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Intel i7 3960x worth it?

N

NannerBeans

n00b
Joined
Jul 10, 2014
Messages
13
So the other day, I realized that the 3960x is super cheap now. There's one on Amazon for $265 and some on ebay for not much more than that. Do you think it's worth it over a newer cpu?
 
I would say it it still a viable processor for that price. Keep in mind that it is a dead end platform as far as chipsets go. Those boards tend to be expensive as well (Used and New)
 
There was a 3930k on the For Sale forum recently, its probably still for sale. The downside is finding a motherboard for a decent price. Yes, if you do the research these CPU's still blow most things out of the water, especially now that things are becoming more threaded.
 
If you don't need QuickSync or the new Haswell/Skylake features, Sandy Bridge-E is still a very powerful CPU especially the 6-core ones.
 
I have the upgrade itch but would it be worth upgrading from a 3930k?
 
GothamsReckoning said:
It depends how much you can buy it for. I've seen them go very low (C1 stepping) and C2 steppings appear to be coming down in price as well. I would hold off and wait for them to go even lower and you may even get a 4930K/4960X for a good price (those appear to be slowly coming down in price too).
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Yeah I think the only thing holding me back is the X79 board prices. I have one but it has a few issues so I would need a new one.
 
GothamsReckoning said:
Which motherboard is that? Also if you are looking for a great 8-core CPU (even SB-EP) the Xeon E5 2670 or E5 2680 can be found for cheaper than the price of a 3960X. They are locked however and you can do only limited BCLK overclocking but in the benchmarks I shown in another post it's quite competitive with a 5960X which is superb considering that the E5 2670 is about $60-80 on average (depending on stepping and condition). The 2680 would be about double the price for ~100mHz more.
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I've got a spare Asus Rampage X79 Gene board.
 
Various Xeon engineering samples on the 2011v3 platform (e.g., the 12C E5-2658) will leave this chip behind in multicore workloads for the same price. I don't consider it a moral burden to buy one, though some may differ.
 
Xeon might be a worthwhile upgrade if you don't overclock. Just confirm your board supports them.
 
Drannin said:
I have the upgrade itch but would it be worth upgrading from a 3930k?
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Absolutely NOT worth it. I run a 3930K and there is not one single thing on the market that can even pin this processor down - I am not talking about some specially engineered benchmark - but normal software i.e. games productivity etc...
 
GothamsReckoning said:
Yes the E5-16 V2 series but they are generally quite expensive and have typical 130W TDP versus 115W of a E5-2670 (or even E5-2680 V2). Take a look at the price for the E5-1680 V2 and you will see it is just as expensive as a 5960X if not more and it's based on IVB-E.
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The 6 core xeons are just 90% more expensive for the oc ability

And the 1680 is an unique cpu there is no equivalent on IVB-E compared to a 5960x lacks of AVX2 and others architecture changes but still how many people would prefer an low clock-speed 8 core to a 6core cpu which can oc?
 
Right now you can get an e5-1650 v1 xeon for 145$ on ebay 6 core 12 thread that can OC,
 
Drannin said:
Hrm 4960x then? or is that still not worth it. Kinda tempted but it doesn't seem like anything is much of an upgrade.
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Still not worth am upgrade from a 3930K. I've run both and my 3930K overclocks much better.
 
i7-4960X from a performance standpoint isn't much different than an i7-3930K. You might notice lower power consumption since Ivy Bridge is more efficient and on a smaller process.
 
GothamsReckoning said:
Yea or you could get 2 E5-2670 for that price. The 3960X is coming down in price so it's hard to justify a E5-1650 V1 when you can get a 3960X for about the same if not slightly more. I'd like to see the E5 1660 V1 come down in price more (it's the 3960X equivalent in a Xeon). I don't think it's guaranteed that the E5 1650 or E5 1660 are also multiplier unlocked.
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From everything I've ever read anywhere (from folks that have actually purchased 16XX series, myself included) every 16XX series Xeon is multiplier unlocked.

And it is ridiculous, but at 4.5GHz and an offset voltage of +100 (1.44V, and nothing I could do would get it 100% stable at 4.6) my 1650V2 stays under 65C with just a big air cooler. It's nuts! They are obviously much higher quality wafer cuts, and I'm a convert just biding my time for the 1660V3 (or the V4) to come down in price to snag one.
 
I had a guy locally offer to buy my 3930k and it would basically be a wash picking up one of the eBay 3960x. Might as well do it right?
 
Drannin said:
I had a guy locally offer to buy my 3930k and it would basically be a wash picking up one of the eBay 3960x. Might as well do it right?
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They both are Sandybridge and both have unlocked multipliers and both are LGA2011, right? If that is true, why bother?
 
GothamsReckoning said:
Yea or you could get 2 E5-2670 for that price. The 3960X is coming down in price so it's hard to justify a E5-1650 V1 when you can get a 3960X for about the same if not slightly more. I'd like to see the E5 1660 V1 come down in price more (it's the 3960X equivalent in a Xeon). I don't think it's guaranteed that the E5 1650 or E5 1660 are also multiplier unlocked.
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I never heard of a 1650 and higher not be unlocked as long it is in a desk top motherboard and not in a brand name server.
e5-1650, or an i7-3930 or 3960 are pretty close to being the same. 6cores 12 thread and the multiplier is unlocked.
Myself, I would by the less expensive option.

