Core i7-3930K and Core i7-990X SLI and Triple SLI Performance Analysis
Category : 2012
Published by Marc Büchel on 19.12.11
With every new CPU generation it is interesting to see how performance scales with SLI and triple SLI configurations. One can for example see what influence the CPU has on gaming performance. Furhtermore overclockers as well as gamers can see how much of an improvement the new architecture is. 
Specifications
| i7-3930K | i7-990X | |
| Codename | Sandy Bridge E | Gulftown |
| Socket | LGA 2011 | LGA 1366 |
| Manufacturing | 32 nm | 32 nm |
| Transistors | 2.27 Billion | 1.17 Bio |
| Die-size | 435 mm2 | 248 mm2 |
| Clock | 3.20 GHz (Turbo 3.8 GHz) | 3.33 GHz |
| Cores / Threads | 6C / 12T | 6C / 12T |
| Turbo | Yes (2.0) | Yes (1.0) |
| Bus Speed | 100 MHz | 133 MHz |
| Memory | DDR3 | DDR3 |
| Memory controller | Quad Channel | Triple Channel |
| QPI | 6.4 GT/s | 6.4 GT/s |
| L1 Execution Cache | 32 KByte | 32 KByte |
| L1 Data Cache | 32 KByte | 32 KByte |
| L2 Cache | 256 KByte | 256 KByte |
| L3 Cache | 12 MB shared | 12 MB shared |
| TDP | 130 Watt | 130 Watt |
| C1E technology | Yes | Yes |
| Enhanced Intel Speed Step | Yes | Yes |
| Virtualisation | Vanderpool | Vanderpool |
| Instruction sets | MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 SSE4.2, AVX, AES EM64T |
MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 SSE4.2, EM64T |
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Test setup
| Motherboard | ASUS Rampage IV Formula |
| Processors | |
| Memory | Kingston HyperX H2O @ 1'600 MHz CL 9-9-9-24 |
| Grapics Cards | |
| Storage | Corsair Force 3 120 Gigabyte |
| Power Supply | Enermax Max Revo 1350 Watt |
Software
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3DMark 11 - 3DMark Vantage
| 3DMark 11 Total | 3DMark 11 - Graphics | 3DMark 11 - Physics | |
| Core i7-3930K | 6'614 | 6'153 | 10'890 |
| Core i7-990X | 6'479 | 6'137 | 8'999 |
| % difference | 2.08 % | 0.26 % | 21.01 % |
| Core i7-3930K SLI | 11'465 | 12'112 | 10'872 |
| Core i7-990X SLI | 11'034 | 12'210 | 9'007 |
| % difference | 3.91 % | - 0.80 % | 20.21 % |
| Core i7-3930K Triple SLI | 14'837 | 18'002 | 10'685 |
| Core i7-990X Triple SLI | 14'307 | 17'927 | 9'543 |
| % difference | 3.70 % | 0.42 % | 11.97 % |
| 3DMark Vantage Total | 3DMark Vantage - Graphics | 3DMark Vantage - Physics | |
| Core i7-3930K | 26'694 | 25'418 | 31'428 |
| Core i7-990X | 26'300 | 25'026 | 31'037 |
| % difference | 1.50 % | 1.57 % | 1.26 % |
| Core i7-3930K SLI | 36'981 | 39'045 | 31'919 |
| Core i7-990X SLI | 36'370 | 38'452 | 31'287 |
| % difference | 1.68 % | 1.54 % | 2.02 % |
| Core i7-3930K Triple SLI | 41'602 | 46'827 | 31'169 |
| Core i7-990X Triple SLI | 41'942 | 46'767 | 31'028 |
| % difference | - 0.81 % | 0.13 % | 0.45 % |
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Unigine Heaven - Furmark - Stone Giant
| Unigine Heaven - Points | Unigine Heaven - fps | |
| Core i7-3930K | 866 | 35.0 |
| Core i7-990X | 864 | 34.3 |
| % difference | 0.23 % | 2.04 % |
| Core i7-3930K SLI | 1'635 | 64.9 |
| Core i7-990X SLI | 1'672 | 66.4 |
| % difference | - 2.21 % | - 2.26 % |
| Core i7-3930K Triple SLI | 2'300 | 91.3 |
| Core i7-990X Triple SLI | 2'302 | 91.2 |
| % difference | - 0.09 % | 0.11 % |
| Furmark - Points | Furmark - fps | |
| Core i7-3930K | 1'051 | 17 |
| Core i7-990X | 1'052 | 17 |
| % difference | - 0.10 % | 0.00 % |
| Core i7-3930K SLI | 2'065 | 34 |
| Core i7-990X SLI | 2'083 | 34 |
| % difference | - 0.86 % | 0.00 % |
| Core i7-3930K Triple SLI | 2'951 | 49 |
| Core i7-990X Triple SLI | 2'993 | 49 |
| % difference | - 1.40 % | 0.00 % |
| Stone Giant - fps | |
| Core i7-3930K | 86 |
