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Intel Sandy Bridge CPU Reviews/Benchmarks

mclaren777

mclaren777

Member
Credit

Our technical guys have spent the entire weekend and this morning in discussions with Intel regarding the alarming amount of reports of Sandybridge CPU's dying and have been conducting our own testing as have Intel to find out what is a definite no no.

Sandybridge maximum safe voltages

Core Voltage - Not recommended too exceed 1.38v, doing so could kill the CPU, we therefor recommend a range of 1.325-1.350v if overclocking.
Memory Voltage - Intel recommend 1.50v plus/minus 5% which means upto 1.58v is the safe recommended limit. In our testing we have found 1.65v has caused no issues.
BCLK Base Clock - This is strictly a NO, anyone using base clock overclocking could/will cause damange to CPU/Mainboard. (Set manually to 100)
PLL Voltage - Do not exceed 1.9v!!

Processor - Basically we recommend customers not to exceed 1.35v to play it safe, all our bundles are set at 1.3250v or lower, any competitors offering bundles above 4.6GHz you should be enquiring as to what voltage they are using as we believe anything over 1.38v will limit CPU lifespan and anything over 1.42v will likely kill the CPU or severely limit its lifespan.

Memory - Intel recommend 1.50v plus/minus 5% which means 1.60v is the ideal safe maximum, but we have found in our testing all 1.65v memory is fine. We have also found most new 1.65v like Corsair XMS3 will run at its rated timings with just 1.50-1.55v which is well within Intel specifications. So people upgrading to Sandybridge you can still use your old DDR3, but we do recommend you run it at 1.60v or less. We are shipping most of our bundles which feature Corsair XMS at 1.50v-1.55v at rated timings. We've also discussed with Asus and MSI regarding voltages for memory and they also confirm in their testing 1.65v caused no issues with reliability.

Base Clock - To put it simple if you value the life of your components, do not overclock using base clock!

PLL Voltage - Again do not exceed 1.9v!

These are just guidelines we recommend you follow, if you want to push more voltage through your CPU's then just be aware they could die on you. Your warranty is un-affected and we will honor any CPU's that die, we just won't ask questions as to how you killed them.

Not all CPU's are as fragile as others, we have experimented upto 1.50v Vcore and 1.70v memory and had zero issues with reliability, so it seems some of fine when pushing hard.
Click to expand...
 
Nabs

Nabs

Member
LiquidMetal14 said:
DAMMMMMMMMMN, I may have to drive there for this. 80 miles away /weep

I will make the trip but damn if it isn't far away.
Click to expand...
make sure you order it online first
 
W

Wallach

Member
Microcenter always comes through with sick CPU/MB combos. I bought my i5-750 and GA-P55M-UD2 the holiday season after it came out in September for ~$200 plus tax (Colorado).
 
M

Mr. Wonderful

Member
mrklaw said:
how is the IGP compared to that of the previous i3/i5 etc?
Click to expand...
Comparatively good, still not that great. What you should be getting excited about it QuickSync, however. For video transcoding, it's over 2x as fast as even things using CUDA/Stream!
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
fushi said:
... really?

I know a Q6600 is good, but that good?
Click to expand...

Lots of people were hitting 4GHz with it. That would have been faster than anything but a hexacore up until Sandy Bridge.

I should say...it wouldn't really be faster than a Sandy Bridge now...though it wouldn't be far off.

i7 wasn't all that much faster clock for clock, as far as I can recall.
 
V

-viper-

Banned
I'm getting pretty confused here. It says Intel will release new processors (Ivy Bridge).

When will they do that?

Is it better for me to buy the Sandybridge or should I wait for the Ivy Bridge? Will the prices be similar? I find the 2500k to be great value but if something better is coming down the line then I'm more than happy to wait a few months.

What is the expected release date for Ivy Bridge?
 
J

Jin34

Member
-viper- said:
I'm getting pretty confused here. It says Intel will release new processors (Ivy Bridge).

When will they do that?

Is it better for me to buy the Sandybridge or should I wait for the Ivy Bridge? Will the prices be similar? I find the 2500k to be great value but if something better is coming down the line then I'm more than happy to wait a few months.

What is the expected release date for Ivy Bridge?
Click to expand...

1 year.
 
V

Vyer

Member
Went to MC. Got myself down for the i5, which they had plenty of. MBs were completely gone, though.

Guy said to come back toward end of holding period. Said that even if they are still sold out they may be able to work out something with one of the other boards, so we'll see.
 
H

HomerSimpson-Man

Member
-viper- said:
I'm getting pretty confused here. It says Intel will release new processors (Ivy Bridge).

When will they do that?

Is it better for me to buy the Sandybridge or should I wait for the Ivy Bridge? Will the prices be similar? I find the 2500k to be great value but if something better is coming down the line then I'm more than happy to wait a few months.

