i7 2600k, i5 2500k & 2300 1155 Sandy Bridge Review

Test Setup

Intel Core i7-2600K
Intel Core i5-2500K
Intel Core i5-2300
Intel DP67BG Motherboard
Corsair HX1200 PSU
4GB Mushkin Redline RAM
Noctua NH-D14
nVidia GTX570
Windows 7 Ultimate x64

Overclocking and Temperatures

Overclocking the new range of Intel CPUs is very different to the previous range. Previous, or currently, you have the overclocked speed of your CPU, and possibly the lower speed when the multiplier drops down in the idle state. Or at stock you had the plain speed, and then Turbo would kick in with one extra on the multiplier to give you an insignificant boost.

Now what you is overclock the multiplier that will kick in once the chip is under heavy usage. It’s a slight tweak in your approach, but for stability and energy reasons it makes a lot of sense.

The main problem is that the overclock is also power dependant, and so it’s vital that you open all the taps or your overclock will only go as far as it can, rather than as far as you’ve set it.

Core i5-2300

As the Core i5-2300 on the H67 platform doesn’t support overclocking this is purely at stock, but the impressive thing is the temperatures. Barely a shift after a massive run on Prime95.

      

 

Core i7-2600K

Boy oh boy. 5GHz. Now that’s some serious speed. Unfortunately it’s at 1.56v which is a little higher than we’d like to use for a 24/7 overclock, but amazingly enough it keeps ticking along at a maximum of 74°C and quite happily runs through all of our benchmarks. We’d just obviously not recommend this high voltage for a permanent overclock.

   

 

Core i5-2500K

At this point we would like to remind you that the 2500k is going to be available for around £160, and although it did need a defibrillator like 1.6v we managed to coax yet again a 5ghz completely stable overclock! Quite interestingly though not only was it stable all being cooled with a Noctua NH-D14 but it still stayed at sensible temps throughout all the benchmarks and gaming, all under 76c sensible!