| Core i7-990X | 86 |
| % difference | 0.00 % |
| Core i7-3930K SLI | 142 |
| Core i7-990X SLI | 131 |
| % difference | 8.40 % |
| Core i7-3930K Triple SLI | 154 |
| Core i7-990X Triple SLI | 152 |
| % difference | 1.32 % |
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Crysis - Resident Evil 5
| Crysis - fps | |
| Core i7-3930K | 38.67 |
| Core i7-990X | 38.94 |
| % difference | - 0.69 % |
| Core i7-3930K SLI | 62.47 |
| Core i7-990X SLI | 63.48 |
| % difference | - 1.59 |
| Core i7-3930K Triple SLI | 63.10 |
| Core i7-990X Triple SLI | 63.50 |
| % difference | - 0.63 % |
| Resident Evil 5 - fps | |
| Core i7-3930K | 124.40 |
| Core i7-990X | 119.60 |
| % difference | 4.01 % |
| Core i7-3930K SLI | 144.60 |
| Core i7-990X SLI | 135.90 |
| % difference | 6.41 % |
| Core i7-3930K Triple SLI | 150.10 |
| Core i7-990X Triple SLI | 149.80 |
| % difference | 0.20 % |
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Call of Juarez - Far Cry 2
| Call of Juarez - fps | |
| Core i7-3930K | 53.10 |
| Core i7-990X | 53.20 |
| % difference | 0.19 % |
| Core i7-3930K SLI | 103.20 |
| Core i7-990X SLI | 103.30 |
| % difference | 0.10 % |
| Core i7-3930K Triple SLI | 150.80 |
| Core i7-990X Triple SLI | 149.10 |
| % difference | 1.14 % |
| Far Cry 2 - fps | |
| Core i7-3930K | 105.50 |
| Core i7-990X | 106.44 |
| % difference | - 0.88 % |
| Core i7-3930K SLI | 144.29 |
| Core i7-990X SLI | 143.14 |
| % difference | 0.80 % |
| Core i7-3930K Triple SLI | 149.00 |
| Core i7-990X Triple SLI | 149.80 |
| % difference | 99.47 % |
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Street Fighter 4 - World in Conflict
| Street Fighter 4 - fps | |
| Core i7-3930K | 222.05 |
| Core i7-990X | 219.96 |
| % difference | 0.95 % |
| Core i7-3930K SLI | 265.73 |
| Core i7-990X SLI | 277.24 |
| % difference | - 4.15 % |
| Core i7-3930K Triple SLI | 254.63 |
| Core i7-990X Triple SLI | 262.39 |
| % difference | - 2.96 % |
| World in Conflict - fps | |
| Core i7-3930K | 85.00 |
| Core i7-990X | 85.00 |
| % difference | 0.00 % |
| Core i7-3930K SLI | 103.00 |
| Core i7-990X SLI | 106.00 |
| % difference | - 2.83 % |
| Core i7-3930K Triple SLI | 102.00 |
| Core i7-990X Triple SLI | 104.00 |
| % difference | - 1.92 % |
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Conclusion
In general it is particularly noticeable that on average no difference between the Core i7-3930K and Core i7-990X can be found. Therefore it doesn't matter wether you take a closer look at a single-GPU an SLI or a triple SLI setup. The Core i7-3930K and the Core i7-990X are very close to eachother. A closer look at the results we gathered lets us assume that the measurement error had more influence on the deviations which means that all the results are within the standard deviation. There is only one exception, which is the 3DMark 11 physics test. There you can see differences ranging from ten to 20 percent. The reason for this is that the GPUs don't have an influece on the results of this test. When you look at these results with gaming performance scaling in mind they are not relevant because the GPU(s) do have no influence on these scores. Furthremore 2D performance scaling we've already discussed in our launch review regarding Intels Core i7-3930K and Core i7-3960X.What we're going to do is, we will add the corresponding benchmark results of Intels Core i7-3960X to these comparison table to see if the additional Megahertz as well as the bigger L3-Cache can make a difference. Until then we can say that that there is no difference from a gaming perspective between the Core i7-3930K and Core i7-990X.
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