Sandy Bridge, Part 4: Core i5-2400, i5-2500K and i7-2600K CPUs

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January 24, 2011 by Lawrence Lee

Product	Core i5-2400 LGA1155 Processor	Core i5-2500K LGA1155 Processor	Core i7-2600K LGA1155 Processor
Manufacturer	Intel
Street Price	US$195	US$225	US$330

In previous articles we discussed Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture, the new integrated graphics chip, and the budget H67 and enthusiast P67 chipset/motherboards. Today we take a look at the real stars of the show, the CPUs themselves. We have three quad cores under scrutiny, the Core i5-2400, i5-2500K, and the flagship i7-2600K, with street prices of US$195, US$225, and US$330 respectively. The i7-2600K is a bit of a departure for Intel in that its price isn't ridiculously inflated. In the past when new Intel chips were released, the fastest model would usually be priced two to three times higher than the next chip down the line.

The main differences between the three chips are that the "K" series feature a fully unlocked multiplier for easy overclocking, and the i7 has Hyper-threading (eight threads total rather than four). All of them support Turbo Boost, which by default overclocks by 100 MHz when all four cores are active and 400 MHz when only one core is at work. So none of these CPUs ever actually run at their rated clock speed. AMD has a similar featured called "Turbo Core" on their Phenom II X6 line.

Desktop CPU Comparison (US$160~$350)
Model	Speed	L3 Cache	TDP	Features	Street Price
Phenom II X4 965 BE	3.4 GHz	6MB	125W	UL	$165
Phenom II X6 1055T	2.8 GHz	6MB	125W	TC	$180
Phenom II X4 970 BE	3.5 GHz	6MB	125W	TC,UL	$185
Phenom II X4 975 BE	3.6 GHz	6MB	125W	UL	$195
Phenom II X6 1075T	3.0 GHz	6MB	125W	TC	$200
Phenom II X6 1090T BE	3.2 GHz	6MB	125W	TC,UL	$230
Phenom II X6 1100T BE	3.3 GHz	6MB	125W	TC,UL	$270
Core i5-661	3.33 GHz	4MB	87W	HT,TB	$200
Core i5-660	3.33 GHz	4MB	73W	HT,TB	$220
Core i5-680	3.6 GHz	4MB	73W	HT,TB	$300
Core i5-750	2.66 GHz	8MB	95W	TB	$200
Core i5-760	2.8 GHz	8MB	95W	TB	$205
Core i7-870	2.93 GHz	8MB	95W	HT,TB	$290
Core i5-2300	2.8 GHz	6MB	95W	TB	$185
Core i5-2400	3.1 GHz	6MB	95W	TB	$195
Core i5-2500	3.3 GHz	8MB	95W	TB	$210
Core i5-2500K	3.3 GHz	8MB	95W	TB,UL	$225
Core i5-2600	3.4 GHz	8MB	95W	TB	$300
Core i7-2600K	3.4 GHz	8MB	95W	HT,TB,UL	$330
Core i7-950	3.06 GHz	8MB	130W	HT,TB	$295
Core i7-965 XE	3.2 GHz	8MB	130W	HT,TB	N/A
Tested processors are in bold. UL = unlocked multiplier, HT = Hyper-threading, TB = Turbo Boost, TC = Turbo Core

So where do the new processors fall in the big scheme of things? If you take into account CPU pricing alone, it appears that the i5-2400 is destined to do battle with AMD's slower hex cores and fastest quads, and Intel's own Core i5-750/760. The i5-2500K isn't much more expensive, hanging with the same crowd plus the Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition, which also has an unlocked multiplier. The i7-2600K is in the same league as LGA1156's i7-870 and the low end offerings for LGA1366.

To give you a better idea of what the different CPUs will actually cost you, we added the prices of a typical motherboard to the processors we're comparing today. The prices were taken from all compatible Intel/Asus/Gigabyte/MSI DDR3 microATX and ATX motherboards at Newegg and averaged out to US$103 for AM3, US$117 for LGA1156, and US$147 for LGA1155. Adding this cost changes things up a bit. For example, as a platform, the X4 975 is actually on average US$44 cheaper than the i5-2400. Keep this in mind later on when we judge the value of each Sandy Bridge CPU.

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