Sandy Bridge i7 & i5 Reviews

[OCX600RR]

I'm sorry but I'm super excited about these chips; especially 2500K & 2600K. Coming from a daily 4.2Ghz E8400 I'm hoping to see some improvement in gaming & general performance across the board even running 3.8Ghz on a 2500K...doub't it would need much of a voltage bump if any to hit that speed...Don't yell at me but I'm looking at buying a H50 for the upcoming 2500K. Good move or bad? I've heard good things & I've heard bad things! Of course I'm on a low end budget so I can't afford a full blown water cooling solution ATM.

[koc]

i7 no, i5 no, 775 yes.. Honestly we have so much coming out heres a list..

thank you for johnny , i was thinking tha same , just i want make sure
since i use my system for gaming only , i think i can servive with it more few months until LGA1356 or LGA2011

[FlanK3r]

sorry, but 3. CPU dont coming with SB ....

[Lucky_n00b]

Yeah. That reinforces what Anand said, 2500K = 52x. So the 2600K is likely to be = 57x.

I got the retail i7-2600K already(D2 stepping), but cannot get it past 4.9Ghz.

4.8Ghz @ 1.35V running IBT about 2-hour (on Corsair H70), motherboard is MSI P67A-GD65.

4.9Ghz need 1.5V, a little unstable, but still can do Vantage CPU test/Wprime 1024Ms easy

5Ghz CANNOT Boot at all...no matter what voltage I applied. Already testing on air , testing a lot of various configuration, for about one week and don't seem to get better result. Still cannot boot @ 5Ghz.

And the most confusing experience, it DOESN'T Scale at ALL with LN2(-130C)...wasted 35L already, no result. Triend the same processor on 4 different motherboard(ASUS,GBT,MSI,Intel), no gain.Not even a 100Mhz increase.Nothing.nada.zip

BLCK Scaled a bit from 104Mhz(air) to 110Mhz(LN2), but clockspeed seems the same (4.9Ghz).

So far, SB = Good for air, nightmare for Xtreme overclocker

[Johnny87au]

I'm sorry but I'm super excited about these chips; especially 2500K & 2600K. Coming from a daily 4.2Ghz E8400 I'm hoping to see some improvement in gaming & general performance across the board even running 3.8Ghz on a 2500K...doub't it would need much of a voltage bump if any to hit that speed...Don't yell at me but I'm looking at buying a H50 for the upcoming 2500K. Good move or bad? I've heard good things & I've heard bad things! Of course I'm on a low end budget so I can't afford a full blown water cooling solution ATM.

I like to see it like this, if your gonna use a h50 or h70 invest in a custom watercooling loop as thats where it is! Honest'y id go a good aftermarket cooler something like the silver arrow which is top dog using push/pull, Will keep your temps under easily! not like your gonna need it with sandybridge hehe

thank you for johnny , i was thinking tha same , just i want make sure
since i use my system for gaming only , i think i can servive with it more few months until LGA1356 or LGA2011

Good thinking , LGA1356 looks very promising , im super pumped!! Cant wait to see what they have to offer in terms of overclocking, hope it isnt multiplier locked like current sb's..

@luckynoob could of told you that mate, 1155's arent very l2n friendly hehe in terms of xtreme clocking

[PatRaceTin]

I got the retail i7-2600K already(D2 stepping), but cannot get it past 4.9Ghz.

4.8Ghz @ 1.35V running IBT about 2-hour (on Corsair H70), motherboard is MSI P67A-GD65.

4.9Ghz need 1.5V, a little unstable, but still can do Vantage CPU test/Wprime 1024Ms easy

5Ghz CANNOT Boot at all...no matter what voltage I applied. Already testing on air , testing a lot of various configuration, for about one week and don't seem to get better result. Still cannot boot @ 5Ghz.

And the most confusing experience, it DOESN'T Scale at ALL with LN2(-130C)...wasted 35L already, no result. Triend the same processor on 4 different motherboard(ASUS,GBT,MSI,Intel), no gain.Not even a 100Mhz increase.Nothing.nada.zip

BLCK Scaled a bit from 104Mhz(air) to 110Mhz(LN2), but clockspeed seems the same (4.9Ghz).

So far, SB = Good for air, nightmare for Xtreme overclocker

Bad news!!!!

