The Intel Haswell-E CPU Review: Core i7-5960X, i7-5930K and i7-5820K Tested
by Ian Cutress on August 29, 2014 12:00 PM ESTLoad Delta Power Consumption
Power consumption was tested on the system while in a single MSI GTX 770 Lightning GPU configuration with a wall meter connected to the OCZ 1250W power supply. This power supply is Gold rated, and as I am in the UK on a 230-240 V supply, leads to ~75% efficiency under 50W and 90%+ efficiency at 250W, suitable for both idle and multi-GPU loading. This method of power reading allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency.
We take the power delta difference between idle and load as our tested value, giving an indication of the power increase from the CPU when placed under stress. Unfortuantely we were not in a position to test the power consumption for the two 6-core CPUs due to the timing of testing.
Because not all processors of the same designation leave the Intel fabs with the same stock voltages, there can be a mild variation and the TDP given on each CPU is understandably an absolute stock limit. Due to power supply efficiencies, we get higher results than TDP, but the more interesting results are the comparisons. The 5960X is coming across as more efficient than Sandy Bridge-E and Ivy Bridge-E, including the 130W Ivy Bridge-E Xeon.
Test Setup
| Test Setup | ||||
| Processor |
Intel Core i7-5820K Intel Core i7-5930K Intel Core i7-5960X |
6C/12T 6C/12T 8C/16T |
3.3 GHz / 3.6 GHz 3.5 GHz / 3.7 GHz 3.0 GHz / 3.5 GHz |
|
| Motherboard |
ASUS X99 Deluxe ASRock X99 Extreme4 |
|||
| Cooling |
Corsair H80i Cooler Master Nepton 140XL |
|||
| Power Supply |
OCZ 1250W Gold ZX Series Corsair AX1200i Platinum PSU |
1250W 1200W |
80 PLUS Gold 80 PLUS Platinum |
|
| Memory |
Corsair 4x8 GB G.Skill Ripjaws4 |
DDR4-2133 DDR4-2133 |
15-15-15 1.2V 15-15-15 1.2V |
|
| Memory Settings | JEDEC | |||
| Video Cards | MSI GTX 770 Lightning 2GB (1150/1202 Boost) | |||
| Video Drivers | NVIDIA Drivers 337.88 | |||
| Hard Drive | OCZ Vertex 3 | |||
| Optical Drive | LG GH22NS50 | |||
| Case | Open Test Bed | |||
| Operating System | Windows 7 64-bit SP1 | |||
| USB 2/3 Testing | OCZ Vertex 3 240GB with SATA->USB Adaptor | |||
Many thanks to...
We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our test bed:
Thank you to OCZ for providing us with PSUs and SSDs.
Thank you to G.Skill for providing us with memory.
Thank you to Corsair for providing us with an AX1200i PSU and a Corsair H80i CLC.
Thank you to MSI for providing us with the NVIDIA GTX 770 Lightning GPUs.
Thank you to Rosewill for providing us with PSUs and RK-9100 keyboards.
Thank you to ASRock for providing us with some IO testing kit.
Thank you to Cooler Master for providing us with Nepton 140XL CLCs and JAS minis.
A quick word to the manufacturers who sent us the extra testing kit for review, including G.Skill’s Ripjaws 4 DDR4-2133 CL15, Corsair for similar modules, and Cooler Master for the Nepton 140XL CLCs. We will be reviewing the DDR4 modules in due course, including Corsair's new extreme DDR4-3200 kit, but we have already tested the Nepton 140XL in a big 14-way CLC roundup. Read about it here.
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mapesdhs - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link
I agree; I'd been hoping for a midrange 8-core of some kind, but Intel's once
again shoved up the peformance/price scale purely because it can. Shame.
And IMO the PCIe provision chop with the 5820K is in the wrong direction;
by that I mean the 5820K should have 40, the 5930K have 60 and the 5960X
given 80, something like that. Supporting 4-way native x16 with enough left
over for good storage at the top-end of the CPU range would make its price
much more tolerable, but now the price difference is really just the +2 cores,
at a time when the mid-range chip ought to be an 8-core anyway (remember
the 3930K was an 8-core but with 2 cores disabled, ie. Intel could have
released a consumer 8c a long time ago).
Ian.
PS. twtech, I've benched oc'd 3930Ks quite a lot. What do you use your system for?
garadante - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link
Sheesh... Looking at these performance reviews, I'm questioning whether or not I'll even go for an -E series when I invest in a full upgrade from my 2500k in 2-3 years. In many scenarios the 4790k is at the top or near the top of the rankings due to the higher clock speeds stock/overclocked, yet the platform is much cheaper. Perhaps the 4790k equivalent 2-3 generations from now will be 6-cores, or the IPC will start going up if Intel focuses on it (I hope, but unlikely...). Otherwise these systems are just too expensive for little gain except in CPU bound workloads.l_d_allan - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link
same, with 2600kStevoLincolnite - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link
Same, I'll stick with my Core i7 3930K which happily hits 5ghz.Years ago I never would have thought a CPU released 3 years prior to the latest and greatest would still be able to compete/beat the top chips in most scenarios.
Hopefully Haswell-E's successor gives me the upgrade itch and maybe DDR4 drops in price by then, by then my platform would be 4+ years old.
Intel sure does make it hard to justify plonking down a few grand though. :(
Mithan - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link
I am waiting for skylake next year.Samus - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link
i7-920 at 3.5GHz/X58 here (first DDR3 chipset)I was going to hold out for the first DDR4 chipset to replace this thing, but...maybe I'll wait for DDR5. Even 5 years later, my first-gen i7 is faster than like 90% of the desktop CPU's out there TODAY. Intel really outdid themselves with Nehalem.
xrror - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link
Anyone still on 1366, I'd recommend searching around on ebay for xeon X5650 's that are getting dumped for less than $100. If your motherboard is alright with a 191BCK guess what - 4.2Ghz Gulftown with full 6(12) cores. Yeay =)DPOverLord - Sunday, August 31, 2014 - link
I upgraded from a i7 930 to a xeon 5650. Its at 4.6ghz with sli titans in surround (4800 x 2560). Based on this x99 seems to be a worthwhile upgrade albeit an expensive one. Anyone else in my boat?getho - Tuesday, September 2, 2014 - link
So is it worth upgrading an i7 @3.2 GHz to the x5650? My bottleneck is single thread performance (light room likes fast chips).xaml - Saturday, September 27, 2014 - link
I might give this a try once I stuff that Studio XPS 435 MT motherboard sporting an i7 940 into a Prodigy M. I actually had a look at compatible new processors, but they were too expensive. I am not sure if I am going to trust a used offer though.