It’s been almost two years since the Hexacore Intel Core i7 3960X Sandy Bridge processors launched. In that time, quad core Sandy Bridge parts remained all time favorites amongst enthusiasts due to the gains in performance and overclocking, yet the hex core Sandy Bridge didn’t quite earn the same fanfare. Most end users said that the Core i7-980X Nehalem was just too good a processor to let go of. And then Ivy Bridge (and Haswell) got too hot because it had limited die surface for transferring heat to the heat sink. It seemed that Intel had a bit of a problem with getting more chips out there for the right reasons. With an Intel Core i7-4960X Extreme Edition (aka Ivy Bridge-E) processor and ASUS X79 Deluxe in hand, we evaluated both component performance characteristics and end user experiences in the lab. Join us for a look at the company’s latest hex core and the latest X79 motherboard technologies.