Intel Core i7 3930K & Asus P9X79 WS LGA2011 WorkStation Review

1. Introduction2. Intel Core i7 3930K3. Asus P9X79 WS LGA2011 WorkStation4. Super High Res Gallery Images5. Bios and Overclocking6. Testing Methodology7. Synthetic: PCMark 78. Synthetic: 3DMark Vantage9. Synthetic: 3DMark 1110. Synthetic: Unigine Heaven Benchmark11. Synthetic: HQV Benchmark 2.012. Synthetic: SiSoft Sandra13. Synthetic: Cinebench R11.5 64 bit14. Synthetic: SSD Performance15. Real World: 3D Rendering16. Real World: Media Encoding17. Real World: BluRay Playback18. Real World: Flash HD Playback19. Real World: HandBrake 9.520. Gaming: F1 201121. Gaming: HomeFront22. Gaming: Alien V Predator23. Gaming: Resident Evil 524. Technical: Power Consumption25. Closing Thoughts26. View All Pages

The latest Intel Core i7 processors are class leading performers and we have already reviewed the i7-3820 and flagship i7-3960X Extreme Edition. Today we are looking at the 3930K which should offer much of the 3960X performance, at almost half the price. To power the system today we thought it was a good time to look at the Asus P9X79 WS Workstation motherboard. This follows in the footsteps of our previous Asus Rampage IV Extreme and P9X79 Deluxe motherboard reviews.

There is no doubt that the Intel Core i7 3960X Extreme Edition is the CPU to rule them all right now, but the asking price of £800+ in the United Kingdom is enough to make grown men cry and credit cards cower in fear. The Core i7 3930K is available for £445 inc vat, which is certainly more palatable. The big question is, can it get close to the 3960X after we trash it to within an inch of its life?

Asus really need no introduction, they genuinely make some of the finest motherboards known to man, and the Asus P9X79 WS will hopefully complete the trinity of high performance X79 boards that we have reviewed to date. Asus introduced the ‘workstation' line of motherboards with the X58 series, with three models in the lineup – the WS Supercomputer, WS Revolution and WS Professional. These boards could cope with Xeon chips, as well as the mainstream Core i7 range.

Today we aim to test the system in a highly overclocked state and then with two of the most recently released AMD graphics cards in Crossfire. How will this new system compare to our long standing overclocked Core i7 970 system?

The new processor range features a design with up to 6 execution cores. Each core supports two threads, which we all know as ‘Intel Hyper Threading Technology'. This logical thread basis doubles the physical count, so a 6 core processor will have 6+6 for a total of 12. Each core has a 32kb instruction and a 32kb data first level cache (L1) and a 256kb shared instruction/data mid level (L2) cache. The new processors have between 10mb and 15mb of last level (LLC cache), up to 2.5 MB per core.

The processors support four DDR3 channels with a single unbuffered DIMM per channel. Officially they support memory of 1066mhz, 1333mhz and 1600mhz, although as we will see later this is just the beginning.

The Direct Media Interface Generation 2 (DMI2) serves as the chip to chip interface to the PCH. The DM12 port supports a x4 link width and only operates in x4 mode when in DMI2. It operates at PCIe2 or PCIe1 speeds and is transparent to software. There is support for processor and peer to peer writes and reads with 64 bit address support.

Above, a CPUz overview of our engineering sample Core i7 3930K processor. The processor has 6 cores and 12 threads, with 12MB of ‘Level 3' cache. The new chip has support for 40 PCI Express lanes. By comparison the 3960X EE has an extra 3 MB of level 3 cache, totaling 15MB.

The latest range of processors are based on Intel's ‘tock' cycle, before the 22nm Ivy Bridge chips hit retail in the near future.

Product	Core i7 3960x	Core i7 3930K	Core i7 3820
Base Clock Frequency	3.3ghz	3.2ghz	3.6ghz
Turbo Mode Speed	up to 3.9ghz	up to 3.8ghz	up to 3.9ghz
Unlocked multiplier	yes	yes	partially
Cores/Threads	6/12	6/12	4/8
L3 cache	15 MB	12 MB	10 MB
Memory controller	4 channels	4 channels	4 channels

Above, specifications of the latest range of high end Core i7 processors. Kitguru has already reviewed the Core i7 3960X and Core i7 3820. Today we complete the roundup with the 3930K.