What is the expected release date for Ivy Bridge?
Click to expand...

From what I've heard I thought Ivy Bridge are Sandybridge chips in a smaller nanometer fab process. So I wouldn't bother waiting if that's the case for that long.
 
K

knitoe

Member
HomerSimpson-Man said:
From what I've heard I thought Ivy Bridge are Sandybridge chips in a smaller nanometer fab process. So I wouldn't bother waiting if that's the case for that long.
Click to expand...
Ivy bridge is the high end, like the previuos 1156 vs 1366. And, it's suppose to support 6-8 cores on quad channel ram. The price is definitely going to be more.
 
LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
knitoe said:
Ivy bridge is the high end, like the previuos 1156 vs 1366. And, it's suppose to support 6-8 cores on quad channel ram. The price is definitely going to be more.
Click to expand...
Clearly an enthusiast piece. I'm interested in high performance without breaking the bank. Sandy Bridge is amazing value.
 
H

HomerSimpson-Man

Member
Quad channel ram? Can never win!

Still, in retrospect the premium I paid for DDR3 over DDR2 was the least noticeable benefit over my rig so I can sleep easy at night.

I'm waiting for SSD to get more mainstream in price, now those babies make a huge difference.
 
U

Unknown Soldier

Member
fushi said:
... really?

I know a Q6600 is good, but that good?
Click to expand...

I moved from a Q6600 OCed to 3.2ghz to a Core i7-950 OCed to 4ghz about 4 months ago and the difference is night and day. I can't imagine what it must feel like to go from Q6600 to a 4.5ghz Sandy Bridge, it probably feels like upgrading from a Ford Focus to a Lamborghini. :lol
 
J

Jin34

Member
knitoe said:
Ivy bridge is the high end, like the previuos 1156 vs 1366. And, it's suppose to support 6-8 cores on quad channel ram. The price is definitely going to be more.
Click to expand...

Wrong. That's the Sandy Bridge high end you are talking about which will be on socket 2011 instead of the mainstream socket 1155 which is what came out just now. Those 6-8 core quad channel ram cpus are Sandy Bridge too. Ivy Bridge comes out a year from now and is a die shrink of Sandy Bridge (32nm to 22nm).
 
C

cartman414

Member
Well, not necessarily. It's just the die shrink of Sandy Bridge, otherwise known as the tick.

It is likely that the high-end will be catered to first this time though.

Is the Socket 2011 mobo going to be called X68? If so, where does that leave Z68? And are Intel just skipping triple-channel (i. e. the fabled 1356) this time for the enthusiast/extreme market, this time consolidating their quad-channel mobo, 2011, with the server market?
 
J

Jin34

Member
cartman414 said:
Well, not necessarily. It's just the die shrink of Sandy Bridge, otherwise known as the tick.

It is likely that the high-end will be catered to first this time though.

Is the Socket 2011 mobo going to be called X68? If so, where does that leave Z68? And are Intel just skipping triple-channel (i. e. the fabled 1356) this time for the enthusiast/extreme market, this time consolidating their quad-channel mobo, 2011, with the server market?
Click to expand...

What part of what I said was not quite correct?

X68 is what it's being called but unsure if that's the actual name. That leaves Z68 in the same place it is, a cross between P67 and H67 for LGA1155 and yet another wonderful Intel naming confusion :lol

As for 1356, the only place I ever heard of that was on gaf really. To me it has always been 1155 and 2011. Perhaps it was something at the beginning where they were going to use that or 2011 and 2011 won out or it was 2011 all along but people didn't know the name and just called it that. Regardless I fail to see what would be the point of that chipset so its probably not coming out.
 
LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
Jin34 said:
What part of what I said was not quite correct?

X68 is what it's being called but unsure if that's the actual name. That leaves Z68 in the same place it is, a cross between P67 and H67 for LGA1155 and yet another wonderful Intel naming confusion :lol

As for 1356, the only place I ever heard of that was on gaf really. To me it has always been 1155 and 2011. Perhaps it was something at the beginning where they were going to use that or 2011 and 2011 won out or it was 2011 all along but people didn't know the name and just called it that. Regardless I fail to see what would be the point of that chipset so its probably not coming out.
Click to expand...
The only thing I was saying was relative to price, which I have no clue about. Put the claws away.

From my perspective, I hate the constant change. I want it to settle down but the hardcore markets always want the higher end performance. Such is the nature of computer tech.
 