I have two dual CPU 2670 systems and a Sabertooth with the e5-2670. Very nice bang for the buck

I also have a dual AMD Operon sys. with two 12 core 6172 CPUs . I paid 75$ for the board and 2 CPUs and heatsinks shipped to my door. Now that's bang for the buck!!!
 
GothamsReckoning said:
The equivalent to the 1680 V2 is the 2680 V2 which is a 115W TDP part compared to the 130W TDP that the 1680 V2 is. The real question is how many would prefer to spend 10x the price for a 6 core that can be overclocked or get a E5 2670 for about $60-80 US and spend the rest on a motherboard and more memory. If you look above at the benchmarks of a 2670 V1 versus a 5960X you will see that it is quite close in 90% of the scenarios and for a $60-80US processor versus a $1500 (Canadian + tax + markups) 5960X processor.

I do regret missing out on a great deal for a 1680 V2 at about $200-300 dollars though. If I had seen it sooner I would have gotten it because it normally is selling for about 10x the price.
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I am not suggesting a 8core cpu i am talking about an unlocked 6 core that would be a far better choice than a 1P E5 8C with low clock speed

Now a 2p E5 8C is a different choice but then that a different category
 
GothamsReckoning said:
I know Lutjens (I hope I spelled it correctly) said that his E5-1680 V2 and one or two more E5-1680 V2 owners said theirs was multiplier unlocked I wasn't sure about the E5 1650/E5 1660 V1 or V2 versions. The E5-1650 is pretty much the equivalent to the 3930K and the E5-1660 V1 is the 3960X equivalent. I am waiting for prices on those to come down (cheapest E5 1660 is $255) since the low Canadian dollar it doesn't make sense for us Canadians to buy them at that price when we can get E5 2670's for less than a hundred dollars including shipping. I'd rather wait for a great deal on a E5 2670/2680 V2 or even a E5-1660/1680 V2 but I am not sure when that will happen.

Good to know that the Sabertooth X79 also supports it. Which bios version is it running there? I've been looking at that board but feel a bit put off by the lack of dual bios compared to the Rampage IV Extreme.
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The e5-1650 is a e5-1650 v1 There is really no need to add the v1. It goes e5-1650 e5-1650v2 e5-1650 v3 Sandybridge, Ivybridge, Haswell
I am running the newest BIOS , but the couple before it seems to work just as good.
You can buy a BIOS chip with the new BIOS on ebay for 13$ so don't let not having 2 BIOS stop you.
 
I ordered a bios chip the same day I won the bid on the Sabertooth,. I did not have a CPU to flash with if it was an original BIOS
Same socket for the BIOS as my Rampage III , I just used a pocket knife to pull the chip. Gently pried it up going from side to side.
This guy is in CA. USA I got it in 3 days. So if anyone needs a BIOS for any board. I also bought a P6T deluxe v2 BIOS fron them, it worked fine.
BIOS CHIP:ASUS Sabertooth X79
 
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GothamsReckoning said:
I know Lutjens (I hope I spelled it correctly) said that his E5-1680 V2 and one or two more E5-1680 V2 owners said theirs was multiplier unlocked I wasn't sure about the E5 1650/E5 1660 V1 or V2 versions. The E5-1650 is pretty much the equivalent to the 3930K and the E5-1660 V1 is the 3960X equivalent. I am waiting for prices on those to come down (cheapest E5 1660 is $255) since the low Canadian dollar it doesn't make sense for us Canadians to buy them at that price when we can get E5 2670's for less than a hundred dollars including shipping. I'd rather wait for a great deal on a E5 2670/2680 V2 or even a E5-1660/1680 V2 but I am not sure when that will happen.

Good to know that the Sabertooth X79 also supports it. Which bios version is it running there? I've been looking at that board but feel a bit put off by the lack of dual bios compared to the Rampage IV Extreme.
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The E5-1680 V2 is definitely fully unlocked (and is the only unlocked 8-core for X79), as are the E5-1650 and E5-1660 (Sandy Bridge chips). I've personally built a system on the E5-1650 (with a Intel DX79SR) for a friemd and repurposed my old E5-1660 for my uncle's system (also DX79SR based). Both are definitely fully unlocked.
 
GothamsReckoning said:
I wonder if it is motherboard limited. Previously with LGA1366 some of the W35/36XX (equivalent to single socket Xeons) series had unlocked multipliers with certain motherboards. Speaking of the E5-1680 how much did you get yours for and where did you get it? I am seeing prices in the thousand dollar + range for the E5-1680 V2 and the E5-1660 V2 is just as expensive (especially for us Canadians who have a weak dollar). Once the E5 V2 Xeon's drop in price is the E5-1660/1680 V2 really worth it considering that the V2 E5-26XX Xeons are 10 cores and more cores will always trounce clock speed in applications that can take advantage of it (in most situations anyway).
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The X58 W series Xeons were all unlocked, but some motherboards apparently didn't recognize this ability. I got my E5-1680 V2 from Acmemicro.com...was about $2.2k CAD. I bought mine pretty much as soon as they became available in the channel, though. Don't consider the E5-1660 V2 though...the E5-1650 V2 is almost as good. The E5-1680 V2s are much better, not only due to the fact that they are 8-core, but because they are based off the Ivy Bridge-EP MCC die, which is premium quality.
 
