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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designerfx - Thursday, September 4, 2014 - link
Gaming was the first area I wanted to look at, so seeing all the comments and review messages saying this is a skip for gaming is great, actually. It means prices will probably drop soon for the gaming parts, hopefully.SirMaster - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link
Well there is a LOT more to computing than gaming so this is exciting for a lot of us.Daniel Egger - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link
Not at all, if you're into computing then you'll more than likely buy Xeon anyway.gilles3000 - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link
Not really, xeons can't be overclocked, even the new 6C 5820K will give you a lot more bang for your buck. Xeons are great for Professional or Enterprise solutions(And are very expensive because of that). But if you need 6-8C and no ECC ram, I'd take a Haswell-E I7 over a Haswell-EP Xeon anyday.Samus - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link
ECC RAM is pretty nice though, even on a prosumer PC.TelstarTOS - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link
I agree, most xeons are too expensive for all but the most multithreaded jobs.jbruner007 - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link
actually we overclock Xeon's all the time... see Supermicro Hyperspeed. we OC all the E5-2600v2 we use - 2650v2, 2670v2 and 2690v2.willis936 - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link
One could put together a HEDT system with OC headroom, tons of RAM, and a fancy GPU for the price of an entry level xeon processor, let alone full on server. Xeons aren't for people, they're for companies. HEDT are for prosumers and I think I'm right in saying a lot of people reading anandtech fall into that category.Spirall - Friday, August 29, 2014 - link
Exactly. This is the platform for professional computing home stuff.actionjksn - Saturday, August 30, 2014 - link
Unless you require ECC memory and-or the ability to install two processors on one motherboard, the Xeon processors are a waste of money. You can also do a modest overclock on the i7 Extreme edition and get some really good performance compared to an 8 core Xeon that costs probably twice as much and can not be overclocked.And if you're getting ECC memory that you don't really need, it costs a lot more too. The money you save on the i7 Extreme over the Xeon can also be put towards extra big and or fast solid state storage. The people who do need ECC ram or dual processors tend to know it and they are not even looking at these i7's anyway. There are a lot of things that a lot of power users do that do not need or benefit from ECC ram. That's who these processors are marketed to.