It's been a little over 2 years since we reviewed Intel's Core i7-3960X CPU which blew us away with the stupendous amount of processing power available. Today we get to sample the replacement CPU in the form of the Core i7-4960X, the X signifying that this too is part of the Extreme Edition processor line-up.

The new processors architecture codenamed Ivy-Bridge is the successor to the Sandy-bridge range of CPUs for the ageing X79 chipset which was our only criticism of the 3960X, that and of course the astronomical price tag inherently attached to the Extreme range of CPUs. We are still waiting for an update of X79 which when compared to the Z87 based motherboards specification looks decidedly underwhelming. With X79 we still have no native USB 3.0 and only two native SATA 6.0GBps ports. The Z87 chipset also holds the advantage of having a CPU which is one step ahead of it's bigger brother with CPUs now based on the refreshed Haswell architecture, a step up from Ivy-bridge which forms the basis of today's CPU. It is important not to confuse the two processor lines though because the i7 Ivy-bridge E is a different beast altogether from its socket 1155 brethren.