CPUs|Motherboards

The Core i7-3960X is Intel's flagship processor for their new Sandy Bridge Extreme (LGA2011) platform. This extravagantly priced US$990 chip is based on Sandy Bridge and has six cores, 15MB of L3 cache, a quad channel memory controller, and a souped up version of TurboBoost.

Bulldozer is AMD's latest CPU architecture featuring an overhauled 32nm chip design, updated instruction sets, and up to eight processing cores. The FX-8150 sports a maximum clock speed of 4.2 Ghz while retaining the 125W TDP of most of the Phenom II X4/X6 line.

The Gigabyte A75M-UD2H is a mainstream microATX FM1 motherboard for the new AMD APUs that is both feature-rich and affordable. It sports an all solid-state capacitor design, USB 3.0, SATA 6 Gbps, eSATA, FireWire, and both HDMI and DisplayPort outputs, all for a street price of just US$100.

The A8-3850 heads AMD's new line of desktop APUs with a new socket, FM1. These new Fusion chips are composed of K10-based quad core CPUs and the fastest integrated GPUs ever. Our complete lowdown on how it fits in today's complex computing scene.

Intel Core i3-2100T and Core i5-2400S processors have a rated speed of just 2.5 GHz, but the i5-2400S has some crazy Turbo Boost speeds, and they both have TDPs 30W lower than their standard counterparts.

The Asus P8H67-I Deluxe challenges the Zotac H67-ITX in a high-end premium Sandy Bridge mini-ITX motherboard duel. Sporting eSATA, USB 3.0, 802.11n with extended antennae, Bluetooth, and Asus' well-implemented UEFI and second generation AI Suite utilities, it has all the right tools to be a winner.

The Zotac H67-ITX is the most capable mini-ITX board on the market. It offers a full set of features including SATA 6 Gbps, eSATA, USB 3.0, and 802.11n, not to mention full support for Intel's Sandy Bridge processors.

In a dual core battle, Intel's entry level Sandy Bridge chip, the Core i3-2100, takes on AMD's best, the Phenom II X2 565 Black Edition. Find out how they stack up against each another and Intel's Clarkdale processors.

The Asus E35M1-M Pro is a microATX board featuring a new embedded AMD Fusion E-350 APU (accelerated processing unit), an 18W chip with both CPU and GPU on the same die. Find out how it fares against low-end Atom, CULV, and ION powered systems.

Having explored P67 offerings from Intel and Gigabyte, we now have Asus P67 boards on our test bench. The P8P67 and P8P67 Pro are attractively priced given their respective feature-sets and they have a few other niceties that users will enjoy.

The Core i5-2400, i5-2500K, and i7-2600K are the top models in Intel's new Sandy Bridge CPU lineup. We compare them against other current Intel offerings as well as AMD's best quad and hex core chips. Our analysis shows they how compare in performance, cost, and energy efficiency.

The third part of our Sandy Bridge coverage examines a pair of mid-to-high range P67 motherboards, the Gigabyte P67A-UD4 and Intel DP67BG. P67 is the enthusiast chipset for socket 1155, trading in Intel's GMA HD 2000/3000 graphics for extreme overclocking capability.

The second portion of our Sandy Bridge examination focuses on the budget H67 chipset which enables use of the Sand Bridge CPU's internal HD 2000/3000 graphics, and more specifically, the Intel DH67BL and Asus P8H67-M EVO motherboards.

In our first piece on Sandy Bridge aka LGA1155, we examine Intel's new high-end integrated graphics chip (if there is such a thing), GMA HD 3000. It has inherent advantages from residing on the same die as the CPU, and it also has a clever dynamic clock generator.

Zotac was the first to introduce tiny desktop systems featuring Intel CULV chips in the ZBOX line, and now they've introduced the first CULV mini-ITX motherboards. The Zotac IONITX-P-E features an integrated dual core Celeron SU2300 processor, ION graphics, 802.11n, eSATA, and a full-sized PCI-E expansion slot.