AMENDED 21:18 - 14/11/2011 Maybe I was in the dark but for me ( and you ) this is stunning news.......
Core i7-3960X
(3.3GHz,
3.9GHz Turbo, six cores, hyper-threading,
unlocked multiplier
15MB L3 cache)
Core i7-3930K
(3.2GHz,
3.8GHz Turbo, six cores, hyper-threading,
unlocked multiplier
12MB L3 cache)
Core i7 3820
(3.6GHz, 3.9GHz Turbo, four cores, hyper-threading, partially unlocked multiplier 10MB L3 cache)
The L3 cache was cropped on the 3930K...... but the speed (Mhz) was only cropped by 100Mhz.....why when all past "Extreme Edition Processors" had a marked clipping of speed
This to me is the fantastic news ....as it tells me the difference between the 3930K and the 3960X is most probably binning only and the extra 3Mb of L3 cache locked!.....and that.....
it's at it's limit..... not on the die shrink (present nm) but the material itself and the gate architecture........If you don't understand the last statement these are the ramifications....
If you look back at the last 2 or 3 versions of "Extreme Processors" ... there was a marked
L3 cachee and/or
Mhz difference with the lower chips.....and you payed for the privilege accordingly, .... now you can have the top processor with a 100Mhz penalty (and loose 3Mb of L3)........for much less then half the cost.......100Mhz is only 2.63% of a speed hit ..... now do you see the good news for what it is
This also leads to another gray area and that's the missing L3 cache.....has it been locked out by burning the gate off....or just locked out to be opened at a later date when some smart bunny works it out
I don't think we'll be so lucky next time round with 22nm tri-gate technology by the way of Ivy-bridge .....so enjoy it while you can
Aussie Allan
