Intel Core i5-2500K Pro Reviews

Understanding that Intel has a wide range of CPUs in its arsenal, we set out to examine the overall proposition presented by four presently-available Core i5 2500 chips that are all priced at around the £150 mark. Enthusiasts should be familiar with the Core i5 2500K, rated at 95W TDP. This four-core, four-threaded processor can be multiplier-overclocked and features the best integrated graphics produced by Intel. Able to run close to 5GHz with moderate air-cooling, providing an impressive overclock, it's our recommended CPU for any mid-range self-build. But you can save a few pennies and opt for a Core i5 2500 (non-K). This chip has the same CPU specifications as the K-suffixed model but, knowing that it's multiplier-locked upwards, cannot be easily overclocked, due to how the various parts of the processor work together. Get past that and the 2500 offers inferior graphics, thus making it very difficult to recommend for the build-it-yourself enthusiast.Rounding out the 2500-series line are the S- and T-suffixed parts. Harder to purchase from a retail channel, their main claim to fame is lower power-draw. The 2500S gives up CPU frequency in order to achieve a 65W TDP rating. Benchmarking a little below 2500 and 2500K, our power-draw measurements show that there's not a whole heap to be gained by switching down to 65W. Whereas Core i5 2500K focuses on speed, Core i5 2500T goes for a different tack and puts power-draw ahead of straight-line performance. Specified with a super-low 45W TDP, which isn't reflected in our power-draw figures, CPU performance is appreciably lower. Interestingly, however, Intel boosts the graphics speed to 2500(S)-beating levels.

The Intel Core i5 2500K is fast, has low power consumption, and overclocks really well. At $216, it is cost-efficient for those who need performance and overclocking.

The Intel Core i5-2500K offers exceptional value and impressive Sandy Bridge–based performance, but you can (and should) do better than this CPU's integrated graphics.

Overall the Intel Sandy Bridge / Core i5 2500K performance on Linux is splendid and we are certainly confident in this quad-core processor that is delivered at a rather nice value. These new Intel CPUs should have no problems running great with Linux in conjunction with the new H67 / P67 motherboards assuming you are using a modern Linux distribution (i.e. Ubuntu 10.10). The only problem continuing to challenge us is the Intel HD Graphics support with Sandy Bridge, which is something we are continuing to tackle and by the time Ubuntu 11.04 rolls around it will hopefully be a pleasant "out of the box" experience for those running this new hardware.

The Core i7-2600K is tempting at $317 but the Core i5-2500K is absolutely a steal at $216. You're getting nearly $999 worth of performance at roughly a quarter of the cost. Despite all of the nastiness Intel introduced by locking/limiting most of the Sandy Bridge CPUs, if you typically spend around $200 on a new CPU then Sandy Bridge is likely a better overclocker than anything you've ever owned before it. Unless you already have a high-end Core i7, this is what you'll want to upgrade to.

The Core i7 2600K, priced at around £250, takes away many of the reasons for opting towards Intel's traditional performance platform, X58, and the lower-priced Core i3 and Core i5 chips, especially the 2500K, are compelling in their own right. Intel has opened up 2011 with a hugely impressive collection of second-generation Core processors for both the mobile and desktop platforms. Sandy Bridge raises the bar for just how good a processor you can buy for a reasonable outlay, and serves to diminish the need to look at older platforms. We have little hesitation in recommending them to anybody.

Overall the new Sandy Bridge range looks impressive based on what we've been able to sample from the new Core i7 2600K and Core i5 2500K processors. Performance has been boosted in all areas, while power consumption has been significantly reduced and a number of impressive features have been added. The best part is consumers will enjoy the 2nd generation of Intel Core processors without paying a price premium.

However, for the majority of us, the 2500K and 2600K represent tremendous values for desktop computing and gaming. If you are still back on a dual core Socket 775 system, you just found out it is time to upgrade. If you are on a Socket 1156 or 1366 system, then you might likely be best off staying put, but I am very sure many of you will see enough value in Sandy Bridge to start putting together a new build list, especially if you are still running a dual core.