Above the naked Core i7 3930K, it looks basically identical to the 3960X. The 3930K is particularly appealing because it is totally unlocked and if past experiences are anything to go by, with the right motherboard this chip will almost mirror the same performance of the flagship product for a fraction of the price.

Is the P9X79 WS LGA2011 WorkStation ‘the right' motherboard? Let us take a closer look.

Asus box artwork is always attractive and this is no exception. A lovely selection of fonts and subtle background imagery.

The box is a gatefold design which folds out to reveal a detailed list of specifications and key selling points. Ideal for a store environment.

The bundle is extensive as we would expect from a flagship product.

They include:

• User's manual
• Driver and software disc
• I/O Shield
• 2 x SATA 3Gb/s cable(s)
• 4 x SATA 6Gb/s cable(s)
• 1 x 3-Way SLI bridge(s)
• 1 x 4-Way SLI bridge(s)
• 1 x SLI bridge(s)
• 1 x Q-connector(s) (2 in 1)

The board is an impressive design and is classed as a ‘CEB' form factor motherboard. It measures 30.48 cm x 26.67 cm (12 inch by 10.5 inch). This is an unusual size, because it is bigger than the standard ATX size (12 x 9.6 inches), but not quite as big as the E-ATX form factor (12 x 13 inches). We used the enormous Cooler Master Cosmos 2 for the review today, so we experienced no fitting problems.

ASUS are using a digital 8+2 phase power design for this board and a 2+2 phase power design for the memory. The layout of the board is exceptional and we love the industrial appearance of the heatsinks. There is also plenty of room around the CPU socket for oversized coolers, which is always good to see.

The P9X79 WS LGA2011 has 8 DIMM memory slots supporting up to 64GB of memory. The board can handle 1066/1333/1600/1866/2133 (O.C.)/2400 (O/C) non ECC unbuffered memory in a Quad channel configuration. There is full support for the Intel Extreme memory profile (XMP). We will test the memory support thoroughly today with flagship Corsair 2400mhz GTX8 sticks.

The main ATX power connector is close to the USB 3.0 header (at the left), an EPU on/off switch, and a fan header (one of six – which is generous). The molex header on the far right in the image above can deliver more power to the PCI-E slots for added stability. We didn't need to use this at all during our review, but the option is welcomed for 3 or more video cards. We like the inclusion of the MemOK! button which can help rescue a non posting system.

The bottom area of the board is fully loaded. There is another PWM fan header here which is useful.  There are easy to access power and reset buttons, two standard USB headers, a four pin USB connector and a front panel connector. They include a handy diagnostic readout above this row to troubleshoot any issues. The USB port is a useful addition for professional level software which can sometimes require a dongle for security reasons.

No concerns regarding graphics card support with the P9X79 WS board. Each blue slot will provide 16x bandwidth, which is ideal for maximum performance with Crossfire and SLI configurations. You may notice the positioning, which earns the PCB design bonus points. Asus have left a lot of space between the blue slots meaning that dual slot graphics cards have plenty of room for enhanced air flow and cooling efficiency.

If you are using a three way graphics card configuration then adding in the first black slot will give x16/x16/x8 bandwidth. Using four cards in both blue and black slots drop the bandwidth to x8/x8/x8/x8. The white slots are x4 each and are ideal for PCI based SSD drives or sound cards. If you pay careful attention you can see a plastic block which resides between the bottom white slot and the lower blue slot. This glows blue for ‘normal' mode, green for ‘power saving' mode and red if the ‘AI Tweaker' mode is enabled. It isn't ideally positioned however as with two cards in the system it is all but hidden from view.

Unlike other X79 boards we have reviewed, the P9X79 WS is passively cooled, for silent operation. Next to this heatsink are the SATA ports. The white/grey ports are SATA 3 (6Gbps) controlled by the Intel chipset. The four light blue in the middle are SATA 2 (3Gbps) and the two darker blue are Marvell controlled ports, rated SATA 3 (6Gbps).

The back I/O plate has connectors for:

• 1 x PS/2 keyboard (purple)
• 1 x PS/2 mouse (green)
• 1 x IEEE 1394a
• 2 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)
• 2 x USB 3.0
• 8 x USB 2.0 (one port can be switched to USB BIOS Flashback)
• 1 x Optical S/PDIF out
• 6 x Audio jack(s)
• 1 x USB BIOS Flashback Button(s)

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later.

