Intel Core i5-2500T 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.

Sandy Bridge microarchitecture is amazingly diverse. We have already admired the high performance of processors based on it many time, and today we saw clearly that it is also a perfect fit for products to be used in quiet, compact and energy-efficient systems. However, the T-series processors discussed in our today’s article revealed a number of unique peculiarities, which aren’t mentioned anywhere in the official specs but can change your perception of these products. Take a look at their power consumption. Although I-series processors have half the TDP of the regular CPUs, it doesn’t at all mean that in reality they only consume half the power. Firstly, energy-efficient processors get very close to their TDP threshold, while regular CPUs can often consume less power and dissipate less heat than their TDP implies. Therefore, the actual difference in practical power consumption between T and non-T processors of the same class is never that significant. Secondly, we can really see a serious difference in practical power consumption between energy-efficient and regular processors only in a limited number of usage scenarios, while most of the time their power appetites are very close. In fact, T-series processors show their true energy-efficiency only under heavy multi-threaded load. In idle mode, under single-threaded load or during high GPU utilization, T-series processors do not offer any noticeable advantages in the power aspect. All this means that it doesn’t make sense to use energy-efficient Sandy Bridge modifications just for the sake of saving some power. Since in real life the processors are usually loaded sporadically, T-series won’t bring you power bill down a lot.