One of the most significant changes in the Sandybridge chips is the integration of the CPU, graphics, memory controller and PCI-E connectivity into a single die, greatly reducing production cost and overall complexity of the chip. Another main difference is its video processing prowess via Intel HD Graphics 3000 over the previous generation of chips. The Core i5 2500K, for example, can run many mainstream games today on decent resolutions, without the need for dedicated GPUs—a feat that was difficult to achieve realistically with the previous generation of chips. In addition, the Core i5 2500K has 3D transcoding abilities, again a feature that was only accessible before through the use of a dedicated GPU.

Of course, all this talk about what the processor could do is nothing without real-world benchmarks. To that end, I put the Intel Core i5 2500K through a series of performance tests, including real game tests using “Battlefield Bad Company 2.” Intel sent the Core i5 2500K with a reference DH67 Intel motherboard, 8GB of DDR3 memory and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 570 GPU. Some may notice that the test rig is a bit skewed in the region of high-end products in terms of the hardware, but to be realistic, the price range that the Core i5 2500K belongs to means that typical PC configurations would be similar to the test rig.

First benchmark was Unigine’s Heaven benchmark. With the screen resolution set at 1680x1050 with 4x anti-aliasing and anisotrophy set to 4x, the Core i5 2500K managed a nice and smooth average FPS of 41.6, with a score of 1047. Futuremark’s PC Mark 7 is another important benching tool, as it takes account of real-life usage scenarios including Web browsing, video encoding and gaming, and generates results of all of that. The complete system managed an excellent score of 2957 PCMarks.

The last tool that we used to gauge the raw performance numbers of the Core i5 2500K is MAXON’s Cinebench 11.5, a  real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates computer’s performance capabilities, and is based on  MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. The benchmark with Cinebench 11.5 was impressive—the Core i5 2500K managed to net an impressive score of 4.84, almost catching up to the previous generation’s Core i7 860’s score of 5.06. Clearly, the i5 2500K is a massive step up.

Gaming with the i5 2500K was extremely pleasant, and in conjunction with the GTX 570, my frames never dropped below 50.

I was happily blasting everything and everyone with my Carl Gustav without worries, and is definitely an improvement over my old i5.

What’s Hot:

Can run mainstream games on its own, without a dedicated GPU

3D transcoding without a dedicated GPU

Performance is leaps and bounds ahead of previous generation

What’s Not:

You will need a new motherboard if you decide to upgrade

Bottom line:

The numbers don’t lie. If you’re upgrading your PC and value performance, the second-generation Intel Core i5 2500K should be on top of your list.