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

For our next set of tests, we moved on to some high-resolution graphics benchmarking with 3DMark Vantage (DX10), ET:QW (OpenGL), and Metro 2033 (DX11). For these tests, we've tested a Core i7-2600K powered system outfitted with single, or dual Asus GeForce GTX 570 (SLI) or Radeon HD 6970 (CrossFire) graphics cards in the Asus P8P67 Deluxe motherboard. Due to the fact that these new Core i5 and i7 Sandy Bridge-based processors feature integrated PCI Express lanes, and the graphics cards essentially connect directly to the CPU, we wanted to see how graphics performance and multi-GPU scaling were affected in more GPU bound circumstances.

The Asus P8P67 Deluxe with a pair of Asus GeForce GTX 570 cards installed

No problems to report here. Moving from one to two GPUs with a Core i7-2600K and Asus P8P67 Deluxe motherboard resulted in much better performance, with the total score and framerates scaling from between 81% to 93%, using 3DMark Vantage's "Extreme" testing preset.