GothamsReckoning said:
Thanks Lutjens do you remember if the X series Xeons were also unlocked? From what I remembered it was only the W series and the X series required BCLK overclocking. I will look at the E5-1680 V2 when it comes down in price (there was one that sold for $245 that I missed) or the E5-1650/1660 V2. The difficult part is finding a good LGA2011 motherboard in Canada to pair it up with as they are discontinued/eol products since 2013/2014.
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Only the W series were unlocked from the X58 chips and only the 35xx or 36xx chips (the W5580 and W5590 dual capable Nehalem chips were locked). The X chips were all dual capable and multiplier locked. BCLK was unlocked (as on all X58 chips), but for most of the X chips, their multiplier was high enough that the full ability of the chip was nearly all usable.

Where are you located in Canada?
 
I am pretty sure only the w3680 and w3690 are the LGA 1366 CPUs that are multiplier unlocked. The w3670 is not multiplier unlocked. They are all BCLK unlocked.
There are L56xx and E56xx and X56xx series hexcore CPUs that are LGA 1366, they are all BCLK unlocked as well
 
Bill1024 said:
I am pretty sure only the w3680 and w3690 are the LGA 1366 CPUs that are multiplier unlocked. The w3670 is not multiplier unlocked. They are all BCLK unlocked.
There are L56xx and E56xx and X56xx series hexcore CPUs that are LGA 1366, they are all BCLK unlocked as well
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Does an unlocked processor mean you can set any multiplier, or any multiplier lower than the max turbo boost?

As an example, on my x5660, I can set anything from 0-x23 (but nothing higher). On the W chips, could you choose the x27 if you wanted to?
 
caltech31 said:
Does an unlocked processor mean you can set any multiplier, or any multiplier lower than the max turbo boost?

As an example, on my x5660, I can set anything from 0-x23 (but nothing higher). On the W chips, could you choose the x27 if you wanted to?
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When I say unlocked, that means you can set any multiplier up to the limit of the architecture, which is usually so high it's next to impossible to reach. As for your question, yes you could use x27 if you wanted to or even x40 if the processor would tolerate that speed.
 
lutjens said:
When I say unlocked, that means you can set any multiplier up to the limit of the architecture, which is usually so high it's next to impossible to reach. As for your question, yes you could use x27 if you wanted to or even x40 if the processor would tolerate that speed.
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Thanks for the insight.

I asked because I always was under the impression X5000 series Xeon chips were all unlocked, but I guess the information I was basing that on was incorrectly using the terminology.
 
caltech31 said:
Thanks for the insight.

I asked because I always was under the impression X5000 series Xeon chips were all unlocked, but I guess the information I was basing that on was incorrectly using the terminology.
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Yeah, all the X56xx chips were multiplier locked, but nobody really cared since the X58 offered such enormous BCLK headroom and the chips had a high enough multiplier that the fact that the multiplier was locked really didn't matter too much. The X56xx still overclocked amazingly well due to their superior binning. Having the multiplier unlocked was more a convenience thing for X58...;)
 
Don't for get the E and L series 1366 cpus. I have seen those hexcores for 49$ or less on ebay.
 
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The 1366 platform is what I call the last best overclocking platform (and it is close to the traditional fsb method) before all this bs Sandy Bridge K variant only that can overclock as a cash grab by Intel. Long gone are the days you can buy a cheap CPU and overclock it to get the bang for buck performance out of it compared to a more expensive model in the cpu lineup.
 
Matthew Kane said:
The 1366 platform is what I call the last best overclocking platform (and it is close to the traditional fsb method) before all this bs Sandy Bridge K variant only that can overclock as a cash grab by Intel. Long gone are the days you can buy a cheap CPU and overclock it to get the bang for buck performance out of it compared to a more expensive model in the cpu lineup.
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xeon e5 1xxx are cheap enough and OC quite well, also has more Cores than a mainstream SB/IB CPU and allow BCLK oc
 
Matthew Kane said:
The 1366 platform is what I call the last best overclocking platform (and it is close to the traditional fsb method) before all this bs Sandy Bridge K variant only that can overclock as a cash grab by Intel. Long gone are the days you can buy a cheap CPU and overclock it to get the bang for buck performance out of it compared to a more expensive model in the cpu lineup.
Click to expand...

The x79 platform is fine for overclocking even on clock locked chips such as the 3820. I had mine running since new at 4.8Ghz before I moved to the 4930k.

Now the bclk multiplier locked chips such as most of the XEONs is a bummer... but buying "cheap" consumer chips and overclocking works just fine.
 
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