Core i5-3570K, -3550, -3550S, And -3570T: Ivy Bridge Efficiency

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After recommending Sandy Bridge last year, we weren't particularly impressed by the new Ivy Bridge-based Core i7-3770K as an upgrade. But are Intel's more mainstream third-gen Core i5 processors any more attractive? We grab four models to find out.

Power Consumption And Max. Temperature

Our six processors fall within five watts of each other at idle—last-generation’s Core i7-2700K interestingly the second-place finisher.

Intel admits that it didn’t do much of anything to cut Ivy Bridge’s power consumption beyond its adoption of 22 nm lithography. It’s not surprising, then, that idle power use doesn’t really change compared to last generation.

Under load, however, the story is drastically different. A 10-minute Linkpack workload reveals 155 W maximum power consumption from our Core i7-2700K compared to 138 W on the Core i7-3770K. Incidentally, that’s just 1 W off from the 18 W separating Sandy Bridge’s 95 W TDP and Ivy Bridge’s 77 W ceiling.

Past explorations of overclocking show that tuning clock rate and upping voltage affect Ivy Bridge’s temperature much faster than Sandy Bridge’s. At stock settings, though, the difference isn’t as pronounced. And this is with the boxed cooler, too (not a big aftermarket model that’d dissipate heat more effectively).

Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.
75 Comments Comment from the forums
  • zyzz
    Good article. I think I will get the 3570K over 2500K.
    Reply
  • erraticfocus
    nice work in sorting out the facts and reminding us about the history and change from the lower power offerings in the intel stable..

    Reply
  • amdfangirl
    Does Intel allow underclocking and undervolting on H-series boards? If so, S and T series are pretty redundant.
    Reply
  • Onikage
    2700K looks a clear Winner to me ! got one last week from Microcenter at an ironic but sensational price 270$ !!!! hey 3770K try and beat that !
    Reply
  • Outlander_04
    In the real world gaming section you got a great big graph for the 3770k by adding a discreet graphics card . Why didn't you try a Llano system with an identical graphics card? Afraid the second tier AMD product would kick sand in intels face?
    Reply
  • cangelini
    Outlander_04In the real world gaming section you got a great big graph for the 3770k by adding a discreet graphics card . Why didn't you try a Llano system with an identical graphics card? Afraid the second tier AMD product would kick sand in intels face?Because this is a story about the Intel chips. To the contrary, though, the AMD-based platform is more likely to bottleneck a discrete graphics card than the Intel one. AMD's strength is in the integrated graphics right now.
    Reply
  • Outlander_04
    The performance of a Llano chip is included in the article to compare its performance so it not just about intel cpu's . The intels were not as good in gaming in the integrated graphics so a graphics card was added so they'd look better there too . Its an unfair comparison and shows intel bias IMO
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    Outlander_04The performance of a Llano chip is included in the article to compare its performance so it not just about intel cpu's . The intels were not as good in gaming in the integrated graphics so a graphics card was added so they'd look better there too . Its an unfair comparison and shows intel bias IMO
    Actually a lot of sites have shown just what Chris is talking about. Even a dual core Pentium with a HD6670 beats the top end Llano piece (a quad core) even with CFX of the IGP with a HD6570. Llano is great for some things but overall in DT its only a low end entry level product and is much weaker per core and per clock than Intels CPUs.

    What Chris did was pulled the same charts from his first IB review and added in the HD2500 (the new low end Intel IGP) for comparison.

    If someone cannot take this information and realize that its just for comparison and that its not to show anything better, then thats their problem. If this was a Llano article, or the Trinity article when it comes out, you better believe Chris will do everything to check ever performance aspect. But its not. Its an article to see if the T and S models are worth it.

    Overll, llano is overrate in my book. We have barley sold any at my work place. Just doesn't have the pulling power like a CPU and discrete GPU does.
    Reply
  • GhosT94
    should have compared the Core i5-3570K vs the Core i5-2500K
    Reply
  • Outlander_04
    If you are going to show the performance of an intel cpu with a graphics card then any reasonable comparison would also show the AMD cpu with the same graphics card .
    Reply