14 DAY TRIAL // Expected to arrive later in the fourth quarter of this year, Intel's Core i7-2700K processor has already found its way into the hands of enthusiasts who have recently managed to overclocked the CPU to an impressive 5GHz using only air cooling.
The processor to reach this overclock was an engineering sample chip, meant to be used by Intel's partners to test the compatibility of their hardware with this part.
Despite the early nature of this CPU, an enthusiast has recently managed to push the chip to an impressive 5GHz using only air cooling.
In order to do so, the vCore of the CPU was pushed to 1.384V while its multiplier and BCLK clock were set at 50x and 100MHz, respectively.
The Intel CPU was also able to complete a series of benchmarks at this frequency, SuperPi mod and CPUmark, which seems to suggest that the retail version of the Core i7-2700K may be able to reach similar frequencies in day-to-day operation.
Intel has built the Core i7-2700K in order to replace its current flagship Sandy Bridge desktop processor, the Core i7-2600K.
Compared to the current top of the line CPU, this new Intel SKU will have a base clock speed of 3.5GHz, which is 100MHz higher than its predecessor.
The maximum Turbo Core frequency has also received a small bump as this will be set at 3.9GHz and the chip also includes 8MB of Level 3 cache, Intel HD 3000 graphics with 850/1350MHz clock speeds and a dual-channel DDR3-1333 memory controller, all packed inside a 95W TDP.
Just like all the K-series Intel processors, the Core i7-2700K also features an unlocked multiplier, which is what allowed the 5GHz overclock to be reached.
No information regarding pricing and availability was released by Intel, but rumors say the Core i7-2700K will arrive at about the same time as AMD's FX-Series processors based on the Bulldozer architecture. (via Hardcore Hardware)