The ASUS UEFI bios structure is by far my favourite and after using the Rampage IV for months I know my way around them without even thinking. This bios is very similar … not a bad thing!

We experienced a pain free first boot which was immediately reassuring.

The AI Tweaker panel is very easy to set up, but we will look at this more shortly. The board will post at 1333mhz first time to ensure a safe boot, you are best configuring the memory manually or via the XMP profile.

The advanced panel gives easy access to a variety of component configuration settings. Very easy to navigate.

The monitor panel displays all the fan speeds and temperatures of the processor and motherboard. Q-fan settings can be adjusted here to suit.

The boot menu offers very important settings for selecting the boot priority and halt status.

The tool menu has settings for flashing the bios and for saving and loading previously configured parameters.

System validation at default settings was straightforward enough, with no errors flagged. This was before we even installed graphics card drivers.

Our first course of action was to load the X.M.P. profile of the Corsair GTX8 2,400mhz memory. Achieving stability at 4.8ghz was straightforward enough and almost identical to our previous experiences with the 3960X on the Rampage IV Extreme (1.46v). We later found out that ‘load line calibration' could be lowered a little from ‘extreme' in the image shown above. I really can't compliment the ASUS bios configurations enough, they are without a doubt the best in their field.

System validation at 4.8ghz was painless. Slightly higher may have been possible but we really don't like passing 1.47 volts without hardcore cooling. The Corsair H100 however really handled these voltage settings without a problem – peaking around 77c under load.

Overclocking with this board took literally 15 minutes, and most of that was time was for fine adjustments to lower the voltage settings as far as possible once stability was found. It shares very similar settings with the Asus Rampage IV Extreme which is as big a compliment as I could give it.

To test today we are using our overclocked speed of 4.8ghz. We will compare against a variety of systems and processors we have tested in the past, listed below.

Main Test System:

Processor: Intel Core i7 3930K @ 4.8ghz
Motherboard: Asus P9X79 WS WorkStation
Cooler: Corsair H100
Memory: 8GB Corsair Dominator GT8 2400mhz memory
Graphics Card: AMD HD7770 CrossfireX
Power Supply: ADATA 1200W
Optical Drive: Asus BluRay Drive
Chassis: Cooler Master Cosmos 2
Monitors: Dell U3011, 3x Ilyama ProLite E2472HDD
Boot Drive: Crucial C300 128GB SSD
Secondary Drive: Patriot 240GB Pyro SE

Comparison Systems:

Intel i7 3960X EE
Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Extreme
Cooler: Antec H20 920
Memory: 8GB Corsair Dominator GT 2400mhz memory
Power Supply: Enermax Platimax 1200W
Optical Drive: Asus BluRay Drive
Chassis: Lian Li PC-A77FR Aluminium Red Full Tower Case
Monitors: Dell U3011, 3x Ilyama ProLite E2472HDD
Boot Drive: Patriot WildFire 120GB
Secondary Drive: 1TB Samsung

Intel i7 3820
Motherboard: ASRock Extreme4-M
Cooler: Intel reference cooler
Memory: 8GB Corsair GTX8 @ 2133mhz
Power Supply: ADATA 1200W
Chassis: Lian Li PC60
Monitors: Dell U3011/La Cie 730
Boot Drive: Crucial C300
Secondary Drive: Patriot Pyro SE 240GB

AMD FX 8150 Black Edition
Processor: AMD FX 8150 Black Edition
Motherboard: Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7
Cooler: Noctua NH D14
Memory: G-SKill Ripjaws 1600mhz 8GB (2x 4GB)
Power Supply: ADATA 1200W
Chassis: SilverStone Raven 3
Boot Drive: Intel 40GB SSD
Secondary Drive: Patriot 120GB WildFire

Intel Core i7 990X
Processor: Intel Core i7 990x
Cooler: Corsair H100
Motherboard: Gigabyte G1 Assassin
Memory: Kingston HyperX 6GB
Drives: Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB
Power Supply: Corsair AX1200
Chassis: Antec Twelve Hundred

Intel Core i7 2700k
Processor: Intel Core i7 2700k
Cooling: ThermalTake Frio OCK
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 Z68 Motherboard
Chassis: Silverstone Raven 3.
Power Supply: Corsair 850W.
Memory: Corsair 1600mhz memory
Storage: Intel 80GB SSD (boot) / Patriot Wildfire 120GB SSD.