V

Vyer

Member
Damn it, I told myself I was going to piece my new system together slowly, looking for the best deals as they come. But now that I'm about to knock out the CPU and MB in one nice great deal, I'm scouring Newegg trying to rationalize just buying the rest this week. :lol
 
M

mjemirzian

Banned
tokkun said:
.
Click to expand...
uhh, what? For all you know, Intel could still announce/come out with a third lga chipset. Just because a wiki nerd put that notice up there doesn't mean anything. I don't understand why you're quoting useless wiki jargon as if people can't read for themselves.
 
bee

bee

Member
well its up and running, couldn't fit my old cpu cooler as it had issues so just on the stock one for now and not the one with the heatpipes either just the normal pos, idle 35 ish and game load at high 50's, not too bad for a few days, but i'll skip overclocking for now

running everything at stock right now, ram is underclocked at 1333mhz and even the graphics card is at stock. i've only tested 2 games so far, the cpu hogs that are black ops and gta 4 and in those 2 games the step up from my old q9550@3.4 is like night and day. black ops had serious performance issues on my old pc, now im running the exact same pc components except the cpu,mobo and ram and running same drivers, patch etc. when you start the game and goto blow the cars up i was getting 25-45fps maxed at 1080p, now im gettin 65-91fps. similar situation in gta4 just not as extreme, BIG performance improvement though
 
I

isamu

OMFG HOLY MOTHER OF MARY IN HEAVEN I CANT BELIEVE IT WTF WHERE ARE MY SEDATIVES AAAAHHH
bee said:
well its up and running, couldn't fit my old cpu cooler as it had issues so just on the stock one for now and not the one with the heatpipes either just the normal pos, idle 35 ish and game load at high 50's, not too bad for a few days, but i'll skip overclocking for now

running everything at stock right now, ram is underclocked at 1333mhz and even the graphics card is at stock. i've only tested 2 games so far, the cpu hogs that are black ops and gta 4 and in those 2 games the step up from my old q9550@3.4 is like night and day. black ops had serious performance issues on my old pc, now im running the exact same pc components except the cpu,mobo and ram and running same drivers, patch etc. when you start the game and goto blow the cars up i was getting 25-45fps maxed at 1080p, now im gettin 65-91fps. similar situation in gta4 just not as extreme, BIG performance improvement though
Click to expand...

wow very interesting bee.

OK here's the deal. My friend has an AMD Phenom II Black Edition CPU. He wants to make the transition to Intel. Would he be better off going with my CPU, which is an Intel Core i7 950, or an Intel i7 Sandy Bridge 2600k? Which one of these CPU's will give him the biggest performance improvement?
 
I

isamu

OMFG HOLY MOTHER OF MARY IN HEAVEN I CANT BELIEVE IT WTF WHERE ARE MY SEDATIVES AAAAHHH
cartman414 said:
If you're just in it for gaming, yes. If you use any apps that benefit from multithreading, then i7-2600 takes the cake.
Click to expand...

so you guys are saying the i7-2600k is pound for pound the better CPU over the i7-950?
 
C

cartman414

Member
isamu said:
so you guys are saying the i7-2600k is pound for pound the better CPU over the i7-950?
Click to expand...

Both the 2500K and 2600K are better. If you just want games, get the 2500K. If you also use any serious apps, get the 2600K.
 
T

tokkun

Member
cartman414 said:
If you're just in it for gaming, yes. If you use any apps that benefit from multithreading, then i7-2600 takes the cake.
Click to expand...

In terms of pure performance:$ ratio the 2500K is still better in most multithreaded apps. The 2600K costs 50% more, but typically doesn't deliver 50% more performance.
 
LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
cartman414 said:
Both the 2500K and 2600K are better. If you just want games, get the 2500K. If you also use any serious apps, get the 2600K.
Click to expand...
Indeed. You can OC and get a nice boost though. My thing was the price difference for the little gain.
 
S

scorcho

testicles on a cold fall morning
is a load temp of 60C respectable for an overclock to 4.3ghz? i bumped the vcore up a smidge to 1.27v.
 
C

cartman414

Member
tokkun said:
In terms of pure performance:$ ratio the 2500K is still better in most multithreaded apps. The 2600K costs 50% more, but typically doesn't deliver 50% more performance.
Click to expand...

I guess not. Hopefully by the time the Patsburg (LGA 2011) based units come out, it'll drop in price. Still, when accounting for time spent on tasks, the 2600K expends less kilojoules than any other CPU.

Speaking of Patsburg, this popped up yesterday: http://www.semiaccurate.com/2011/01/12/intels-patsburg-chipset-detail/
 
D

Darkkn

Member
Updated finally my Core2duo+P5K mobo combo to i5 2500k and Asus P8P67 mobo.
Glad i waited until these badboys came out, since i've been close to pulling the trigger on previous 4 core models. Feels totally worthwhile upgrade and for a reasonable price. I can finally play TF2 at 60fps again after they bloated the game with all the updates :)
 
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