In the ever increasing surge toward more processing power (when can a CAD workstation or avid gamer ever get enough power?) Intel have brought out a new generation of CPU’s in an improvement of the sandybridge range, called Sandybridge-e. There are currently two chips that are reasonably affordable and one which is ridiculously priced at over R10000 !
The two new chips are the :
- Quad-core I7-3820 at today’s price of R2838 + VAT (less than the I7-2600K), and the
- Hex Core I7-3930K at today’s price of R5633 + VAT
Obviously they are “bigger” and “better” than the original Sandybridge range, but what does it mean to you?
Simply put, the main real practical advantages are:
- More raw CPU power – the I7-3820 is actually cheaper and more powerful than the I7-2600K.
- The sandybridge-e chip design together with the appropriate motherboard allows a more efficient access to the RAM = one less bottleneck = faster throughput.
- The supporting motherboards are able to pack 8 slots for memory. This means that it is now realistically possible to have 8x 4GB RAM modules giving a practical (and affordable) amount of RAM of 32Gb.
- If your application needs as many cores as possible, the Hex core I7-3930K becomes very interesting indeed. If you can only use 4 cores or less, then your pocket would be better off with the I7-3820
For Photoshop artists, photographers and 2D AutoCAD users, these CPUs are overkill unless you are creating huge drawings. But for those doing lots of 3D-rendering, animations, video editing and 3D Design using Revit, AutoCAD, Inventor, Solidworks or some such high-end activity, this is the platform to go for.
If you are an avid high-end gamer these chips are absolute Nirvana!
