Reviews - Intel Sandy Bridge Core i5 2500K and Core i7 2600K review

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The 2nd generation Intel Core processor family is here, and it's better than anything that has come before.

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How do the ES chips compare to the stock ones for overclocking ? Results seem to be very varied from what I've read.

any chance of some folding @ home scores as part of the benchmarking suite?

Looks like a great chip, but, once again Intel makes a mockery of early adopters.

why do you say that duc?

I thought these where still under NDA?

Worth the wait for the review. Good job

First came i7 with lga1366; then i7, i5 & i3 lga1156 now 2nd gen i7 & i5 lga1155 in just over two years.

On the other hand, if you bought into X58 you're still covered today performance wise anyway.

oh I get what you mean, yes Intel do tend to do this kind of thing all the time but the 1st Gen are still fast!!!

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Originally Posted by Tattysnuc

any chance of some folding @ home scores as part of the benchmarking suite?

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Not solid data, but info suggests that a 2600K at ~4.9GHz gets around 30K PPD :)

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Originally Posted by HEXUS

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LATE!!! COME ON HEXUS GET WITH IT!!

was expecting this review on tuesday lol

Power looks nice but the performance doesn't impress overly. The igp is still poor and the drivers are in a total mess. Throw on top intel's usual nonsense for squeezing cash out of people and I'm not sure this was worth 4 1/2 stars.

4.7 GHz? Sheesh.

Blarg. I bought into 1366 -_-

Which H67 board were you guys using? Didn't see it mentioned in the review. Also, if it's a model with a pair of PCIe x16 ports could you test out crossfire and SLi? Some sites are reporting that both ports run at x8 speeds during crossfire or SLi, others that the first runs at x16 and the second at x4.

I've pretty much decided against buying a P67 board. I don't really think the extra money and sacrifice of Quicksync is worth the gain of being able to overclock. It's about £250 for a decent H67 board and i5 2400/2500 or £330 for a P67 board and 2500k. I'd rather put the extra towards a better (or second, hence the above question) GPU.

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Originally Posted by McPhee

Which H67 board were you guys using? Didn't see it mentioned in the review. Also, if it's a model with a pair of PCIe x16 ports could you test out crossfire and SLi? Some sites are reporting that both ports run at x8 speeds during crossfire or SLi, others that the first runs at x16 and the second at x4.

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I think lane speed is board dependant rather than chipset...

still gonna stick with a core i5 760 for my build, as a gamer i just want a strong CPU that will last a few years and no point in going for later tech to future proof it as intel are constantly changing the pin count anyway so no chance of just a CPU upgrade if it ever came to that...then again i reckon we're a veeeeeery long way off until current CPUs lose their gaming value

So basically getting a Sandybridge cpu is just as a cpu as its graphics capabilities are completely worthless for anything but flash games?

The 2 games that I actually want to play are Starcraft 2 and CoD so how would I try to figure out how well it would work with a Nvidia 8800GTX for example?

Gonna skip this generation of cpu's £400 for 2600k and mobo just isn't worth it for performance gained and the constant changing of sockets has sealed it for me.

No 6/8 core chips? Boooo

Dont like the way you can only overclock via multiplier,fsb is always better for end results.Shame really,they should have left the IGP off the K series,correct me if i'm wrong but dont most overclockers use external GPU's.And this range of CPU's has DRM built in so you wont be able to watch or use any unathorised content eg,films etc.I refuse to spend money on whole upgrade to be limited by Intel.:puke:

Hope AMD dont do anything stupid with Bulldozer.:whip:

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Originally Posted by tieran1

Dont like the way you can only overclock via multiplier,fsb is always better for end results.Shame really,they should have left the IGP off the K series,correct me if i'm wrong but dont most overclockers use external GPU's.And this range of CPU's has DRM built in so you wont be able to watch or use any unathorised content eg,films etc.I refuse to spend money on whole upgrade to be limited by Intel.:puke:

Hope AMD dont do anything stupid with Bulldozer.:whip:

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Read around - it's not Intel's doing - the industry is being strong armed by the content industry (again) into doing it. There's no value to Intel or it's consumers in the 'feature'. On the up side it's utterly redundant because so long as one device exists that doesn't use it then a pirated copy of media will exist. I don't expect this DRM to get any traction (just like any other).

Funny really that such a huge company is at the mercy of a much smaller industry but there it is - and with the current rise of ARM devices this has only worsened.

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Originally Posted by dangel

Read around - it's not Intel's doing - the industry is being strong armed by the content industry (again) into doing it. There's no value to Intel or it's consumers in the 'feature'. On the up side it's utterly redundant because so long as one device exists that doesn't use it then a pirated copy of media will exist. I don't expect this DRM to get any traction (just like any other).

