The Intel Core i7-3820 was a desktop processor with 4 cores, launched in February 2012, at an MSRP of $305. It is part of the Core i7 lineup, using the Sandy Bridge-E architecture with Socket 2011. Thanks to Intel Hyper-Threading the core-count is effectively doubled, to 8 threads. Core i7-3820 has 10 MB of L3 cache and operates at 3.6 GHz by default, but can boost up to 3.8 GHz, depending on the workload. Intel is building the Core i7-3820 on a 32 nm production process using 1,270 million transistors. You may freely adjust the unlocked multiplier on Core i7-3820, which simplifies overclocking greatly, as you can easily dial in any overclocking frequency.
With a TDP of 130 W, the Core i7-3820 consumes a lot of power, so good cooling is definitely needed. Intel's processor supports DDR3 memory with a quad-channel interface. The highest officially supported memory speed is 1600 MT/s, but with overclocking (and the right memory modules) you can go even higher. For communication with other components in the system, Core i7-3820 uses a PCI-Express Gen 2 connection. This processor does not have integrated graphics, you will need a separate graphics card.
Hardware virtualization is available on the Core i7-3820, which greatly improves virtual machine performance. Programs using Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) will run on this processor, boosting performance for calculation-heavy applications.