Intel Core i7-5960X, 8 Cores 7 16 Threads Unlocked Desktop Processor without Processor Graphicss

I have waited 2 months to be able to test this CPU, and I was finally able to procure a motherboard to be able to test everything out. I spent all weekend testing everything and will update this review as the items are tested along the way.Temperature: It gets hot incredibly fast. If I run a stress test, the moment I engage the test, it jumps to 55 at stock speeds with no boost. If I overclock, the jump becomes greater as expected. I have been able to run 4.5ghz, at 1.375v with heat being the only issue. The watercooling look consists of a 360mm radiator and a 240mm radiator dedicated to the CPU, with an EK Supremacy EVO waterblock. Liquid Temperatures are at 25c maximum. The waterblock makes great contact in the direct center of the IHS, but only in a small area about the size of pencil eraser. Outside of that area the thermal material seems to thicken very fast making me wonder if the block of the IHS is slightly concave/convex. I will get a piece of glass and test this asap.Overclock: Very very easy to overclock. the motherboard of choice was able to use auto voltage to maintain a 4.5ghz clock speed with 1.4v. This was too high, so setting the voltage as low as 1.375 had a perfectly stable 4.5ghz overclock. 1.34v maintains a 4.4ghz OC no issue at all. *addition* made it toRing Overcock: Seems to not like being overclocked so far. Definitely a downside, as this is the part that will help boost physics scores while benchmarking and testing. *addition* overclocked to 4.1 ghz with the new motherboard. Very easy to do, helps all around. The old motherboard was the issue.Speed: 8 cores accomplishes a lot of work, and does so with NO lag at all. While stress testing the CPU, dragging windows and continuing to surf the web as well as opening other programs, lag is nowhere to be found.4 Stars. I am currently holding it at 4 stars, because I want to verify if the water block or the IHS is flat. If it is the IHS, then I will send the CPU back and get a new one sent out. IF it is the water block, I will get the manufacturer to replace it and I will correct my review with an update as to the outcome of the test.---------------------------------------------------------Jan 1 2015------------------------------------------------------------*EDIT/Addition* I am bumping the review to 5 Stars. The IHS is flat. I have been using this CPU for almost 3 full months on a daily basis and it is quite impressive. Everything is stable overclocked, although I did not get a "Golden" chip that would run 4.5ghz on low 1.3v or anything like that. I have used it for some mild rendering, bench marking and editing and it is insanely fast with the core count and ability to overclock so well. The CPU can Benchmarks at 4.65ghz at 1.4v and run fully stable, but it isn't able to be fully stable for normal operations, rendering and things like. it is at a daily 4.4ghz at 1.37v staying under 60c with a custom water loop and a 480mm radiator with the fans set at low. I have switched from the original configuration above(if you couldn't tell). During heavy loads, the fans only need to go up for approximately 50% to keep everything cool.Beware, with 8 core and insufficient cooling, this CPU will get to critical temperatures in a matter of seconds. The IHS is soldered to the CPU, so delidding is not a viable option (although some have tried). Using an Air Cooler is not recommended. Using a small AIO cooler like an H55 will allow you to run at stock or very mild overclocks. Running with an AIO 220/240mm radiator will allow more headroom, but this CPU will shine under custom water cooling or better (phase change and higher priced items). If you spend $1000 on a CPU and try to use a HyperEvo 212, you are asking to waste every single penny you spent. If you are spending this much, spend the extra for appropriate cooling measure at a minimum. An AIO will do just fine, as long as you aren't trying to get to the moon on your first overclocking adventure.

Absolute beast of a CPU. I know that all the reviews are going to say the same thing, but hear me out.What would you use this processor for:Professional video editing work.Extreme multitasking4 way or more SLI configurationsWorkstation environments.What many people use it for:To boast about their E-peenTo play games at higher settingsWhat you should not get this processor for:Mainstream GamingBoasting about your E-peenThis processor is not really meant for those just trying to get the gaming edge. If your goal is gaming then you should look at the i7 6700K as that has a higher per core clock speed and you will benefit most from that rather than just more cores. The 6700K also has a logical 8 cores anyway and as such will fulfill your needs for an i7 with great power just fine.the 5960X is a workstation or multitasking processor with more application in the professional environment where your CPU will be taxed to its limit all day long. The 8 real cores and logical 16 setup is amazing for rendering in programs like sony vegas pro.I went from an i7 3770K that I bought 5 years ago to this processor as I needed something better for my video rendering for my youtube channel:Check out SirSlaughter and HyperWizard. You'll know it's me by the recent activity on those pages.As an example of increase in power, my usual video that averages 15 minutes would take up to 2 and a half hours for the render process to complete on the 3770K at stock speeds of 3.6 Ghz. As I upgraded to the 5960X I managed to reduce rendering time by upwards of 1 hour and 50 minutes. That's nearly 2 hours of rendering time that I don't have to wait for.As an added plus any game I play from here on out will never be bottle necked by my CPU and now all I have to do is upgrade my GPU.The next plus will be physics in many games which seem to destroy CPUs.A few tests and references to previous builds I have done for clients showed a near 90% increase in physics performance over the likes of the 3770K and processors in its class. I have yet to overclock this processor and am unsure if I have won the "silicon lottery" so I can't speak on the overclocking abilities of this processor first hand. However with reports and proof of processors being clocked to upwards of 7 Ghz (most extreme scenarios) leave me with a feeling of confidence that I will be able to overclock this processor fine.I also did a multitasking test to see if I could torture this processor and make it cry. While I know I made it uncomfortable it was far from crying.With Sony Vegas rendering a 1080P video, OBS recording and streaming to twitch (twitch.tv/sirslaughter91) AND with multiple windows of chrome up including a page to twitch while I was playing Dark souls 2, I still managed to do all of this and the processor would vary between 60% and 99% usage.While my game of Dark souls 2 did stutter every few moments it was understandable considering the load I was placing on the PC and my GPU at the time of this review and gameplay was a GTX 770. So if anything my two bottle necks of my system are the GPU and my network speed.I am extremely happy with this processor and am looking forward to the time it will save me in my more amateur environment of youtube recording and rendering.For those of you in the more professional sector will want to consider this processor. Unless you are running something like an enterprise grade server and in that case you will want to look at Intels XEON processors as those have support for things like ECC memory and exotic hardware.For those of you not using this processor for enterprise grade servers, but instead are using this for the reasons stated above, you will be pleased with the time savings that it will provide you.For anyone curious of the rig my processor was set up in:CPU: i7 5960X @stock speedsRAM: 32GB (4X8) 2800 DDR4 G.Skill Trident GOLDMotherboard: Asrock X99 OC Formula 3.1GPU: GTX 770 PNY 4GB OCPSU: EVGA 1000GOS Storage: SanDisk SD8SN8U-512G-1122 X400 M.2 2280 512GB Internal SSDOS: Windows 7 Proffesional 64-Bit (I just don't like windows10)

I have always built 1 step below the top CPU and have been pretty happy but when I saw Intel include 8 cores in this top end chip I decided to pop for it. I do a lot of mp4 transcribing of video content for my NAS DLNA server and went from 20 hrs on a 4 core 7 for a 20 gig product to 7 hrs on the 8 core chip where both are overclocked to 4.3 and water cooled. So I am a happy camper. I think I now have an adequate core to handle UHD when I finally get a decent camera. Just wish I had got one of the 5960Xs that would OC to 4.8 or 5 but that's just the luck of the draw.. Definitely recommend this chip to anyone doing a lot of video editing and transcribing.

died 3months use...want my money back....where is the button for return and refund?