Intel Core i7 2600k
Processor: Intel Core i7 2600k
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z68 Professional Gen 3
Cooler: Intel XTS-100H
Memory: ADATA 1600mhz DDR3 8GB (2x4GB)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower 850W
Boot Drive: Intel 510 SSD 250GB

Intel Core i5 2500k
Processor: Intel Core i7 2500k
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 Z68 Motherboard
Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme Rev.2 CPU Cooler
Memory: Corsair 1600mhz memory 8GB (2x4GB)
Power Supply: Corsair 850W.
Boot Drive: Patriot Pyro 120GB SSD.

AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
Motherboard: Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7
Cooler: Noctua NH D14
Memory: G-SKill Ripjaws 1600mhz 8GB (2x 4GB)
Power Supply: ADATA 1200W
Chassis: SilverStone Raven 3
Boot Drive: Intel 40GB SSD
Secondary Drive: Patriot 120GB WildFire

The game results will be compared against our primary Kitguru graphics card workbench, which features a Core i7 970 overclocked to 4.6ghz. Specifications are below. We overclock the 3930K on the P9X79 motherboard to the same speeds for these tests (4.6ghz).

We test the games at real world settings, instead of 800×600 or 1024×768, because we want to see the benefits moving to this newer system will give you in the ‘real world' at realistic, enthusiast based high resolution settings.

We know that variables will often be larger at very low resolutions, but it means very little to a gamer buying one of these systems. No one plays games at 800×600 anymore.

Main Game System for comparison:
Processor: Core i7 970 @ 4.6ghz
Cooling: Coolit Vantage
Motherboard: MSI X58A-GD65
Chassis: Thermaltake Level 10 GT
Power Supply: Corsair AX1200
Memory: 6GB ADATA @ 2133mhz 9-10-9-32
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V+ 512GB Gen 2 SSD (Storage) / Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB (OS boot)

PCMark 7 includes 7 PC tests for Windows 7, combining more than 25 individual workloads covering storage, computation, image and video manipulation, web browsing and gaming. Specifically designed to cover the full range of PC hardware from netbooks and tablets to notebooks and desktops, PCMark 7 offers complete PC performance testing for Windows 7 for home and business use.

Strong results from the system, scoring 5,776 points.

Futuremark released 3DMark Vantage, on April 28, 2008. It is a benchmark based upon DirectX 10, and therefore will only run under Windows Vista (Service Pack 1 is stated as a requirement) and Windows 7. This is the first edition where the feature-restricted, free of charge version could not be used any number of times. 1280×1024 resolution was used with performance settings.

The 3930K and P9X79 WS based system allow the HD7770 graphics cards to score around 900 points more than our primary overclocked system comprising a Core i7 970.

3DMark 11 is designed for testing DirectX 11 hardware running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista the benchmark includes six all new benchmark tests that make extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading.

After running the tests 3DMark gives your system a score with larger numbers indicating better performance. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.

If you want to learn more about this benchmark, or to buy it yourself, head over to this page.

The 3930K/P9X79 WS system scores around 200 points more than the older Core i7 970 system, which is actually pretty substantial for a Direct X 11 game engine benchmark.

Unigine provides an interesting way to test hardware. It can be easily adapted to various projects due to its elaborated software design and flexible toolset. A lot of their customers claim that they have never seen such extremely-effective code, which is so easy to understand.

Heaven Benchmark is a DirectX 11 GPU benchmark based on advanced Unigine engine from Unigine Corp. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. Interactive mode provides emerging experience of exploring the intricate world of steampunk.

Efficient and well-architected framework makes Unigine highly scalable:

• Multiple API (DirectX 9 / DirectX 10 / DirectX 11 / OpenGL) render
• Cross-platform: MS Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7) / Linux
• Full support of 32bit and 64bit systems
• Multicore CPU support
• Little / big endian support (ready for game consoles)
• Powerful C++ API
• Comprehensive performance profiling system
• Flexible XML-based data structures

We use the following settings: 1920×1080 resolution. Anti Aliasing off. Anisotrophy 4, Tessellation normal. Shaders High. Stereo 3D disabled. API: Direct X 11.

Around half a frame rate difference between the two systems.

