Intel just began selling its promised Core i7 3820 CPU, the specs-to-price ratio of which promises to make it a favorite among gamers. It has a 3.6GHz clock speed and 10MB of cache, and costs $294 in bulk, 1,000-unit quantities (PDF), which compares very favorably with the 3.2GHz Core i7-3930K with 12MB of cache which costs nearly twice as much. The 2011 socket-based 3820 has four cores, eight threads through its use of Hyperthreading, and is based on the 32nm architecture.
The chip also gets Intel’s Turbo Boost and Hyperthreading technologies onboard. The Core i7 3930K and Core i7 3960X are essentially Xeon E5s with two cores shut down, so the 3820 may use a similar design with four cores removed, though this isn’t yet known.
The chip is paired with X79 chipsets and mainboards and socket 2011 processors. Retail pricing remains unknown, but may be close to £200 (about $310) in the UK.
