Final Thoughts

Hmmm, what to say here? I could say that I was a little disappointed that Gulftown/ Core i7 980X did not perform better, or that I expected to see more headroom in overclocking. However, that is not the case. I saw a great performing CPU and there was still plenty of headroom for OC.

It is true that the i7 980X is not going to boost your gaming performance by much (if at all). What the i7 980X will do is increase your ability to get more done. The 12 available threads are going to weigh in heavily as more applications become multi-thread aware. The number of applications in both the professional space and the consumer space is increasing every day. Of course, this is not a CPU for the weak of heart or tight of wallet. It is meant for those that want/need the most power they can get from a single CPU.

As you can see in our render and transcoding testing, the 980X simply cannot be touched by any other single CPU and gives more than one GPU a run for its money. We have comparison of this planned for a later article. For right now the Core i7 980X is simply the fastest single CPU you can buy. Intel has made a smart move here; you get two extra cores, four more threads and four more MB of cache at the same price level the i7 975 was at less than a year ago.

If you are a person that needs the extra headroom or simply want to have the best that is out, then the 980X is the way to go.