HQV Benchmark 2.0 is an updated version of the original tool and it consists of various video clips and test patterns which are designed to evalute motion correction, de-interlacing, decoding, noise reduction, detail enhancement and film cadence detection.

There are two versions of the program, standard definition on DVD and high definition on Bluray. As our audience will be concentrating on HD content so will we.

This has a total of 39 video tests which is increased from 23 in the original and the scoring is also up from a total of 130 to 210. As hardware and software gets more complicated, the software has been tuned to make sure we can thoroughly maximise our analysis.

Read our initial analysis over here

	HD7770
Dial	4
Dial with static pattern	5
Gray Bars	5
Violin	5
Stadium 2:2	5
Stadium 3:2	5
Horizontal Text Scroll	5
Vertical Text Scroll	5
Transition to 3:2 Lock	5
Transition to 2:2 Lock	0
2:2:2:4 24 FPS DVCAM Video	5
2:3:3:2 24 FPS DVCam Video	5
3:2:3:2:2 24 FOS Vari-Speed	5
5:5 FPS Animation	5
6:4 12 FPS Animation	5
8:7 8 FPS Animation	5
Interlace Chroma Problem (ICP)	5
Chroma Upsampling Error (CUE)	5
Random Noise: Sailboat	5
Random Noise: Flower	5
Random Noise: Sunrise	5
Random Noise: Harbour Night	5
Scrolling Text	5
Roller Coaster	5
Ferris Wheel	5
Bridge Traffic	5
Text Pattern/ Scrolling Text	5
Roller Coaster	5
Ferris Wheel	5
Bridge Traffic	5
Luminance Frequency Bands	5
Chrominance Frequency Bands	5
Vanishing Text	5
Resolution Enhancement	15
Theme Park	5
Driftwood	5
Ferris Wheel	5
Skin Tones	7
Total	196

A score of 196 points is class leading right now, the ideal solution for high definition media playback on a big screen.

SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software.

Sandra is a (girl’s) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting.

It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc.

Native ports for all major operating systems are available:

• Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x86)
• Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x64)
• Windows 2003/R2, 2008/R2* (IA64)
• Windows Mobile 5.x (ARM CE 5.01)
• Windows Mobile 6.x (ARM CE 5.02)

All major technologies are supported and taken advantage of:

• SMP – Multi-Processor
• MC – Multi-Core
• SMT/HT – Hyper-Threading
• MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE 4.1, SSE 4.2, AVX, FMA – Multi-Media instructions
• GPGPU, DirectX, OpenGL – Graphics
• NUMA – Non-Uniform Memory Access
• AMD64/EM64T/x64 – 64-bit extensions to x86
• IA64 – Intel* Itanium 64-bit

At the same clock speed, the performance of the 3930K is pretty much on a par with the 3960X. That said, floating point performance in the Multimedia test is significantly lower with the 3930k, which is potentially associated with the smaller L3 cache size. Memory performance is also a couple of gigabytes per second lower at the same 2,400mhz speeds.

CINEBENCH R11.5 64 Bit is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia and many more.

CINEBENCH is the perfect tool to compare CPU and graphics performance across various systems and platforms (Windows and Mac OS X). And best of all: It’s completely free.

The 3930k lags behind the 3960X at default clock speeds, although it also faces a 100mhz clock differential. When both are overclocked to 4.8ghz, the differences are negligible, although the 3960X EE still posts a small rendering advantage.

Crystalmark is a useful benchmark to measure theoretical performance levels of hard drives and SSD’s. We are using V3.0 x64.

The P9X79 WS board delivers class leading SATA 3 performance via the Intel controller. The Pyro 240GB SE delivers sequential read and write speeds in excess of 500 MB/s. 4k and 4k QD32 performance is as good as we have seen in recent months.

The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customize your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.

Great performance results with the ATTO benchmark, peaking close to 560 MB/s read and 528 MB/s write.

V2011 is the first release of 3DStudio Max to fully support the Windows 7 operating system. This is a professional level tool that many people use for work purposes and our test will show any possible differences between board design today.

Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2011 software offers compelling new techniques to help bring designs to life by aggregating data, iterating ideas, and presenting the results.

Streamlined, more intelligent data exchange workflows and innovative new modeling and visualization tools help significantly increase designers’ creativity and productivity, enabling them to better explore, validate, and communicate the stories behind their designs.

