Intel's Sandy Bridge lineup is completely astonishing and crushing any of the rivals offerings. With the new SB-E Intel can finally releave the socket 1366 from it's duties. A new high end platform is here and boy does it perform, sorry outperform the rest.

Now let's focus specifically on the reviewed 3930K CPU. This really seems to be the best buy, if you intend to opt for the high end Intel platform. The Extreme version is slightly faster out of the box, with it's extra added 100mhz and the slightly bigger Level 3 Cache. But a daily user will hardly notice much of it. Another big plus for the 3930K is that it's as overclockable as the premium 1000 dollar version. Thanks to Intel, for the K skew with the unlockable CPU multiplier. Reaching 4.5Ghz on Gulftown, could already be problematic with some CPUs. Requiring sometimes a lot of tweaking. Really, them clocks are a breeze for Intel's X79 platform. Similar as with SB, utterly boring for some as it's close to just plug and play. Though with SB-E it's not just about solely upping the multiplier and Vcore as with SB. More refined tweaking is still required to get them ram clocks soaring high. Many reviewers had issues to get ram clocks at or over 2400Mhz in Quad channel configuration. With the retail CPU's it's seems more practical then the Early Sample versions. The silicon is again improving, something hopefully AMD can get done at Global Foundries to save their FX lineup.

Depending on the application run, the slightly larger Level 3 Cache can show it's true colours. Though if it is worth the extra 500 dollars, that's entirely up to you to decide. In my honest opinion it is not. Games are hardly influenced and the rendering and co results are already miles ahead of the previous flagship. Though if you want the fastest, you will still need to be required to cash out. Somethings never change :p

Similar conclusion as with the i7 3960X for the upgrade path. Socket 1366 users will have a serious itch to upgrade to this platform. On air these SB-E CPUs clock easily as high and even higher then the previous generation. Even more performance at your disposal, at a modest power consumption. But it will all depend on what your main applications are. If it's purely gaming then the little socket 1155 or even the aging socket 1366 will still perfectly support your GPU, to render your FPS as smooth as possible. Again it will all be a personal choice and sometimes it's just pure fun to play with a new toy. The Multi GPU synthetic tests show this platform has got a true winners potential. And the numerous benchmarks at HWBot show this platform is the new Vantage and 3DMark 11 king.

To sum it up, Intel has reinforced it's already über stong lineup with this latest 3930K addition. In 2011 Intel has to fear noone, besides it's own products. Really looking forward to test the 3820 quad core version early 2012. But the die sized 22nm Ivy Bridge is eagerly awaiting to see the daylight. Darn we hardware geeks are so spoiled !

A big thanks to the guys from Tones PC store for the time with the retail 3930K. Kuddos for the support guys !!