Press release, November 15; Joseph Tsai

 

Intel has advanced its highest-end six-core processor family with the introduction of two new processors: the Intel Core i7-3960X processor Extreme Edition and the Intel Core i7-3930K processor. These are the first six-core client processors in the second-generation Sandy Bridge Intel Core processor family. With over two billion transistors, Intel's latest client processors offer the processing power equivalent of approximately 365,000 Intel 4004 processors.

Users and developers of the most advanced applications – especially in content creation, 3D rendering and gaming – will see benefits from the additional cores, large CPU caches and new quad-channel memory support. With more people posting rich media online and playing immersive games, software developers are welcoming the performance and features offered by these new processors.

The Intel Core i7-3960X and the Intel Core i7-3930K are fully unlocked so overclockers and enthusiasts who want to modify performance settings can do so with simple utilities. Based on Intel's 32nm manufacturing process, the new CPUs run at base speeds of 3.3GHz and 3.2GHz with 15MB and 12MB of L3 cache respectively. The Intel X79 Express chipset that supports this new LGA 2011 socket platform delivers the capabilities and performance for enthusiasts such as 6Gb/s Serial ATA ports and additional PCIe 2.0 lanes, leading to new levels of performance and expandability for high-end desktop platforms.

In addition to the new processors, Intel is launching a liquid-cooled CPU thermal solution. Co-developed with Asetek, this solution will provide robust system cooling while requiring zero maintenance. This solution has been optimized to work not only on the LGA2011 socket, but also the LGA1366 and 115x sockets.

The Intel Core i7-3960X and the Intel Core i7-3930K are available now at prices of US$990 and US$555 in thousand-unit tray quantities, respectively.