Major new features:

• Slate: A node based material editor.
• Quicksilver: Hardware renderer with multithreaded rendering engine that utilizes both CPU and GPU.
• Extended Graphite Modeling Toolset
• 3ds Max Composite: A HDRI-capable compositor based on Autodesk Toxik.
• Viewport Canvas toolset for 3D and 2D texture painting directly in the viewport
• Object Painting: use 3D geometry as ‘brushes’ on other geometry
• Character Animation Toolkit (CAT): now integrated as part of the base package
• Autodesk Material Library: Over 1200 new photometrically accurate shaders
• Additional file format support: includes native support for Sketchup, Inventor
• FBX file linking
• Save to Previous Release (2010)

We created a new 8200×3200 scene and recorded the time for the hardware to finalise the render.

The 3960X Extreme Edition is still top of the benchmark charts, even when the 3930K is clocked at the same speed (4.8ghz). The variable is measured at 6 seconds however which would indicate that the L3 cache helps enhance throughput performance with this professional level application. We recorded earlier that floating point performance was also enhanced with the 3960X EE via the synthetic Sandra multimedia benchmark.

CyberLink MediaEspresso 6 is the successor to CyberLink MediaShow Espresso 5.5. With its further optimized CPU/GPU-acceleration, MediaEspresso is an even faster way to convert not only your video but also your music and image files between a wide range of popular formats.

Now you can easily playback and display your favourite movies, songs and photos not just on your mobile phone, iPad, PSP, Xbox, or Youtube and Facebook channels but also on the newly launched iPhone 4. Compile, convert and enjoy images and songs on any of your computing devices and enhance your videos with CyberLink’s built-in TrueTheater Technology.

New and Improved Features

• Ultra Fast Media Conversion – With support from the Intel Core i-Series processor family, ATI Stream & NVIDIA CUDA, MediaEspresso’s Batch-Conversion function enables multiple files to be transcoded simultaneously.
• Smart Detect Technology – MediaEspresso 6 automatically detects the type of portable device connected to the PC and selects the best multimedia profile to begin the conversion without the need for user’s intervention.
• Direct Sync to Portable Devices – Video, audio and image files can be transferred in a few easy steps to mobile phones including those from Acer, BlackBerry, HTC, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Palm, as well as Sony Walkman and PSP devices.
• Enhanced Video Quality – CyberLink TrueTheater Denoise and Lighting enables the enhancement of video quality through optical noise filters and automatic brightness adjustment.
• Video, Music and Image File Conversion – Convert not only videos to popular formats such as AVI, MPEG, MKV, H.264/AVC, and FLV at the click of a button, but also images such as JPEG and PNG and music files like WMA, MP3 and M4A.
• Online Sharing – Conversion to video formats used by popular social networking websites and a direct upload feature means posting videos to Facebook and YouTube has never been easier.

For our testing today we are converting a 3.3GB 720p MKV file (2h:12mins) to Apple Mp4 format for playback on a portable device. This is a common procedure for many people and will give a good indication of system power. We are using the newest version which has been optimised for Sandybridge processors.

The 3930K puts in a stellar performance with the P9X79 WS board, scoring 9 minutes and 12 seconds at the default clock speeds. When overclocked to 4.8ghz, this time decreases to 7 minutes and 37 seconds, which is 32 seconds slower than the 3960X EE at the same clock speed. Again the enhanced Level 3 cache helps the performance when encoding high definition video content.

Our good friends at Cyberlink kindly supplied the software for our BluRay and conversion tests.

Cyberlink PowerDVD 11 is one of the finest solutions for the BluRay experience on Windows and we found this software to work perfectly with this chipset. We tested with the new Bluray Disc of ‘The Road’.

As we would expect, the 3930K slots right in behind the 3960X EE. This wouldn't be noticeable in the ‘real world'.

Many people using this system will be enjoying Flash related content so we feel it is important to test with some of the more demanding material available freely online.

Slightly worse performance than the 3960X EE, although again hardly noticeable at all in the real world.

Handbrake is a fantastic free program which we wanted to include to confirm findings with Media Espresso, earlier in the review. HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.

We used the latest V 0.9.5 for testing today across all platforms. We encoded an DVD.MPG file.

Fantastic performance, very close to the big brother 3960X EE and outclassing anything else we have tested with this software.

