Intel Core i7-3960X vs Intel Xeon E5-1660

Core i7-3960X vs Xeon E5-1660 benchmarks

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Core i7-3960X performs better than the Xeon E5-1660. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Xeon E5-1660 in all gaming tests too.

When comparing these CPUs we notice that they have the same number of cores and the same number of threads. In terms of clock speed, the Core i7-3960X and Xeon E5-1660 are identical in this regard. In addition, both chips have the same turbo speed. Both these chips have an identical TDP (Thermal Design Power). This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption.

Most CPUs have more threads than cores. This technology, colloquially called hyperthreading, improves performance by splitting a core into multiple virtual ones. This provides more efficient utilisation of a core. Indeed, the Core i7-3960X has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.