The Intel Broadwell-E Review: Core i7-6950X, i7-6900K, i7-6850K and i7-6800K Tested
by Ian Cutress on May 31, 2016 2:01 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- Enterprise
- Prosumer
- X99
- 14nm
- Broadwell-E
- HEDT
GRID: Autosport
No graphics tests are complete without some input from Codemasters and the EGO engine, which means for this round of testing we point towards GRID: Autosport, the next iteration in the GRID and racing genre. As with our previous racing testing, each update to the engine aims to add in effects, reflections, detail and realism, with Codemasters making ‘authenticity’ a main focal point for this version.
GRID’s benchmark mode is very flexible, and as a result we created a test race using a shortened version of the Red Bull Ring with twelve cars doing two laps. The car is focus starts last and is quite fast, but usually finishes second or third. For low end graphics we test at 1080p medium settings, whereas mid and high end graphics get the full 1080p maximum. Both the average and minimum frame rates are recorded.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
The final title in our testing is another battle of system performance with the open world action-adventure title, Shadow of Mordor. Produced by Monolith using the LithTech Jupiter EX engine and numerous detail add-ons, SoM goes for detail and complexity to a large extent, despite having to be cut down from the original plans. The main story itself was written by the same writer as Red Dead Redemption, and it received Zero Punctuation’s Game of The Year in 2014.
For testing purposes, SoM gives a dynamic screen resolution setting, allowing us to render at high resolutions that are then scaled down to the monitor. As a result, we get several tests using the in-game benchmark. For low end graphics we examine at 720p with low settings, whereas mid and high end graphics get 1080p Ultra. The top graphics test is also redone at 3840x2160, also with Ultra settings, and we also test two cards at 4K where possible.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
205 Comments
View All Comments
someonesomewherelse - Thursday, September 1, 2016 - link
Or fix the cpu scheduler to properly schedule threads for the highest trough put/latency/power efficiency depending on what the thread/program is doing (compressing a lot of data for archival doesn't need low latency, games/multimedia/UIs/... need low latency) the state of the machine (if you are connected to the power grid and not over heating power efficiency is not as important if you are on battery power in the middle of nowhere or if it's summer and you have no ac), user preferences (I might still be cheap and want lower total power consumption even if it means slightly less performance for things that are running in the background, or I could be using electric heating so power efficiency doesn't matter since the heat isn't waste, or maybe I want that things being run by me run better then the things that my friend is running over the network (I mean I would rather have my ui and videos smooth than his).bji - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
One thing I never understand: what does "uncore" mean? It sounds like it's all the stuff that's not part of the cores. And yet, we have "Queue" and "I/O" listed separately. Why aren't those things "uncore"?keeepcool - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
Wikipedia knows what it is:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncore
:)
Also the Sparc is also somewhere burried in that mess.
bji - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
OK thanks for the pointer. So Uncore is Intel's way of referring to specific parts of the CPU that interface directly with the cores and have to be very high performance, mostly managing inter-core communication functions like cache coherency and memory access, and some high performance interconnect stuff like Thunderbolt. Not sure why they bother to have a specific name for these sections, instead of calling them out directly when they are interesting, but whatever.Morawka - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
Wow price increases across the board. Even the 8core got a $100 increase almost. Lame.6950x was supposed to be $999, and the 8 core $600, but i see Intel doesnt have any competition so everyone has to pay.
I'd wait for skylake E this fall/winter
Morawka - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
Newegg sells all xeons. Even the 20 core versions. No need to ask a system builder to order one for youmooninite - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
O RLY? Find me a E3-1260L v5 on Newegg.James S - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
I give you newegg doesn't sell every single CPU made but they do have the Xeon E3-1270 v5, they don't have the low power variants as you already know. One could simply snag one off Dell.com though.legolasyiu - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
You should be able to overclock much better using Strix X99 gaming or Rampage V Extreme / Edition 10. I was clocking 4.3Ghz without issues with 6800K and will push 4.4Ghz soonezcameron76 - Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - link
So I just bought the 6800k instead of the 5820k. After reading this I feel like I made the bad call and could have saved some money and get the Haswell E. Thoughts on this as I dont want to make a mistake and the new one has just shipped. I mainly play games but do some creation as well. I am redoing my pc and dont want to make a bad call if the 6800k can't overclock more then the haswell 5820k. Thoughts please everyone share.