The Sandy Bridge Review: Intel Core i7-2600K, i5-2500K and Core i3-2100 Tested
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 3, 2011 12:01 AM ESTThe Lineup
I don’t include a lot of super markety slides in these launch reviews, but this one is worthy of a mention:
Sandy Bridge is launching with no less than 29 different SKUs today. That’s 15 for mobile and 14 for desktop. Jarred posted his full review of the mobile Core i7-2820QM, so check that out if you want the mobile perspective on all of this.
By comparison, this time last year Intel announced 11 mobile Arrandale CPUs and 7 desktop parts. A year prior we got Lynnfield with 3 SKUs and Clarksfield with 3 as well. That Sandy Bridge is Intel’s biggest launch ever goes without saying. It’s also the most confusing. While Core i7 exclusively refers to processors with 4 or more cores (on the desktop at least), Core i5 can mean either 2 or 4 cores. Core i3 is reserved exclusively for dual-core parts.
Intel promised that the marketing would all make sense one day. Here we are, two and a half years later, and the Core i-branding is no clearer. At the risk of upsetting all of Intel Global Marketing, perhaps we should return to just labeling these things with their clock speeds and core counts? After all, it’s what Apple does—and that’s a company that still refuses to put more than one button on its mice. Maybe it’s worth a try.
Check Jarred’s article out for the mobile lineup, but on desktop here’s how it breaks down:
| Processor | Core Clock | Cores / Threads | L3 Cache | Max Turbo | Max Overclock Multiplier | TDP | Price |
| Intel Core i7-2600K | 3.4GHz | 4 / 8 | 8MB | 3.8GHz | 57x | 95W | $317 |
| Intel Core i7-2600 | 3.4GHz | 4 / 8 | 8MB | 3.8GHz | 42x | 95W | $294 |
| Intel Core i5-2500K | 3.3GHz | 4 / 4 | 6MB | 3.7GHz | 57x | 95W | $216 |
| Intel Core i5-2500 | 3.3GHz | 4 / 4 | 6MB | 3.7GHz | 41x | 95W | $205 |
| Intel Core i5-2400 | 3.1GHz | 4 / 4 | 6MB | 3.4GHz | 38x | 95W | $184 |
| Intel Core i5-2300 | 2.8GHz | 4 / 4 | 6MB | 3.1GHz | 34x | 95W | $177 |
| Intel Core i3-2120 | 3.3GHz | 2 / 4 | 3MB | N/A | N/A | 65W | $138 |
| Intel Core i3-2100 | 2.93GHz | 2 / 4 | 3MB | N/A | N/A | 65W | $117 |
Intel is referring to these chips as the 2nd generation Core processor family, despite three generations of processors carrying the Core architecture name before it (Conroe, Nehalem, and Westmere). The second generation is encapsulated in the model numbers for these chips. While all previous generation Core processors have three digit model numbers, Sandy Bridge CPUs have four digit models. The first digit in all cases is a 2, indicating that these are “2nd generation” chips and the remaining three are business as usual. I’d expect that Ivy Bridge will swap out the 2 for a 3 next year.
What you will see more of this time around are letter suffixes following the four digit model number. K means what it did last time: a fully multiplier unlocked part (similar to AMD’s Black Edition). The K-series SKUs are even more important this time around as some Sandy Bridge CPUs will ship fully locked, as in they cannot be overclocked at all (more on this later).
| Processor | Core Clock | Cores / Threads | L3 Cache | Max Turbo | TDP |
| Intel Core i7-2600S | 2.8GHz | 4 / 8 | 8MB | 3.8GHz | 65W |
| Intel Core i5-2500S | 2.7GHz | 4 / 4 | 6MB | 3.7GHz | 65W |
| Intel Core i5-2500T | 2.3GHz | 4 / 4 | 6MB | 3.3GHz | 45W |
| Intel Core i5-2400S | 2.5GHz | 4 / 4 | 6MB | 3.3GHz | 65W |
| Intel Core i5-2390T | 2.7GHz | 2 / 4 | 3MB | 3.5GHz | 35W |
| Intel Core i5-2100T | 2.5GHz | 2 / 4 | 3MB | N/A | 35W |
There are also T and S series parts for desktop. These are mostly aimed at OEMs building small form factor or power optimized boxes. The S stands for “performance optimized lifestyle” and the T for “power optimized lifestyle”. In actual terms the Ses are lower clocked 65W parts while the Ts are lower clocked 35W or 45W parts. Intel hasn’t disclosed pricing on either of these lines but expect them to carry noticeable premiums over the standard chips. There’s nothing new about this approach; both AMD and Intel have done it for a little while now, it’s just more prevalent in Sandy Bridge than before.
More Differentiation
In the old days Intel would segment chips based on clock speed and cache size. Then Intel added core count and Hyper Threading to the list. Then hardware accelerated virtualization. With Sandy Bridge the matrix grows even bigger thanks to the on-die GPU.
| Processor | Intel HD Graphics | Graphics Max Turbo | Quick Sync | VT-x | VT-d | TXT | AES-NI |
| Intel Core i7-2600K | 3000 | 1350MHz | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Intel Core i7-2600 | 2000 | 1350MHz | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Intel Core i5-2500K | 3000 | 1100MHz | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Intel Core i5-2500 | 2000 | 1100MHz | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Intel Core i5-2400 | 2000 | 1100MHz | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Intel Core i5-2300 | 2000 | 1100MHz | Y | Y | N | N | Y |
| Intel Core i3-2120 | 2000 | 1100MHz | Y | N | N | N | N |
| Intel Core i3-2100 | 2000 | 1100MHz | Y | N | N | N | Y |
While almost all SNB parts support VT-x (the poor i3s are left out), only three support VT-d. Intel also uses AES-NI as a reason to force users away from the i3 and towards the i5. I’ll get into the difference in GPUs in a moment.