And the $216 Core i5-2500K is easily the best performer in its segment as well. Couple these facts with the relatively low power consumption of the platform, excellent media transcoding performance, “free” DX10.1 graphics, and highly overclockable cores and Intel’s got a winner on their hands. About the only downside to these new processors is that they require yet another new socket. We also would like to see Quick Sync enabled when discrete graphics card is used.

In summary, the new Core i5-2500 is the best CPU today in the USD 200 range, bringing an impressive performance gain over the competition and the previous-generation Core i5. If you like overclocking, you should spend USD 11 more and buy the “K” version, which has the best overclocking potential of any CPU we’ve ever reviewed.

In simple CPU performance terms, the Intel Core i5-2500K and Core i7-2600K are staggering. They overclock like the clappers. The integrated graphics is way better than anything before and the transcode engine threatens to annihilate the very idea of running some software on discrete graphics chips before it's even taken hold. Put simply, these new chips bring massive performance to a lower price point than ever before. How can you argue with that?

For most of you, the Core i5 2500K is the CPU to go for thanks to the fully unlocked Turbo Boost multipliers. At a mere $216 and paired with a $160 motherboard, you can easily clock it up to 4.7GHz+ and outperform all but the highest clocked D0 stepping i7 920/930 Nehalems while using much less power. The feeling of a system operating at these speeds is incredible. Intel has worked some great magic into Sandy Bridge; this CPU is freaking insane!

The unlocked Intel Core i5-2500K is set with an MSRP of $216. If you are looking for media or arithmetic processing, or compression, though, the Core i5-2500K is a great value.

There is no doubt about it, Sandybridge is hot and offers great overclocking headroom with the K-Spec CPUs. 4.77GHz on the 2500K are just amazing for a new architecture and my first run through with them. So what do you say now about overclocking being dead on Sandybridge? Dead? I think not! And to top that, you can overclock with all the energy saving settings enabled so you get the best of both worlds - lower power consumption when you are idle and speed and performance when called for. You get it all. What this all boils down to is a new series of processors that deliver excellent performance across all aspects for a mid range price point. Intel has a winner with Sandybridge.

Intel is certainly on the right path with Sandy Bridge. But even taking the GPU out of the picture, Intel has a pretty awesome CPU to offer to the market. The Core i5-2500K will run for $205. Both are excellent value for the performance they show.

An incredible processor at a very reasonable price; if you’re building a powerful PC, then buy this chip. We'd recommend getting the 2500K version, as for only a few extra pounds you get an unlocked chip to experiment with, and so it wins our Best Buy award.

Overall, both the 2600K and 2500K showed a great amount of potential and really did impress more often than not. In most situations, both chips ran circles around similarly-priced solutions from both Intel’s and AMD’s stables. While overall performance was extremely good, Sandy Bridge’s efficiency is what really stood out for us. Overclocking was an interesting affair to say the least and it is expected that the vast majority of these new processors will have the ability to reach between 4.4Ghz and 4.7Ghz. Anything more than 4.7Ghz will be hard to achieve even on water cooling but these are still some incredible numbers.

If there was one Sandy Bridge-based SKU that I’d personally recommend to friends and family building new PCs, it’d be the Core i5-2500K. The i5-2500K circumvents Sandy Bridge's overclocking challenges with an unlocked multiplier, and I'm counting on gamers to drop it onto a P67-based motherboard, skirting the integrated graphics debate entirely.

This true quad-core processor offers a lot of performance for the money, but gamers may want to spend the savings on a dedicated 3D card to pair with it.

About the new i5 2500K CPU features I am just fine, but I’m of two minds on the integrated graphics on the GMA 3000 found on the Core i5-2500K. If you don’t play action games the integrated graphics are perfect for you. The integrated graphics does add hardware encoding of videos and full playback of Blu-ray movies including the Blu-ray 3D movies. This makes the GMA 3000 and by extension, the 2500K a good solution for the HTPC user wanting casual gaming.

This new chip from Intel might share the name i5 with models released over the last two years, but it's based on an entirely new chip design. All in all, it's hard not to be impressed by the i5-2500: it provides a lot of the performance of its more expensive cousin the i7, but at a lower cost. This i5-2500k model would be ideal for a media PC, but if you don't need the integrated graphics system then other, cheaper chips using the same Sandy Bridge technology are available without it.