Smart Wizard
Get a complete build plan based on budget and goals.
Build Comparison
Compare complete builds side by side.
Part Comparison
Check specs, price, and value across parts.
Bottleneck Calculator
Measure CPU and GPU balance before you buy.
Power Calculator
Estimate wattage and PSU headroom.
Will It Run?
Test your hardware against popular games.
Smart Wizard
Get a complete build plan based on budget and goals.
Build Comparison
Compare complete builds side by side.
Part Comparison
Check specs, price, and value across parts.
Bottleneck Calculator
Measure CPU and GPU balance before you buy.
Power Calculator
Estimate wattage and PSU headroom.
Will It Run?
Test your hardware against popular games.
Smart Wizard
Get a complete build plan based on budget and goals.
Build Comparison
Compare complete builds side by side.
Part Comparison
Check specs, price, and value across parts.
Bottleneck Calculator
Measure CPU and GPU balance before you buy.
Power Calculator
Estimate wattage and PSU headroom.
Will It Run?
Test your hardware against popular games.
Intel
Detailed architecture, platform, memory, and feature data for this CPU.
Instruction Sets
| Merchant | Base | Promo | Shipping | Availability | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Newegg | $256.53 | β | FREE | Out of Stock | $256.53 |
About This Product
The Intel Core i7-3960X is a 6-core, 12-thread desktop CPU from the Sandy Bridge-E generation, released in 2011. It offers a base clock of 3.3 GHz and a boost clock of 3.9 GHz. At its current price, it is an outdated platform, significantly outperformed by modern CPUs in both single-core and multi-core tasks, making it unsuitable for current high-performance gaming or demanding applications.
Verdict
βNot recommended for new builds; only for upgrading existing, compatible Sandy Bridge-E systems.β
Performance Benchmarks
Scores are grouped by benchmark family so it is easy to compare raw speed, threaded output, and real-world value without mixing scales.
Large Sample Pool
Gaming Performance
These results come from real submitted gameplay sessions, so the reference GPU matters as much as the CPU itself.
Reference GPU
Star Trek Online
Mixed player settings
43 FPS
Playable
Mushkin Blackline 16 GB
N/A
Mushkin Blackline 16 GB
N/A
Mushkin Blackline 16 GB
N/A
Mushkin Blackline 16 GB
N/A
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