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Loki726 - Monday, January 3, 2011 - link
Thanks a ton Anand for adding a compiler benchmark. I spent the vast majority of my time on builds and this will help me spec out a few new machines. It's interesting to see results indicating that I should not go anywhere near a low-end Sandybridge system, and that a lot of cheap AMD cores might not be a bad idea.estee - Monday, January 3, 2011 - link
Can't believe the 23.976Hz output bug is still in SB after all this time. Several years ago, the G35 had this issue and Intel proclaimed they'll have a fix for it. Subsequently, G45 still had the problem and even the iCores, but SB? C'mon....it's a big issue for HTPC buffs, because there's too much judder from 1) LCD displays 2) 3:2 cadencing from film to video conversion, so 1:1 (or rather 5:5 for most 120Hz sets) was a must for large screen HPTC setups. Yes, the bitstreaming is good and all, but most folks are content with just 7.1 DD/DTS output. I guess we'll have to wait (again) for iB and cling on to my ol' nVidia 9300 for now. :(mastrdrver - Monday, January 3, 2011 - link
Was just looking at the pictures that are downloadable and comparing and notice a couple of differences. Maybe they are just a driver tweak but I thought I remember ATI and/or nVidia getting slammed in the past for pulling similar tactics.The first thing I notice was when comparing the AA shots in COD. It appears that maybe the Sandy Bridge graphics isn't applying AA to the twigs in the ground. Or is this just an appearance thing where Intel might have a different algorithm that causing this?
The second is a little more obvious to me. In the Dirt 2 pictures I notice that Sandy Bridge is blurring and not clearly rendering the distance objects. The sign to the right side is what caught my eye.
One last thing is the DAO pictures. I've seen someone (in the past) post up pictures of the same exact place in the game. The quality looks a lot better then what Anand has shown and I was wondering if that is correct. I don't have the game so I have no way to confirm.
As always Anand I appreciate the time you and your staff take to do all of your articles and the quality that results. Its just one of the reasons why I've always found myself coming back here ever since the early years of your website.
RagingDragon - Monday, January 3, 2011 - link
Why don't K series parts get the full suite of virtualization features?xxtypersxx - Monday, January 3, 2011 - link
Anand,Great review as always, I love the in depth feature analysis that Anandtech provides.
Bios updates have been released for Gigabyte, Asus, and Intel P67 boards that correct an internal PLL overvolt issue that was artificially limiting overclocks. Users in the thread over at HWbot are reporting that processors that were stuck at 4.8 before are now hitting 5.4ghz.
http://hwbot.org/forum/showthread.php?t=15952
Would you be able to do a quick update on the overclocking results for your chips with the new BIOS updates?
Gothmoth - Monday, January 3, 2011 - link
".....Sandy Bridge will be worth the upgrade for Quick Sync alone."you say that and a few pages before you say it will not work on PC´s with a discreet grafic card.
i don´t know you but videoencoding is done here on performance systems.
system that have discreet GFX cards like a 460 GTX or better.
and i think most enthusiast will buy a P67 mainboard and that would mean NO QUICK SYNC for them.
so please do an update on your review and clarify what exactly happens when you use a P67 mainboard with a discreet GFX card.
will quick sync really don´t work...??
Gothmoth - Monday, January 3, 2011 - link
please make clear how you have tested quick sync in your review.i saw a few comments from people that are confused about your review.
i guess you tested quick sync on an H67 mainboard but i did not notice that you mentioned that in the text.
for my it looks liek intel is screwing the user who buy this 1. generation sandy bridge chipsets.
i will wait for Z68 thats for sure......
Manabu - Monday, January 3, 2011 - link
In the quick sync test I missed a comparison with x264, that is currently the fastest and highest quality encoder for H.264, on an fast CPU. For example, using the presets superfast and very slow (one for speed with reasonable quality, the other for quality with reasonable speed). Also, with an too high bitrate, even the crapiest encoder will look good...I also wanted to see how low you can undervolt an i5-2400 when it has hit the overclocking cap, and how is the power consumption then. The same for the other locked CPUs would be cool too. Also, what is the power consumption of the sandy bridge CPUs running the quick sync hardware encoder?
NJoy - Monday, January 3, 2011 - link
Wow, what a SLAP in AMD's face! The idea they nursed for gazillion years and were set to finally release somewhere this week is brought to you, dear customer, first to the market, with a sudden change in NDA deadline to please you sooner with a hyperperformer from Intel. Who cares that NDAs make an important play in all planning activities, PR, logistics and whatever follows - what matters is that they are first to put the GPU on-die and this is what the average Joe will now know, with a bit of PR, perhaps. Snatch another design win. Hey, AMD, remember that pocket money the court ordered us to pay you? SLAP! And the licence? SLAP! Nicely planned and executed whilst everyone was so distracted with the DAAMIT versus nVidia battles and, ironically, a lack of leaks from the red camp.I just hope Bulldozer will kick some assess, even though I doubt it's really going to happen...
DanNeely - Monday, January 3, 2011 - link
If AMD didn't put a steel toed boot into their own nuts by blowing the original 09Q3 release date for fusion I'd have more sympathy for them. Intel won because they made their launch date while the competition blew theirs by at least half a year.