14 DAY TRIAL // It definitely took some years to reach this point, but Intel has finally created several central processing units which can quite easily and safely pass over the 4 GHz threshold in the hands of overclockers.
End-users no doubt started dreaming about 4 GHz or faster chips years ago, but the lack of actual need for such massive clock speeds did not lead to the appearance of such a processor.
Now, with the release of the Sandy Bridge collection of chips, Intel fulfilled this so-called desire, at least as far as overclocking enthusiasts are concerned.
The four most powerful desktop CPUs revealed are the Intel Core i5-2500, Core i5-2500K, Core i7-2600 and Core i7-2600K.
The 2500 models have a base frequency of 3.3 GHz, four cores, four threads, a Turbo Core maximum speed of 3.7 GHz and a cache memory of 6 MB.
Additionally, they have a TDP (thermal design power) of 95W and, as only distinctive feature, different overclock multipliers, of 41x for the 'regular' version and 57x for the 2500K.
The Core i7-2600 and 2600K are also similar to each other, save for their clock multipliers of 42x and 57x, respectively.
They run at 3.4 GHz, 3.8 GHz with Turbo Core, while having four cores and eight threads each, as well as cache memory of 8 MB and a TDP of 95W, the same as that of the 2500 models.
All in all, there is definitely a leap in performance over the previous Core series, especially in terms of custom clock tweaking.
For instance, motherboards with single-click overclocking capabilities can easily push the i7-2600K to 4.4 GHz, while enthusiasts can even force it to 4.8 GHz and still rely on just air cooling.
Finally, when it comes to graphics, the 2600 have the Intel HD 3000 (2000 on the non-K version), with a max Turbo speed of 1350MHz, while the 2500 and 2500K boast HD 3000 and HD 2000, respectively, clocked at 1,100 MHz.
As for pricing, once they start showing up in stores, they will sell for $317 (Core i7-2600K), $294 (Core i7-2600), $216 (Core i5-2500K) and $205 (Core i5-2500).