14 DAY TRIAL // In just a few days time, on May 22 to be more exact, Intel will introduce the first Pentium processors based on the Sandy Bridge architecture and two of these upcoming CPUs were just reviewed by a Chinese publication, which also included a great number of benchmarks.
The two chips that were reviewed are the Intel Pentium G840 and the Pentium G620 and both of these feature dual processing cores, 3MB of Level 3 cache memory and a TDP of 65W.
The processors also include an on-die graphics core that is a cut back version of the HD 2000 and ranges in speed from 850MHz to 1100MHz according to the GPU loading.
Compared to the HD 2000 GPU that is used in the more powerful Intel Core processors, the Pentium HD Graphics unit loses support for InTru 3D and high-speed video synchronization, but the good news is that Intel left ClearVideo HD intact.
The performances of the two Sandy Bridge Pentium CPUs were compared against those of the Intel Core i3 540 and the AMD Phenom II X2 555, which was paired together with a 880GX motherboard.
Surprisingly, the graphics core of the Pentium CPUs can more than hold its own against the integrated GPU found inside the Core i3-2100 as the performance differences recorded only varied slightly in the benchmarks run.
However, the same thing can be said about the CPU portion of the review, where the Core i3-2100 managed to gain a clear lead, which varied from 5% all the way up to 31% in applications that can take advantage of Intel's Hyper-Threading technology.
Gaming using a discrete graphics also favors the Core i3 CPU where its lead can extend to 59%.
More details are available in the MyDrivers review, which can be read here (translated using Google).
