The Sandy Bridge Review: Intel Core i7-2600K, i5-2500K and Core i3-2100 Tested

@nadamany the UX32, not the thinner UX31, has a single SO-DIMM slot. Only qualified for up to 4GB, 8GB should work but not 100% yet

Just a little Jay-Z and SSD testing, maybe even building a new HTPC for the theater

ASUS' Zenbook Prime UX21A now in Bench: http://t.co/o8WRdDKX

@JonWorrel the UX21A, the review just posted: http://t.co/LN9GNdiY

@DrPizza @mcrommert @babgvant there's progress, just not along this one vector. that will come too.

@DrPizza @mcrommert @babgvant hangon now: 19x10 in an 11.6-inch form factor, much better CPU perf, much better wifi, USB 3, etc...

@DrPizza @mcrommert @babgvant wait seriously it is?!? is that why all of my machines are running so slow? :-P

@DrPizza @babgvant @mcrommert welcome to the world of appliance computing, just upgrade again next year when you need more memory

@babgvant @DrPizza @mcrommert I agree that I would like to see more, but 4GB with an SSD is definitely usable for most client workloads

Running a cTDP battery life test on the Zenbook Prime at 13W while I prepare the V4 1.4 on the SSD testbed

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Sweeet! by RMSe17 on Monday, January 03, 2011

Time for an upgrade :)

RMSe17

RE: Sweeet! by marc1000 on Monday, January 03, 2011

I decided to jump the first core-i lineup, and sitck to an old core2duo for some more time... now seems the wait was worth it!

I just hope the prices outside US/Europe will be reasonable..

thanks Anand,

marc1000

RE: Sweeet! by vol7ron on Monday, January 03, 2011

I think there are many of us that had the same idea. Unless needing to upgrade due to malfunction or new laptop purchase, holding C2D til past the i-Series was the best move to make; whereas buying into C2D asap was the best move at the time.

Still going to wait for prices to fall and more USB3 adoption. Expected new purchase: mid-2011-mid 2012

vol7ron

RE: RE: Sweeet! by vol7ron on Monday, January 03, 2011

by "i-Series" it should have said "1st gen. i-Series"

RE: Sweeet! by CptTripps on Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Ya know I usually do as you are but was an early adopter of the i7 920. Looking now it seems I made the right choice. I have had 2 years of kickassery and my processor still holds up rather well in this article.

CptTripps

RE: Sweeet! by hogey74 on Thursday, January 06, 2011

Me too! I've got an e8400 running at 3.9 with almost zero OC know-how and its done me well. I might snap up an i7 if they and their mobos get cheap when sandy bridge has been out a few months... but may well skip that generation all together.

hogey74

RE: by Einy0 on Monday, January 03, 2011

Holy crapola AMD really needs Bulldozer now. Even in heavily threaded video encoding the 2600K at $300 is blowing the 1100T x6 out of the water. This is the the Core 2 Duo vs. A64 X2 all over again. Will Bulldozer be another Phenom, a day late and a dollar short? TLB bug anyone? As a PC enthusiast I really want to see competition to keep prices in check. If I had to upgrade today, I can't see how I could turn down the 2600K...

Einy0

RE: by medi01 on Monday, January 03, 2011

Did you add mobo price into equation?

I don't get all the excitement, really. If anything, Intel's anti-overclocking moves

medi01

RE: by MonkeyPaw on Monday, January 03, 2011

Yeah, new Intel motherboard models are never cheap. I don't understand why the price remains so high when more an more functionality is moving to the CPU. The other killer is that you need a new board for every Intel CPU update.

Lastly, it's hard to throw the "buy now" tag on it with AMD's new architecture over the horizon. Sure, AMD has a tough act to follow, but it's still an unknown that I think is worth waiting for (if it's a dog, you can still buy Intel). Keep in mind that Bulldozer will have a pretty strong IGP, one that may make decent IGP gaming a reality. It will become a matter of how powerful the x86 portion of the Bulldozer is, and they are trying a considerably different approach. Considering the amount of money you'll be paying, you might as well see how AMD shakes out. I guess it just depends on if what you have today can get you by just a little longer.

MonkeyPaw

RE: by dertechie on Monday, January 03, 2011

You're conflating Bulldozer and Llano there. Bulldozer is the new architecture, coming to the desktop as an 8-core throughput monster. Llano is the first desktop APU, cramming 4 32nm K10.5 cores and a Redwood class GPU onto the die. The next generation of desktop APUs will be using Bulldozer cores.

dertechie

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