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Intel i5-2500K Sandy Bridge
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 As we ring in the New Year Intel is prepping the launch of their newest processor family along with a new socket and chipset to go along with it. Intel’s newest processor family is based on the new Sandy Bridge microarchitecture, a complete change from the Nehalem microarchitecture that we have seen for the past few years. With Sandy Bridge we also have H61, H67, and P67 chipsets sporting a new LGA 1155 socket that is very similar to the old 1156 socket. Today we are going to take a closer look at Intel’s i5-2500K along with their DH67BL motherboard.
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Intel's Sandy Bridge Debuts: Core i5 2500K and Core i7 2600K CPUs Reviewed
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Enter the Sandy Bridge 32nm architecture, which marks the introduction of the 2nd generation Intel Core processors. Sandy Bridge is designed to be a two-chip platform consisting of a processor and Platform Controller Hub (PCH). It incorporates an Integrated Display Engine, Processor Graphics, and Integrated Memory Controller. The debut of Sandy Bridge will result in the replacement of almost the entire Intel desktop CPU lineup and an important segment of their mobile line as well.
All in all, 14 new desktop CPUs are being launched today spanning the Core i7, i5 and i3 series, in addition to 15 mobile processors and several more supporting chipsets. Although we will focus on the desktop side of things on this review, there's still a lot to cover. Before jumping into performance benchmarks we will detail the inner workings of the Sandy Bridge architecture and how it differs to its predecessors. We are also putting special emphasis on the improved integrated graphics logic, Turbo Boost and the new 6 series chipsets.
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Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge GPU Performance
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Intel's new Core processors based on the Sandy Bridge Architecture have been released. They bring a new integrated graphics core that effectively doubles rendering power compared to the last generation. It also includes numerous new features geared to both the gamer and consumer.
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Intel Core i5 2500K & Core i7 2600K processor review
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Sandy bridge is here, today we'll put the Intel Core i7-2600K and Intel Core i5-2500K processors to the test, we will pair the 2600K processor with the Intel Desktop Motherboard DP67BG and also run a test with the Intel Core i5-2500K processor on a Intel DH67BL motherboard.
And in advance let me already state, It's not often that I am as impressed with hardware as what we've just reviewed.
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Intel Sandy Bridge: Core i5 2500K and Intel 6 Series Chipset
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This review will focus on the Intel Core i5 2500K and the Intel H67 chipset's integrated performance. We also have published a review on the fastest Sandy Bridge, Intel Core i7 2600K with HyperThreading and Asus P8P67 boards, check those reviews out as well.
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Intel Core i7-2600K and Core i5-2500K (Sandy Bridge) CPUs
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Back in the days of the Conroe CPUs, I compared Intel to a charging rhino. They are a big company that has a lot of weight and momentum behind them. Often there are times it can be hard for them to change direction, but once they are on a course they can build up quite the momentum. If you have ever seen a rhino charge and hit something squarely (even on TV), you will also know they can have quite an impact. Ever since the launch of Conroe Intel has been building up momentum behind their CPU designs and just like that rhino they have hit the market with quite an impact. On the heels of Conroe came Nehalem, then Lynnfield, then Clarkdale, and now we have a new name to drop on the market.
Sandy Bridge brings a few new things to the table along with a new socket and chipset. Some may be annoyed at the need for a completely new motherboard to support the new chip (AMD will especially like to point this out), but others will see it as a continued evolution in the process. No matter where you sit on this one, you will be looking at a new P67 or H67 if you plan to pick up a Sandy Bridge CPU."
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AMD's first Fusion APU
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"Let's tackle the issue of performance from a component stand
point. The dual-core Bobcat processor in the Zacate APU from AMD is
much faster than the dual-core HyperThreaded Atom D510 processors and
is about on par with the performance of the Penryn-based dual-core
Celeron SU2300 CULV part. Obviously the in-order architecture of the
Atom CPU family is starting to show its age and I have to wonder if
Intel doesn't have something else up their sleeve to compete with the
obviously fundamentally better design of the Bobcat core."
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AMD Brazos Platform Benchmarked - Zacate E-350 1.6GHz APU
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"The x264 HD benchmark is said to be ideal for a benchmark because the application reports fairly accurate compression results for each pass of the video encoding process, and it uses multi-core processors very efficiently. The AMD Zacate E-350 APU does very well in this benchmark and was faster than the Intel Atom N330 and Core 2 Solo SU3500 in this encoding performance test..."
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Intel and AMD face microprocessor stalemate
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The world's two largest microprocessor manufacturers - Intel and AMD - held their ground in the third quarter, with neither company able to wrest significant market share away from the other, according to market research firm iSuppli.
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Paired up: The latest GPUs
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Can a pair of sub-$200 video cards outperform a $500+ monster? What happens if two $500+ monsters team up? And which solution has the best value proposition? We have a look."
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Inside the AMD Bulldozer Architecture
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"AMD is unveiling today the new processor architecture that will be used in their new CPUs starting in 2011. Codenamed Bulldozer, this architecture is completely different from the current AMD64 architecture that AMD has been using since the introduction of the very first Athlon 64 CPU back in 2003. In this tutorial we will give you an in-depth explanation of how this new architecture looks like and how it works."
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Intel "Gulftown" Core i7-980X (LostCircuits)
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Gulftown is without any doubt the most powerful processor we have ever laid hands on and it raises the bar for performance by almost 50% compared to Bloomfield. As such, the Core i7-980X is probably the first Extreme Edition to get excited about and arguably it is even worth the US$999.- price tag.
Aside from the raw processing power, the other hi-light of the “980X” is its energy efficiency – of course with the caveat that we can only factor in core power as opposed to core plus L3 cache and uncore, which necessarily come into play when we are looking into processors with a common supply plane as in the case of AMD’s architecture.
This said, there are a few caveats that are outside the hardware and relate primarily to the current software landscape. Some applications will not run on 6 cores, even if they are multithreaded, other applications that depend primarily on memory bandwidth will have a minor set-back compared to the i7-965 or 975. The good thing with respect to the first issue is that the “level of badness” will hopefully penetrate the ignorance at some of the software manufacturers and force them to get their act together. You snooze, you lose.
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AMD Phenom II Dragon Platform
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"Today we are looking at the AMD Dragon platform powered by the new AMD Phenom II 940 Black Edition. The 940 is one of the best processor bargains and offers lots of bang for your buck.
AMD is keep to point out that the 940 is part of its Dragon platform, which offers impressive levels of performance at prices that the mainstream gamer or computer user can afford. "
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Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Dual-Core Processor Review
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"The Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 is new low-cost Core 2 processor targeted at the mainstream market. Unlike other Wolfdale-based processors though, the Core 2 Duo E7200 has half its L2 cache disabled. This leaves the processor with only 3MB of L2 cache. It also uses a slower FSB speed of 1066 MHz.
But does that mean it is slower than the Conroe-based Core 2 Duo processors that have 4MB of L2 cache and a faster FSB speed? You would be surprised at the results when we tested this processor and compared it against the performance of the Conroe-based Core 2 Duo processors."
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Beginners Guides