[EagleRock]

i don't understand how the people can be disappointed if the cpu can do 4.9ghz on air !!
for extreme overclocking with LN2 you guys have to wait for the 1356 and 2011.

[prava]

i7 no, i5 no, 775 yes.. Honestly we have so much coming out heres a list..

2010 => 2011...
LGA1156 => LGA1155
LGA1366 => LGA1356
LGA1567 => LGA2011

(1) LGA1155
=> Single CPU socket mobos.
=> Dual-channel RAM.
=> Budget to Mainstream market.

(2) LGA1356
=> High-end single CPU socket to entry level dual CPU socket mobos.
=> Triple-channel RAM.
=> Enthusiast and Server/Workstation markets.

(3) LGA2011
=> High-end dual CPU socket to entry level quad CPU Socket or greater.
=> Quad-channel RAM.
=> High-end Server market

There is NOTHING in the roadmaps that indicates a different socket rather than 1155 and 2011 next year, so dont get too happy about it because for what has been said 1356 was scrapped.

[DarthShader]

The Asus uses UEFI. Intel probably is using the regular BIOS ? This makes you wonder if the BIOS is better for CPU support ?

Intel uses UEFI on their mobo's since last (current) generation. Doubt they've gone back.

Thanks for the update Chri$ch!

@Lucky_n00b: Update your UEFI.

[zalbard]

Surely the one to get will be the 2600K for -bigadv right? I'm looking into the 2500K, you think PPD ~ 15,000 ?

No idea about PPD, ask Dave... But HT is surely worth it for crunching.

[tool_462]

Surely the one to get will be the 2600K for -bigadv right? I'm looking into the 2500K, you think PPD ~ 15,000 ?

15k PPD stock clocks maybe, but probably more. Even a 920 that barely finishes the WUs in time pulls that much at weak overclocks

[Metroid]

.....

Sad to hear about.

[shoota]

15k PPD stock clocks maybe, but probably more. Even a 920 that barely finishes the WUs in time pulls that much at weak overclocks

15k wcg points? i7 9x0s can do way more than that without an overclock

[tool_462]

15k wcg points? i7 9x0s can do way more than that without an overclock

Unless WCG has a -bigadv flag, he was talking about F@H.

[Movieman]

Yeah. That reinforces what Anand said, 2500K = 52x. So the 2600K is likely to be = 57x.

Nope, higher!

Besides the clocks in overclocking, I am not really impressed. There was way more change with Nehalem in regards to performance. I can see bulldozer being faster than this as the bar isn't that crazy high if this is it. The best improvement appears to be the power consumption but I don't car for that at all. I guess this is a improvement for those that want to stay with intel Integrated graphics, but that's it. I think desktop SB isn't really that good, I can see this being good in a laptop though.

Just a general comment as I'm still learning this.
Huge computational power for what is essentially a mid line chip.
Much better clock for clock vs Nehalem,Westmere,etc..
I think once the BIOS matures that this will be one hell of a cruncher especially when you factor in price and did I mention that the electrical draw is incredibly efficient..
Yea, I think they have a winner here and a big one.

No idea about PPD, ask Dave... But HT is surely worth it for crunching.

No ideas yet, well I do but not posting numbers..

[chuchnit]

<snip>
Huge computational power for what is essentially a mid line chip.
Much better clock for clock vs Nehalem,Westmere,etc..


Yea, I think they have a winner here and a big one.<snip>

So far it almost looks like these are so fast that they make 1366 look irrelevant except for benchers (and crunchers who use the hexacores). Wanna share any thoughts??

[Movieman]

So far it almost looks like these are so fast that they make 1366 look irrelevant except for benchers (and crunchers who use the hexacores). Wanna share any thoughts??

Some..
2600k on Win7 64 Enterprise at defaults with 2x4 gig GSKill DDR3-1600 and a old 36 gig Raptor is the fastest "appearing" system I've ever worked with.
That's just a general observation and only based on 9 hours of frustration due to the bios being so flakey that I wanted to toss a brick at the system.
Yea, it's got so much computational power even at stock and hamstrung by the bios that it makes you sit up and go

[AAbenson]

I got the retail i7-2600K already(D2 stepping), but cannot get it past 4.9Ghz.

4.8Ghz @ 1.35V running IBT about 2-hour (on Corsair H70), motherboard is MSI P67A-GD65.