F1 2011 is the newest Direct X 11 racing game from industry pioneers CodeMasters. The 2011 Formula One season is the 62nd FIA Formula One season. The original calendar consisted of twenty rounds, including the inaugural running of the Indian Grand Prix before the cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Pirelli returns to the sport as tyre supplier for all teams, taking over from Bridgestone. Red Bull Racing are the reigning Constructor’s Champions. Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel is the defending Drivers’ Champion, one of five World Champions appearing on the grid.

Average frame rates only increase by a single frame per second with this engine at these settings, but the minimum frame rates increase by 4, which is noticeable.

Homefront’s PC version was developed by Digital Extremes, a Canadian developer responsible for numerous Unreal Tournament games and Bioshock ports. It received mixed reports, although Kitguru really likes the single player aspect of this title. The engine isn’t the most demanding on the market, but it requires decent partnering hardware for solid frame rates at 1080p.

The Homefront gaming experience increases by a few frames per second, hardly noticeable when actually playing the game, but recordable repeatedly.

Aliens V Predator has proved to be a big seller since the release and Sega have taken the franchise into new territory after taking it from Sierra. AVP is a Direct X 11 supported title and delivers not only advanced shadow rendering but high quality tessellation for the cards on test today.

To test the cards we used a 1080p resolution with DX11, Texture Quality Very High, MSAA Samples 1, 16 af, ambient occulsion on, shadow complexity high, motion blur on. We use this with most of our graphics card testing so cards are comparable throughout reviews.

Good results from both systems, although the newer P9X79 WS and Intel 3930K produces better frame rates at these settings.

Resident Evil 5, known in Japan as Biohazard 5, is a survival horror third-person shooter video game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the seventh installment in the Resident Evil survival horror series, and was released on March 5, 2009 in Japan and on March 13, 2009 in North America and Europe for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. A Windows version of the game was released on September 15, 2009 in North America, September 17 in Japan and September 18 in Europe. Resident Evil 5 revolves around Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar as they investigate a terrorist threat in Kijuju, a fictional town in Africa.

Within its first three weeks of release, the game sold over 2 million units worldwide and became the best-selling game of the franchise in the United Kingdom. As of December, 2009, Resident Evil 5 has sold 5.3 million copies worldwide since launch, becoming the best selling Resident Evil game ever made.

The 3930K system helps generate around 6 extra frames per second at these real world gaming settings.

To measure power consumption of the system we firstly leave the processor at default clock speeds and voltages and load it with Cinebench R11.5 64 bit. Next we overclock to 4.8ghz with 1.46 volts and measure the power drain after running the same Cinebench R11.5 64 bit test.

Lastly we install two GTX590's in Quad SLi and run at the same 4.8ghz overclocked system speeds to get an idea of a ‘worst case scenario'.

At reference clocks the system is actually very power efficient considering the performance available. By comparison we have measured 240watts from the AMD FX8150 Black Edition at reference clock speeds. Adding extra voltage and increasing the system demand effectively doubles the power requirement at the socket when under load.

After adding two Nvidia GTX590's to the system and running a CPU/GPU intensive benchmark (3dmark 11) we record a power demand of 904 watts at the socket. A 1000W power supply would be the minimum although we would recommend a 1250W power supply if you are considering building a similar system.

Intel Core i7 3930K

I haven't been shocked to find out that Intel's Core i7 3930K is a remarkable processor. Having already reviewed the Core i7 3960X Extreme Edition we had a rough idea of what we could expect. The 3960X EE has the edge as it ships 100mhz faster, out of the box. At reference clock speeds the differences are noticeable.

When we overclock both to 4.8ghz within the basic limits of modest mainstream cooling, the variables are slightly closer. The 3960X EE is always faster however, even when clocked to identical speeds. Intel have intelligently approached the problem of offering one chip at almost half the price, by ensuring that the flagship processor ships with a larger L3 cache. Without this there is very little incentive to purchase the 3960X Extreme Edition.

I often read that the 3930K is the much better buy and in most instances this is very true. For an enthusiast gamer, or system builder, the money saved is substantial. If you purchase the right motherboard and have moderate bios knowledge then overclocking to 4.8ghz is extremely straightforward. For 90% of people considering a new high end system, then the 3930K is without question the better choice.