Funny really that such a huge company is at the mercy of a much smaller industry but there it is - and with the current rise of ARM devices this has only worsened.

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I can see where your coming from.The whole overclocking via multiplier only is there own doing though,by adding the IGP.While i fully understand for low end users this is fine,for the enthusiast segment they could have got rid to allow FSB overclocking or add extra performance.Imagine what this could have been capable of then.

Also just the one clock generater seems to be a odd choice.

Yes it is a pretty impressive chip but it seems that in some ways its restricted,yeah your get 5GHZ overclock(nearly),but do you get 5GHZ performance?Lol,maybe AMD and Intel are gonna swop places.

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Originally Posted by tieran1

I can see where your coming from.The whole overclocking via multiplier only is there own doing though,by adding the IGP.While i fully understand for low end users this is fine,for the enthusiast segment they could have got rid to allow FSB overclocking or add extra performance.Imagine what this could have been capable of then.

Also just the one clock generater seems to be a odd choice.

Yes it is a pretty impressive chip but it seems that in some ways its restricted,yeah your get 5GHZ overclock(nearly),but do you get 5GHZ performance?Lol,maybe AMD and Intel are gonna swop places.

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Oh I agree on that point - I'm about to upgrade and paying 'extra' for an unlocked chip is annoying. As you say, the overclocks are easier though and I expect to get around 4.7ghz without any real effort. Going from gen 1 core2quad I think it's worth it but essentially i'm doing it because the opportunity is there (someone wants to buy my old gear). I'm undecided whether to go for i7 or i5 though, there's not a great deal of difference in price so.. hmm. :juggle:

Personally, i would say go i5 as the O/C is going to reduce HTT's bonus by quite a margin.

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Originally Posted by dangel

Read around - it's not Intel's doing - the industry is being strong armed by the content industry (again) into doing it. There's no value to Intel or it's consumers in the 'feature'. On the up side it's utterly redundant because so long as one device exists that doesn't use it then a pirated copy of media will exist. I don't expect this DRM to get any traction (just like any other).

Funny really that such a huge company is at the mercy of a much smaller industry but there it is - and with the current rise of ARM devices this has only worsened.

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what? so these cpu's doesnt let you play pirated movies? pretty cool . could dent the pirates

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Originally Posted by j.o.s.h.1408

what? so these cpu's doesnt let you play pirated movies? pretty cool . could dent the pirates

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Not really! Irrespective of whether you play such stuff or not it is none of a ****ing hardware company's right to spy on me using hardware I paid for!

These are private companies and are not even the government FFS and are not accountable to anyone.

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Originally Posted by j.o.s.h.1408

what? so these cpu's doesnt let you play pirated movies? pretty cool . could dent the pirates

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The Intel Insider is a hardware rights management feature built into 2nd gen Core i-series CPUs which will, in future, allow you to purchase or rent movies directly from participating film studios in complete safety - stopping you from becoming a potential pirate and getting sued. These CPU's do allow you to play pirated movies; just not those obtained legitimately from the Intel/film studios pact, in a word DRM.

see more on Intel's blog

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Originally Posted by duc

The Intel Insider is a hardware rights management feature built into 2nd gen Core i-series CPUs which will, in future, allow you to purchase or rent movies directly from participating film studios in complete safety - stopping you from becoming a potential pirate and getting sued. These CPU's do allow you to play pirated movies; just not those obtained legitimately from the Intel/film studios pact, in a word DRM.

see more on Intel's blog

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Correct, would be crazy if one couldn't play video files without DRM?

Sorry to cut the story short but is it worth buying the new sandy bridge?

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Originally Posted by miXer

Sorry to cut the story short but is it worth buying the new sandy bridge?

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I personally dont think so, go with the old i5's but then that is my view on it...if you think it is worth it then go for broke, just consider how much "better" that the new sandy bridge tech really is not compared to the old i3/i5/i7s

From what i can see it's the chipset that is slowing the old cpu's down.

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Originally Posted by razer121

I personally dont think so, go with the old i5's but then that is my view on it...if you think it is worth it then go for broke, just consider how much "better" that the new sandy bridge tech really is not compared to the old i3/i5/i7s

From what i can see it's the chipset that is slowing the old cpu's down.

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So dispite the 2500k costing little more than a 760 but decimating EVERYTHING bar its bigger brother and the stupidly expensive hexa-core, your advice is to buy the older i5's?!

