Test methodology
Software
| Benchmarks | AIDA64 v1.50.1200 bandwidth and L3latency HEXUS.PiFast to 10m places iTunes 10.1 MP3 encoding CINEBENCH R11.5 multi-CPU, 64-bit wPrime v2.04 CyberLink MediaShow Espresso 6 TrueCrypt 7.0a encryption benchmark 7zip v9.20 built-in file-compression benchmark Call of Duty: Black Ops- 1,280x800 low and 1,680x1,050 HQ StarCraft II - 1,280x800 low and 1,680x1050 Medium 3DMark Vantage b1.2.0 overall score - performance setting Power-consumption tests - idle and 2D load (wPrime load) Overclocking tests - Sandy Bridge CPUs only |
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Hardware
| CPU | Core i7 2600K | Core i5 2500K | Core i7 980X | Core i7 950 | Core i7 870 | Core i5 750 | Core i5 650 | Phenom II X6 1100T BE | Phenom II X6 1055 | Phenom II X4 975 BE | Athlon II X4 645 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | £250 | £165 | £765 | £225 | £227 | £140 | £140 | £210 | £149/135 | £160 | £90 | |
| Frequency | 3.40GHz | 3.30GHz | 3.33GHz | 3.06GHz | 2.93GHz | 2.66GHz | 3.20GHz | 3.30GHz | 2.80GHz | 3.60GHz | 3.10GHz | |
| Max turbo frequency | 3.80GHz | 3.70GHz | 3.60GHz | 3.33GHz | 3.60GHz | 3.20GHz | 3.46GHz | 3.70GHz | 3.30GHz | N/A | N/A | |
| Cache | 1MB L2 8MB L3 |
1MB L2 6MB L3 |
1.5MB L2 12MB L3 |
1MB L2 8MB L3 |
1MB L2 8MB L3 |
1MB L2 8MB L3 |
0.5MB L2 4MB L3 |
3MB L2 6MB L3 |
3MB L2 6MB L3 |
2MB L2 6MB L3 |
2MB L2 | |
| Cores/threads | 4/8 | 4/4 | 6/12 | 4/8 | 4/8 | 4/4 | 2/4 | 6/6 | 6/6 | 4/4 | 4/4 | |
| Process | 32nm | 32nm | 32nm | 45nm | 45nm | 45nm | 32nm | 45nm | 45nm | 45nm | 45nm | |
| Form factor | LGA1155 | LGA1155 | LGA1366 | LGA1366 | LGA1156 | LGA1156 | LGA1156 | AM3 | AM3 | AM3 | AM3 | |
| TDP | 95W | 95W | 130W | 130W | 95W | 95W | 73W | 125W | 95W | 125W | 95W | |
| Motherboard | ASUS P8P67 Deluxe(P67) | ASUS P6X58D Premium (X58) | ASUS P7P55D (P55) | Gigabyte H57M (H57) | ASUS Crosshair IV Formula (890FX) | |||||||
| BIOS revision | 0804 | 1201 | 1807 | F9 | 1102 | |||||||
| Memory | 6GB (3 x 2GB) Corsair DDR3-1,600 | 4GB (2 x 2GB) Corsair DDR3-1,333 | 4GB (2 x 2GB) Corsair DDR3-1,600 | |||||||||
| Memory timings and speed | 9-9-9-24-1T @ DDR3-1,333 | 9-9-9-24-1T @ DDR3-1,600 | ||||||||||
| Graphics card | AMD Radeon HD 6950 2,048MB | |||||||||||
| Graphics driver | Catalyst 10.12 | |||||||||||
| Disk drive | Corsair Nova V128 SSD | |||||||||||
| Operating system | Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit) | |||||||||||
| PSU | Corsair HX1000W | |||||||||||
Testing notes
We've thrown all the old results out of the window and started a-fresh for 2011. Every CPU in the line-up - 11 in all - have been tested from the grounds-up using newer benchmarks and up-to-date BIOSes and drivers.
The two Sandy Bridge chips have been tested on both an ASUS P8P67 Deluxe (P67 chipset) and Intel DH67BL (H67 chipset) boards - the latter used to show how the new IGPs perform.
Further, we've also run tests with an AMD Phenom II X4 975BE on a Gigabyte 890GX motherboard and the Intel Core i5 650 on a Gigabyte H57 chipset, to see how the Sandy Bridge HD Graphics compare with AMD's finest and Intel's from last year.
Lastly, the Sandy Bridge CPUs have been overclocked and a subset of numbers run.
