Ask Your 2nd Gen Intel Core Processor Questions Here, Update: Now with Answers!

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• geofelt - Saturday, January 1, 2011 - link

  For the gamer type of user, I have a couple of questions.
  1) The reason for getting a "K" model is to be able to overclock. Are the 2600K units binned better to usually permit higher overclocks than the 2500K units?
  2) Is there any reason to think that a 2500 cpu can clock to the same limits as a 2600K cpu?
  3) Are there any estimates of the performance value of the extra 2mb L3 cache in the 2600K?
  4) For the gamer who only needs 4 cores(and usually less) will there be a performance benefit to deactivating hyperthreading?
  5) Is the integrated graphics capability of any use to the gamer with a discrete graphics card? Is there any value in deactivating it?
  6) Are the required ram specs the same as for LGA1156?
  7) It appears that the P67 based motherboards will support the K cpu's and their unlocked multiplier overclocking.
  Will the H67 chipset also allow multiplier based overclocking of the K cpu's?

• bckai2003 - Monday, January 3, 2011 - link

  I would also like to know the answers to these questions. From the benchmarks, it seems that the hyperthreading on the i7 2600k seems to be a detriment for a portion of the games tested. Of course, I would like to get the most performance for my dollar, but I'm also looking to be as futureproof as possible at the very least in terms of gaming.
  
  Ultimately, is the $100 premium for the i7 over the i5 worth it?

• smilingcrow - Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - link

  Please ask the question below as it seems as if this is not possible which seems absurd.
  
  Will the H67 chipset also allow multiplier based overclocking of the K cpu's?

• mlavacot - Wednesday, January 19, 2011 - link

  The P67 is required to allow multiplier based processor overclocking on the K SKUs. The H67 is required to do Graphics based overclocking on the K SKUs. It might sound crazy, but there is a reason. We are trying to address two different use models with one processor; processor overclocking for the hard core gamers (using discrete graphics) and graphics overclocking for the All-in-one or smaller form factors (that use Integrated graphics).

• Teh_tourist - Monday, January 3, 2011 - link

  Can you please run some tests on SLI/Crossfire performance? I'm worried about purchasing two GTX580's if I'm not going to get a good performance increase due to the x8 by x8 PCI-E lanes in SLI.

• mad_hatter - Tuesday, January 4, 2011 - link

  Will there be any i7-2xxx Xeon equivalents in the near future to replace the current socket 1156 Xeon's (which are due for a refresh)?
  
  While not strictly CPU related: Do you know when Intel will release the 3rd gen SSD's?

• Piyono - Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - link

  DAWbench (dawbench.com) is a benchmark suite for testing the performance of Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs).
  
  Scott Chichelli of ADK Pro Audio is a DAW builder of high repute and his test results indicate that the 2300 and 2600 have trouble keeping up with the previous generation of CPUs.
  
  Can you offer any insight on the matter?
  
  Thanks,
  
  Piyono

• Piyono - Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - link

  You can find Scott's (AKA jcschild) test results on the Cakewalk forums in the Computers subforum.
  
  This bbs system won't allow me to post a direct link, but it's easy enough to find.

• ATOmega - Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - link

  It didn't seem to be quite clearly answered....
  
  So if I plug in a video card, and I use it, I can't do any OpenCL on the video portion of the CPU??
  
  Seems a waste. It would be nice if with OpenCL, it could use all OpenCL capable resources on a system.

• semo - Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - link

  This was the same thing I was going to ask.
  
  Also why so few PCIe lanens?