That said, the additional 3 MB of Level 3 cache can enhance performance with professional level applications. In this sector, time is money and even a few seconds saved here and there can mount up to hours over the course of a week. We noticed that even at the same clock speeds the 3960X Extreme Edition consistently turned in faster times when 3D rendering and video encoding. Whether this is worth almost twice the price is entirely a personal, or business decision. We all know that a small percentage of the enthusiast audience will want the highest level chip even if it doesn't always make much financial sense in the real world.

Intel are so far ahead now that it is hard to even imagine that AMD will ever catch up. The FX 8150 wasn't a bad chip design, I still use it from time to time and it is responsive, capable and great for gaming. Sadly this chip struggles to compete against the Intel 2600k or 2700k and I know very few people who desire to build an AMD based desktop system.

It gets worse when we look at the 3820, 3930k and 3960X Extreme Edition because AMD have nothing even close to the performance of these chips. This means that Intel are basically free to charge whatever they feel is justifiable, within reason.

If we look at the current range of Intel processors, we have the i7-3820 around £240 inc vat. This 4/8 core design offers fantastic value for money and can overclock to 4.5ghz without much of a problem. For someone who wants to get into the X79 sector with benefits of Quad Channel memory support, then this is an ideal low cost purchase.

The i7-3960X Extreme Edition is Intel's current 6/12 core flagship design and as such will always fetch a huge premium over any other processor on the market. I still honestly feel that this particular processor, in the right hands, is worth the money. It combines class leading performance, thanks to the stellar architecture and a whopping 15MB of level 3 cache. For 3D encoding and video rendering it is without equal. But the cost of ownership is high – at £780 inc vat.

The i7 3930K which we reviewed today manages to grab 95% of the performance from the 3960X EE, especially if you pair it with the right motherboard and overclock. It is a close second to the 3960X, just as Intel have wanted. They know that the ultra high end audience will buy the 3960X for the extra cache performance regardless of cost and that the majority of wealthy enthusiast users will end up with the 3930K. If I was buying a system today for myself, I would build it around the 3930K. For £450 inc vat nothing really comes close.

You can buy the 3930k direct from ARIA for £448.20 inc vat.

Pros:

• In the right hands almost as fast as the 3960X EE.
• Almost half the price of the 3960X EE.
• 6/12 cores is brilliant for serious duties such as 3D rendering or encoding.
• Did we say almost half the price of the 3960X EE?
• Overclocks exceptionally well. 5ghz+ with powerful liquid or phase change is possible.

Cons:

• The 3820 is only £240 and would probably be enough for almost everyone.
• Can run hot if the cooling isn't up to the task.

Kitguru says: This processor is a masterclass in design and great fun to overclock.

Asus P9X79 WS LGA2011 WorkStation

Having already reviewed the Asus P9X79 Deluxe and the Rampage IV Extreme my expectations were already high for the latest P9X79 WS WorkStation board. I can genuinely say that this board is as good as the Rampage IV Extreme, because it was almost impossible to crash the system even with heavy handed overclocking and silly bios settings. I even got the 3930k posting at 5.1ghz with the modest Corsair H100 cooler, although it needed more volts than I was willing to risk. I tested with Kingston, G.Skill and Corsair 2,400mhz memory and the system posted with all, without a single hitch.

ASUS really do deserve special credit for their latest UEFI bios interface because the layout is so intuitive. I really only truly appreciate it when I spend time with another manufacturer board and return later. It is second nature for me to set these boards up, as everything just ‘works' as you would expect. This isn't always the case when you step outside Asus territory.

ASUS earn bonus points for build quality and the broad scope of connectivity, including dual gigabit lan ports and full support for quad array graphics cards. The appearance is not as dramatic as the Rampage IV Extreme, and will not attract the hard core gaming audience, but for the target ‘professional' sector, it is perfectly designed. We like the fact that the board is passively cooled, which keeps the potential noise levels to a minimum.

The P9X79 WS can be bought from SCAN for £304.55 and at this price it offers great value for money. If you pair it up with a 3960X EE or 3930K then you will have the foundation for a killer workstation for both professional and gaming duties.

Pros:

• Rock solid
• Great overclocker
• Passive cooled
• Class leading performance.
• Bios is intuitive and fully loaded.

Cons:

• A bit dull to look at, but the target audience won't mind.

Kitguru says: Another class leading board from the ASUS team.

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