Efficiency Comparison: Sandy Bridge Vs. Intel And AMD CPUs

Features
By
published

The second-generation Core processors arrived with a bang, but what sort of progress can you expect in the performance per watt department? We compare Core i5/i7-2x00 to AMD's Phenom with four and six cores, as well as previous-gen parts from Intel.

Test Setup And System Details

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Test Setup and System Details
Socket AM3 Platform
Socket AM3 PlatformMSI 890GXM-G65 (Rev. 1.0), Chipset: AMD 890GX, BIOS: 1.7 (2010-09-07)
Socket AM3 ProcessorsAMD Phenom II X4 965 (45 nm Deneb, C3), 3.4 GHz, 4 x 512 KB L2 Cache, 6 MB L3 CacheAMD Phenom II X6 1100T (45 nm Thuban, E0), 3.3 GHz, 6 x 512 KB L2 Cache, 6 MB L3 Cache
LGA 1156 Platform
LGA 1156 PlatformIntel DH55TC (Rev. 1.0), Chipset: Intel H55, BIOS: 0040 (2010-10-18)
LGA 1156 ProcessorsIntel Core i7-875K (45 nm Lynnfield, B1), 4C/8T, 2.93 GHz, 4 x 256 KB L2 Cache, 8 MB L3 Cache, 95 W TDP, 3.6 GHz max. TurboIntel Core i5-750 (45 nm Lynnfield, B1), 4C/4T, 2.66 GHz, 4 x 256 KB L2 Cache, 8 MB L3 Cache, 95 W TDP, 3.2 GHz max. TurboIntel Core i5-661 (45 nm w/ 32 nm Graphics, Clarkdale, C2), 2C/4T, 3.33 GHz, 2 x 256 KB L2 Cache, 4 MB L3 Cache, w/ HD Graphics, 87 W TDP, 3.6 GHz max. TurboIntel Core i3-530 (45 nm, Clarkdale, C2), 2C/2T, 2.93 GHz, 2 x 256 KB L2 Cache, 4 MB L3 Cache
LGA 1155 Platform
LGA 1155 PlatformIntel DH67BL, Chipset: Intel H67, BIOS: 0082 (2010-11-26)
LGA 1155 ProcessorsIntel Core i7-2600K (32 nm, Sandy Bridge, D2), 4C/8T, 3.4 GHz, 4 x 256 KB L2 Cache, 8 MB L3 Cache, w/ HD Graphics 3000, 95 W TDP, 3.8 GHz max. TurboIntel Core i5-2500K (32 nm, Sandy Bridge, D2), 4C/4T, 3.3 GHz, 4 x 256 KB L2 Cache, 6 MB L3 Cache, w/ HD Graphics 3000, 95 W TDP, 3.7 GHz max. Turbo
Common Platform Components
Dual DDR3 Memory2 x 2 GB DDR3-2200, Kingmax FLKE85F-B8KJAA FEIS
Discrete GraphicsSapphire Radeon HD 5850, GPU: Cypress (725 MHz), Graphics RAM: 1024 MB GDDR5 (2000 MT/s), Stream Processors: 1440
Hard DriveWestern Digital VelociRaptor (WD3000HLFS), 300 GB, 10 000 RPM, SATA 3Gb/s, 16 MB Cache
Power SupplyPC Power & Cooling, Silencer 750EPS12V 750 W
System Software & Drivers
Operating SystemWindows 7 Ultimate x64, fully updated on 2010-07-29
Drivers and Settings
ATI Radeon DriversAMD Catalyst 10.12 Suite for Windows 7
Intel Graphics DriversDriver Release 8.15.10.2246
Intel Chipset DriversChipset Installation Utility Ver. 9.2.0.1016

Sandy
Bridge with Integrated Graphics: Intel DH67BL

Sandy Bridge with Discrete Graphics: Intel DH67BL and Sapphire Radeon HD 5850

Socket AM3 with Discrete Graphics: MSI 890GXM-G65 and Sapphire Radeon HD 5850

Patrick Schmid and Achim Roos