Late last year when we reviewed the new Sandy Bridge-Eastward processors, we mentioned a more affordable version called the Core i7-3820 was coming. Although data about the chip had been revealed, the processor has yet to hit shelves and is now expected to get in later in February. Fortunately, sample units are existence passed around ahead of general availability, then we don't have to wait to see how information technology stacks up.

The i7-3820 is specially intriguing because of its sub-$300 retail price -- far less than other chips in the series. For example, the Core i7-3960X has an MSRP of $999 and sells for more than like $i,049, while the i7-3930K has an MSRP of $583 and is fetching $599 at e-tail. Both are six-core CPUs operating over 3GHz with massive 15MB and 12MB L3 caches.

At roughly half the price of the 3930K, we expected Intel to butcher the i7-3820, and while that'southward partially true, the 3820 remains an impressive specimen with four cores operating at 3.6GHz, a 10MB L3 enshroud and HyperThreading support. Compared to the similarly priced i7-2600K, the 3820 offers additional L3 cache, back up for PCI Limited three.0, quad-channel memory and a platform that will take every bit much as 32GB of system memory.

Although LGA2011 features some new tricks absent on LGA1155, we're disappointed in the chipset back up. The X79 is rather lackluster and has zip new to offer over Z68. Withal, the raw power of SB-Eastward is its strongest selling point and we're keen to see how the affordable variant performs and how it compares to the very pop Core i7-2600K.

Some have anticipated the i7-3820 will be in somewhat of an bad-mannered position in terms of pricing. Although processors command a similar rate, the platform behind the i7-3820 is considerably pricier than the 2600K's. Whereas Z68 motherboards can be had for less than $100, bones X79 boards start at $200, and most cost around $230.

Additionally, the i7-3820 supports quad-channel retentiveness meaning users will exist compelled to purchase 4 modules rather than simply two. Core i7-3820 owners might pay up to $200 more than for the same operation as folks who opt for the i7-2600K, which doesn't brand sense unless you need the extra PCI Limited bandwidth or the larger memory capacity -- or so it appears on paper. Let's see what the tests take to say.