For a new build, you'd be a fool to choose anything other than Sandybridge.

eh? for 1 its £30 difference, that's not exactly a little more
it doesn't decimate its an improvement sure but it depends on what you're doing with your PC
looking at graphs and noticing bigger bars and a few fps/seconds shaved off doesn't really matter if you're only trying to build a strong, reasonably future proof system on the cheap, that can also play games

i'll let you know first hand though soon enough, just gotta get my deposit money together then can finally build my new rig..woo no more pentium 4!

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Originally Posted by GuinnesCYMRU

So dispite the 2500k costing little more than a 760 but decimating EVERYTHING bar its bigger brother and the stupidly expensive hexa-core, your advice is to buy the older i5's?!

For a new build, you'd be a fool to choose anything other than Sandybridge.

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Try clocking them both at the same clock speed. Now you're left with crap onboard graphics, weird chip/motherboard combinations and awesome "k" unlockable chips that were unlockable anyway before. Yeah what a great deal that is.

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Originally Posted by Jimbo75

Try clocking them both at the same clock speed. Now you're left with crap onboard graphics, weird chip/motherboard combinations and awesome "k" unlockable chips that were unlockable anyway before. Yeah what a great deal that is.

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I have to disagree also, the core i7 2XXX series are great processors; yes they may seem a bit complex but the performance per watt is outstanding.

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Originally Posted by GuinnesCYMRU

So dispite the 2500k costing little more than a 760 but decimating EVERYTHING bar its bigger brother and the stupidly expensive hexa-core, your advice is to buy the older i5's?!

For a new build, you'd be a fool to choose anything other than Sandybridge.

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You are to an extent right, but take the core i5 760, now consider its OC then take the new core i5s, the only one who really has anything on the core i5 760 is the core i5 2500K take note of the "K" please! have you seen its price tag? £170+ for a chip that can OC, the core i5 760 will no doubt OC and stand up to the lower end SB i5 no problem, i could probs prove that with my i5, as could others who own the old i5 tech.

I've been following the SB and although im an intel fan, this is just stupid, its the most pointless "upgrade" you could do, your going to get better performance out of the old tech unless you spend stupid money on there "overclockable" chips,

Maybe now you see why i would easily recommend a older i5 760 over the new ones? im pretty sure reviews and comparisions will come out soon backing up what i've just said.

As others have said before me, a few FPS in games is not enough to say this cpu is AMAZING and the way to go when building a new pc.

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Originally Posted by Tunnah

eh? for 1 its £30 difference, that's not exactly a little more
it doesn't decimate its an improvement sure but it depends on what you're doing with your PC
looking at graphs and noticing bigger bars and a few fps/seconds shaved off doesn't really matter if you're only trying to build a strong, reasonably future proof system on the cheap, that can also play games

i'll let you know first hand though soon enough, just gotta get my deposit money together then can finally build my new rig..woo no more pentium 4!

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Ok, obviously people have to buy to their budget so if they can't afford to stretch to Sandybridge, they won't. But why would anyone build a more expensive i7/x58/p55 system when a cheaper i5/p67 system is quicker - regardless of the performance margin.

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Originally Posted by Jimbo75

Try clocking them both at the same clock speed. Now you're left with crap onboard graphics, weird chip/motherboard combinations and awesome "k" unlockable chips that were unlockable anyway before. Yeah what a great deal that is.

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Well, from an enthusiasts point of view, the onboard gfx are irrelevant and the k chips have a higher maximum multiplier and therefore a higher maximum overclock.
but more importantly, why would you choose to clock them identically when sandybridge obviously has more potential performance. It would be like detuning a wrc car to compare it to a focus.

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Originally Posted by GuinnesCYMRU

Well, from an enthusiasts point of view, the onboard gfx are irrelevant and the k chips have a higher maximum multiplier and therefore a higher maximum overclock.
but more importantly, why would you choose to clock them identically when sandybridge obviously has more potential performance. It would be like detuning a wrc car to compare it to a focus.

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Can i point out the fails that is the 2500K chip? have you seen the threads popping up with it's "amazing" overclocking abilitys? :rolleyes: i assure you this sandy bridge is going to be replaced very quickly, either by an upgraded chip or a new chip altogether, that is of course unless intel address this OC problem people are having.

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Originally Posted by razer121

You are to an extent right, but take the core i5 760, now consider its OC then take the new core i5s, the only one who really has anything on the core i5 760 is the core i5 2500K take note of the "K" please! have you seen its price tag? £170+ for a chip that can OC, the core i5 760 will no doubt OC and stand up to the lower end SB i5 no problem, i could probs prove that with my i5, as could others who own the old i5 tech.

I've been following the SB and although im an intel fan, this is just stupid, its the most pointless "upgrade" you could do, your going to get better performance out of the old tech unless you spend stupid money on there "overclockable" chips,

Maybe now you see why i would easily recommend a older i5 760 over the new ones? im pretty sure reviews and comparisions will come out soon backing up what i've just said.

