Intel K Series Processors
Introduction
Published: 7th June 2010 | Source: Intel | Price: £199 - £309 |
Introduction
Overclocking. If you're unaware of the basic idea it's to get more out of something than it is initially designed to give. When dealing with processors the speed of your processor is governed by two factors. The FSB, Bus Speed or BCLK multiplied by, unsurprisingly, the multiplier. For example if you have a Bus Speed of 150MHz and a Multiplier of x10, you'll get a 1500MHz processor. So far, so easy.
Intel has had the same methodology for their processors for some time now. If you want to overclock it's quite likely that you have a lower end processor and wish to get more for less money. However Intel processors have always had a locked multiplier at the base end of the market, with only the premium "Extreme" editions having a multiplier that can be adjusted up as well as down. You're therefore limited to pumping the FSB, or BCLK as it is now, up as high as you can get away to maximise the locked multiplier.
The problem with increasing your bus speed is that to get the most out if you need to either have fast RAM, or play around with your dividers. Then you need to take into consideration that even the best motherboards eventually run out of the ability to keep increasing it.
So what is the solution? Unlock the multiplier. So you can get the gains of the BCLK increase without the potential drawbacks.
However until now that's meant buying an Extreme Edition, which are a huge amount of money, far beyond nearly all of us. If only Intel would unlock the multiplier of their lower chips.
As if by magic the shopkeeper appeared. No hang on this isn't 52 Festive Road even if it feels like Christmas.
As if by magic Intel are along with the answer to our prayers, the i5-655K and the i7-875K, both on the LGA1156 platform. Let's take a look at the technical specifications shall we...
Most Recent Comments
Good review, so good for OC3D, but weird price/platform of chips from intel.Quote
Its a tough one to call tbh.Quote
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Originally Posted by name='Lallespasser'
I think you've overlooked an important aspect. By overclocking only the multiplier, you are not forced to disable Turbo, enabling you to have an overclocked chip while still maintaining low idle power consumption. This would, at least for me, be an important factor when buying a CPU.
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I don't know about these offerings. The games seem to favor high(er) caches - which is weird.Quote
the 875k does fall pretty short on synthetic CPU benches....but I use it for audio production....in that environment (sample editing) memory speed trumps all....so the 875k does have an interesting little niche
it is well matched to the ASUS p7p55dQuote
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