4.9Ghz need 1.5V, a little unstable, but still can do Vantage CPU test/Wprime 1024Ms easy

5Ghz CANNOT Boot at all...no matter what voltage I applied. Already testing on air , testing a lot of various configuration, for about one week and don't seem to get better result. Still cannot boot @ 5Ghz.

And the most confusing experience, it DOESN'T Scale at ALL with LN2(-130C)...wasted 35L already, no result. Triend the same processor on 4 different motherboard(ASUS,GBT,MSI,Intel), no gain.Not even a 100Mhz increase.Nothing.nada.zip

BLCK Scaled a bit from 104Mhz(air) to 110Mhz(LN2), but clockspeed seems the same (4.9Ghz).

So far, SB = Good for air, nightmare for Xtreme overclocker

Lucky_n00b can you post the voltage step increases from the default freq to the max freq that you reached,please?
....like default V until 4ghz....then 1.3v at 4.2ghz...

[chuchnit]

Some..
2600k on Win7 64 Enterprise at defaults with 2x4 gig GSKill DDR3-1600 and a old 36 gig Raptor is the fastest "appearing" system I've ever worked with.
That's just a general observation and only based on 9 hours of frustration due to the bios being so flakey that I wanted to toss a brick at the system.
Yea, it's got so much computational power even at stock and hamstrung by the bios that it makes you sit up and go

Ok that's enough teasing Dave. Intel should go ahead and launch this already. Half the world screwed the launch up anyways.

[Lucky_n00b]

Lucky_n00b can you post the voltage step increases from the default freq to the max freq that you reached,please?
....like default V until 4ghz....then 1.3v at 4.2ghz...

This is what I got so far , on MSI board with Thermalright Venomous X:

1.2V (When I load optimized + no Vdroop this is what i get) = 4.3Ghz IBT Stable
1.25V = 4.5Ghz IBT Stable
1.3V = 4.7Ghz IBT STable
1.35V = 4.8Ghz IBT Stable
1.5V = 4.9ghz , no IBT but VantageCPU/Wprime1024/Cinebench R11.5 Stable
5Ghz = No BOOT at all.

[prava]

Some..
2600k on Win7 64 Enterprise at defaults with 2x4 gig GSKill DDR3-1600 and a old 36 gig Raptor is the fastest "appearing" system I've ever worked with.
That's just a general observation and only based on 9 hours of frustration due to the bios being so flakey that I wanted to toss a brick at the system.
Yea, it's got so much computational power even at stock and hamstrung by the bios that it makes you sit up and go

You are such a teaser, Dave, you know its not fair C'mon, create yourself another account and show'us some!

[Movieman]

Ok that's enough teasing Dave. Intel should go ahead and launch this already. Half the world screwed the launch up anyways.

You are such a teaser, Dave, you know its not fair C'mon, create yourself another account and show'us some!

It's a tough situation.
Sure, I'd love to plaster the forum with benchmarks but then there is the other side.
Do I want to stand up and piss on Intel?
No.. I have no signed NDA's with anyone but you have to stop and thinkon what your doing.
My way to handle this is to speak in generalities with no numbers.
I can say this:
It's a beast,needs bios to be more mature( Intel Burrage board) and is electrically VERY efficient.
You will NOT be disappointed if you buy one of the 2500k's or 2600k's.
The 2600k has HT, the 2500k doesn't and is supposed to be $100.00 cheaper.
If your a gamer get the 2500k, a cruncher or bencher get the 2600k.

Now I have a question for you guys:
Who the hell do I call at Gigabyte to get my hands on a P67 UD5 or 7 as those seem to be the best out!
Yes, my credit card is in hand, not looking for any gifts!

[shoota]

ugh i'm always behind in technology! just when i thought i caught up with a 1366 setup SB comes in and slaps me in the face

[Manicdan]

@MM
dont forget the flipside to that coin
making your dogs fight over scraps leaves them hungry and angry and they begin to notice all the juicy fat youve accumulated, dont want them turning on ya.

[Movieman]

@MM
dont forget the flipside to that coin
making your dogs fight over scraps leaves them hungry and angry and they begin to notice all the juicy fat youve accumulated, dont want them turning on ya.

Your funny..
Not my intent.
I got this just to see how it would be for a cruncher in terms of computational power and electrical use.
That was my only interest as lets face it, it's short a socket IMHO..