As others have said before me, a few FPS in games is not enough to say this cpu is AMAZING and the way to go when building a new pc.

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There are plenty of reviews out that show sb beating everything but Intels own hexa-core.

I'm not suggesting that anyone with an older i5 should run out and upgrade to gain a few fps in games. They were top notch processors. As an upgrade from the last core generation its simply not worth it. But as an upgrade from a S775 system or for a new build?

Upgrade from a s775 system is obviously a good idea, but again if someone wanted a decent gaming rig then i would advise again on the older gen of the i5s due to the overclocking ease that you dont get from the new i5s, yes you can on the "k" series but how well can it really be done? the fails that are slowly creeping up suggest the new i5s are not as stable as people first thought.

To top it of i can and will again say the old i5 will most likly OC on par with the Non K series of the new i5s, again reviews should start to pop up and prove this.

The fact is, if you was to buy either a i5 or a i52xxx it wouldn't really matter as both are more than fast enough without a user applied overclock. Personally, it would be a chump decision not to go SB.

You think:

Intel Core i7 2600K
1280MB Asus GTX 570
Asus Maximus IV Extreme - Intel P67

well be a good set up ;D

one enables the use of the on board GPU, can't remember which

looks like i'm going sandy bridge, the 760 is out of stock and i want this PC ASAP ha

fingers crossed i can go pick it up in an hour or so

Can someone clarify for me?

Does quicksync only work if you are using the IGP or would it still kick in if you have a dedicated GPU installed?

Cheers

Currently only works if you are using a H67 board and have the IGP currently in use, so basically the moment you add a discrete card it becomes useless, unless you use the IGP to power a second monitor. Intel are apparently working with lucid to use a chip to allow switching but its not going to be anytime soon.

Lucid have a software only solution that works on H67... No joy with P67 though.

So I have to pay for graphics I will never use and will hold back my overlclocking...

My good old S775 Q9550 is going strong still, but right now the next board will be AM3.

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Originally Posted by dangel

Lucid have a software only solution that works on H67... No joy with P67 though.

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What's it called?

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Originally Posted by Nobull

What's it called?

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'lucid software to allow frame buffer copy to IGP' at the moment ;)

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Originally Posted by kalniel

'lucid software to allow frame buffer copy to IGP' at the moment ;)

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lstafbcti (lastafubcati)

Catchy!! :p

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Originally Posted by Percy1983

So I have to pay for graphics I will never use and will hold back my overlclocking...

My good old S775 Q9550 is going strong still, but right now the next board will be AM3.

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Hold back your overclocking? Tell that to those who had massive O/C's on the i3's...

However you look at it, its silicon I don't want to pay for. By all means in low power machines etc things like this and fusion are great.

sounds to me your just moaning just for the sake of it

Its probably my inner accountant coming out, I look at motherboards and see that on board graphics cost more or you lose features, when I don't want on board graphics I will buy the better board without.

I don't want processors going the same way, I am not a fan of either company but AMD do seem the better fit for me right now.

That may all change by the time I do retire my Q9550.

Granted, it's silicon you won't use. But it's not going to hold back your overclocking, unless Intel are really silly - it'll just turn off the graphics component when it can't be used, so no added thermal load.


Unless you mean the problems with raising the PCI-e clock, in which case OK, yes, it does - at least on the multiplier-unlocked models. I doubt there's much difference with the K ones.

Not everyone is hitting 4.5GHZ with the Core i5 2500K and in many cases people are getting around 4.0 to 4.2GHZ. On top of this the CPUs do seem quite voltage sensitive too and this is why OcUK had to issue the advisory.

OTH,many Core i5 760 CPUs could be overclocked to around 3.8GHZ to 4.2GHZ.

Agreed. A lot of people seem to be ending up with dead chips over 1.4 volts. Intel only recommends 1.35 volts as safe on the website so I think the 4.7 ghz here at 1.45 volts is a pretty poor overclock in reality.

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Originally Posted by McPhee

Which H67 board were you guys using?

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Intel DH67BL.

CAT-THE-FIFTH, what is OTH short for? (Is it 'On The wHole'?)

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Originally Posted by baius

Intel DH67BL.

CAT-THE-FIFTH, what is OTH short for? (Is it 'On The wHole'?)

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On The other Hand.

Hey guys.. a few words about myself,.. I'm usually one of those ignorant folks that would browse through the forums, seek out
Necessary information and leave :) Due to some recent events in my life I came to a conclusion and had decided to change
this ugly aspect about myself and begin contributing as well, or may be at least saying thank you once in a while to those that continually contribute here.

Regards,
Curt