During my most recent build I upgraded from a Q6600 -- which was a good chip back in its day. This chip SCREAMS, however.
I have it overclocked to 4.5 Ghz on ASUS P8P67 PRO motherboard with 8 gigs of G Skill ripjaws ram using the Asus AI Suite. Windows Experience Index gives this a score of 7.8 in my system. Passmark Software CPU Benchmark (google them) ranks this processor the 7th best performing CPU, in the following order (it was Number 3 when I bought it):
Intel Core i7 990X @ 3.47GHz cpu mark: 10,917 NA
Intel Core i7 995X @ 3.60GHz cpu mark: 10,795 NA
Intel Core i7 980X @ 3.33GHz cpu mark: 10,482 $999.99*
Intel Core i7 970 @ 3.20GHz cpu mark: 9,925 $899.99**
Intel Xeon X5680 @ 3.33GHz cpu mark: 9,721 $1,676.49*
Intel Xeon W3680 @ 3.33GHz cpu mark: 9,655 $1,127.12*
Intel Xeon X5675 @ 3.07GHz cpu mark: 9,326 NA
Intel Core i7-2600K @ 3.40GHz cpu mark: 9,291 $329.99**
Note that three of the CPU's that have better performance scores are NOT commercially available at the current time, and the remaining three processors are three to five times the price of this one. The closest desktop AMD processor is the AMD Phenom II X6 1100T, which has cpu mark scores only in the 6000 range. Passmark also has a price-to-performance chart that rates your best bang for the buck, though many of the highest scoring processors on that chart are simply much slower and much cheaper.
I am very happy with this: it overclocks extremely well and stays very cool. It runs all my programs with blazing speed, including BFBC2 with all settings on high. At 4.5 Ghz and full load, it doesn't go over 38 degrees Celsius.
Get it at this price while they're still available. Highly recommended. Intel Core i7 Processor i7-2600K 3.4GHz 8MB LGA1155 CPU BX80623I72600K
I've upgraded from my E8400 to this CPU. Even when not overclocked, 2600K outperforms my E8400 exactly 3 times in video processing and rendering. Considering what I've paid for E8400 several years ago, difference in speed is just excellent.
This processor is so much faster than my prior build, a Core i7-920, it's amazing. This puppy is almost as fast as the fastest $1,000 Gulf Town processor, for 1/3rd the price! It's performing flawlessly for me so far. I'm still playing with the overclocking, but some of my friends have gotten this chip up to 5.2 Ghz and beyond using just air cooling on the same motherboard I have, the Asus Maximus IV Extreme. I'm still playing around in the high 4s.
The design of the Sandy Bridge CPUs appear flawless. I'm just bummed that they wasted all those transistors on a useless (for many of us), mediocre video processor.
The "Cougar Point" P67/H67 Chipset problem is easily avoided. Just don't use the Intel SATA II ports on your Motherboard! No big deal if you have a good quality Motherboard with ample SATA III and non-Intel SATA II ports. How many people have more than 4 Optical and HDDs in their system anyway? The fellow who blamed the problem on the Sandy Bridge CPUs is entirely off base and unjustified...
Bought this i7 2600K chip for my new setup. Stably overclocked to 4.5Ghz on air with the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus. Managed to test 5.0Ghz as some have claimed but got BoD the moment Windows logo appeared.
4.5 Ghz Overlocked
Idle Temp: Stable at 38 C
100% Load Temp: Stable at 68 C
Room's Ambient Temp: 30 C
For video conversion through HandShake, i7 2600K takes about 1/5th of the time a Core 2 Duo 6600 takes to complete.
This processor screams and tears through everything, all while managing to keep remarkably cool. Overclocked sound and stable to 4.5 ghz on a cheap air cooler
Some benchmarks @ 4.5:
Windows 7 WEI - 7.8
Cinebench 11.5 - 8.84 pts
Super PI 32m - 7m 45s
Passmark CPU performance 7.0 64 bit - 11700
Luckily my motherboard has 4 SATA III ports so I can avoid the faulty chipset issue with my 2 hard drives + 1 optical. Not in a huge hurry to exchange my board as system is rock solid
This processor is simply astounding. Period. I've run several benchmarks with it and have been totally satsified with the results. Forget i7 950's or even the ridiculous 980X; this processor shreds them all in most apps. It is also fairly energy efficient and is the OC champion of the day. Seriously, overclocking this processor is as easy as changing the multiplier in the bios to whatever you want (mine is set at x44 giving me 4533MHz). Add a decent cpu HSF and you can easily see 4.5-5.2 GHz on air!! These 32Nm chips are seriously quick and the Ivy Bridge processors of later this year will fit in the 1155 socket. Now is the time to get in on the Sandy Bridge bandwagon for sure!
Pors: Amazing stock speeds with incredibly simple overclock ability/Energy efficient/Low temps/Next generation architecture/AMD who???
Cons: None that I can think of...
Other notes: Buy the less expensive i5 2500k if you do not plan on heavy video encoding etc. The 2600k's feature set is pretty much useless for pure-gaming performance....
Pros:
* Overall the processor is extremely fast and reliable...
* Overclocks Extremely fast and easy.
* Low voltage compared to my Q6600 (between .95-1.3 depending on Turbo and frequency)
* Have overclocked to 4.6Ghz and 4.9Ghz when turbo kicks in. Totally stable and runs only 2-4degrees Fahrenheit above room temperature during full throttle and runs at 75-82 degrees Fahrenheit (21-30C) during idle PC work (internet surfing, etc.) and up to 50C or 145ish F. Very cool for the speed and transistor count. I have experience with a $100 X4 AMD running at 4Ghz and when this processor is set to 4Ghz it runs circles around AMD. (I realize the price difference but do not be fooled when your friends try to one up you with a 4Ghz AMD and this spanks the 6-Core as well)
* According to Sandra Utilities at complete stock settings with mem set to 1066(had bad mem) it was fastest score on list and I rated in at 800th place out of every benchmark in world! and at 4.6Ghz with new ram running at 1866 I was rated the 270th fastest score in world. I was rated at 117GOPS. Freaking AWESOME! My Q6600 only scored a 36GOPS running at 3Ghz... So huge improvement!
Other Thoughts:
* For basic overclocks between 4-4.4Ghz it is as easy as typing in 44 in the multiplier and hit save and close. DONE! That is it... For 4.5-4.6Gh you need to increase voltage a smudge and save. With my Gigabyte UD7 I simply set the Vcore Voltage to "Level 1"(Small increase) and save. Still very easy. For 4.7Ghz-5.2Ghz you will have to Learn how to adjust many settings- (Turbo On/Off?, Proper Vcore, and proper mem timings to go with the those speeds. All doable, but time consuming in the beginning. Find the sweet spot and you are off. This is assuming you have a $50+ dollar air cooler or H70 Water block.
If you have any questions about Overclocking, etc, let me know.
My system is as follows:
* Cooler Master HAF X (AMAZING CASE)
* GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD7
* G.SKILL Ripjaws X (17000) 8GB (2 x 4GB)
* COOLER MASTER Silent Pro Gold Series RS800-80GAD3-US 800W (completely silent)
* EVGA 570GTX Super Clock
* Prolimatech Megahalems Rev. B with a push/pull setup using Cooler Master 120mm Green LED Case Fan - (R4-L2R-20CG-GP 90CFM. (This is an AMAZING cooler and beats my brothers H70 water cooling setup and is completely silent at 18DB)
* Vertex 2 for OS and 3 WD4 500gigs in Raid 0 for data.... No bottle neck here :) Vertex 2- 270Mbs and my raid is 400Mbs'
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