Intel Core i7 990X 

The 32 million runs were an additional .337 seconds faster for a grand total of 1.362 seconds below our starting point!

Coming at us with 3.46GHz of processing power per core and up to 3.73GHz with turbo enabled, it's sure to be a fun processor to play with.

Increasing the voltage of the 990X allowed us to fo faster yet, and we were able to knock off an additional 9.159 seconds for a grand total of 38.975 (23.6%) seconds below default!

Whereas the Core i7-980X took 3 minutes and 27 seconds in our test applying a dozen complex filters in Adobe Photoshop CS5 ($699 to $999 list, 5 stars), the Core i7-990X trimmed it down to an even 3 minutes 20 seconds.

The Intel Core i7 2600K pulled out ahead of the crowd with a score of 1.55 while the Intel Core i7 990X Extreme had a respectable 1.25.

We saw similarly small increases in our 3DMark 11 and 3DMark Vantage gaming tests (9,332 to 9,591 and 32,129 to 33,382, respectively) and comprehensive Geekbench benchmark (13,083 to 13,586), as well as throughout our more probing AIDA64 and SiSoftware Sandra processor tests.

It's vast, and possibly a little vulgar, in terms of sheer size, performance and importantly cost.

Benchmark Results: The Intel Core i7 990X Extreme is significantly faster in wPrime than anything else we have tested.

Much of that comes from the fact that the 990X is a Hex-core processor and those benchmarks scale for multiple cores.

At least for now—with AMD's new Fusion platform making headroom and the Bulldozer core barreling toward fruition, it's legitimately possible that could change by the end of the year.

It acquitted itself fairly handsomely on our tests, finishing a solid but seldom-distant third behind the Core i7-990X and the Core i7-980X across the board, but providing a compelling supporting option for those who want to come to the six-core party without a huge financial obligation.

One thing remains clear: If you want the most in six-core power, you have to go to Intel.

But it's the fastest chip you'll find, especially if your business or personal computer use thrives on highly threaded workloads.

With a lightly treaded application Intel's Turbo mode will push the 990X up one more multiplier for a speed of 3.73GHz.

As Sandy Bridge chips are loaded with technologies for improving everyday media handling, this is not a huge surprise.