ridiculous memory bandwidth. Intel probably doesn't want to be selling their 435 mm2 eight core die in either of those important $200-500 markets.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Seems like a good contender, but the high cost of x79 platform veers me off from even considering the purchase.

 

[Puppies04]

That's interesting. I thought it would have been more efficient cost-wise to disable 4 cores on the existing die.

*cough* *cough* We aren't talking about bulldozer here.

 

[MrTransistorm]

*cough* *cough* We aren't talking about bulldozer here.

What? 😕

I was talking about the die used by the 3930K and 3960X. It has eight cores, but two are disabled for the desktop CPUs. It would have made more sense to me to disable four cores to make it the 3820. Having a separate die for that CPU means that Intel sees some financial advantage for it. I'm curious as to what that advantage is.

 

[ViRGE]

Another marker for this die might be lower end LGA2011 and LGA1356 server CPUs. They might make for cheap DP servers with ridiculous memory bandwidth. Intel probably doesn't want to be selling their 435 mm2 eight core die in either of those important $200-500 markets.

Bingo. SNB-E is mostly about servers anyhow, but the 4 core version is especially about servers. There are plenty of customers who only need 4 cores, but really need the high I/O bandwidth SNB-E offers (10Gb NICs, anyone?) that the consumer oriented SNB can't match.

 

[ehume]

What? 😕

I was talking about the die used by the 3930K and 3960X. It has eight cores, but two are disabled for the desktop CPUs. It would have made more sense to me to disable four cores to make it the 3820. Having a separate die for that CPU means that Intel sees some financial advantage for it. I'm curious as to what that advantage is.

More chips/wafer? Lots more?