Intel Core i7-2600K and i5-2500K Processors Debut

by Marco Chiappetta — Monday, January 03, 2011, 01:22 AM EDT

Today’s pre-launch of Intel’s Sandy Bridge-based processors should come as no surprise to anyone who even remotely follows the PC tech scene. We, along with Intel and numerous other companies and media outlets, have been slowly leaking Sandy Bridge and Sandy Bridge-related details for many months now. Heck, we’ve even showed off a number of Sandy Bridge compatible motherboards in the past, posted pics of actual processors, and discussed many of the microarchitecture’s features already. We obviously weren’t able to disclose all of the platform’s specifics, however, and boy is there a lot still to cover.

We’ve had a few Core i5 and Core i7 Sandy Bridge based processors kicking around the HotHardware labs for a while now, along with a sampling of 6-series chipset based motherboards to go along with them. We’ve been poking, prodding, and testing them to get a good feel for what Sandy Bridge and 6-Series chipset is all about and we’ve amassed a boatload of data to share with you all here. In addition to putting a couple of Core i5 and Core i7 Sandy Bridge based processors to the test in our usual suite of benchmarks, we’ve also tested their new integrated graphics core and media encoding engine, tested various multi-GPU setups, overclocked Sandy Bridge, and even evaluated a few mainstream and enthusiast-class motherboards.

Intel Core i7-2600K and i5-2500K Processors Debut

Tags: Intel, CPU, processor, CES, Chipset, Sandy Bridge, P67, Socket 1155

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com