Intel Sandy Bridge-E Can Reach Close to 5 GHz on Air-Cooling

[btarunr]

As Intel's Core i7 "Sandy Bridge-E" processors in the LGA2011 package inch closer to their mid-November launch, there is already hectic activity among manufacturers of related components such as motherboards, memory, and coolers. By now, a large section of the industry has engineering samples to help design and test their components. OCWorkbench was witness to one such pre-release setup on which a Core i7 "Sandy Bridge-E" (unknown model, could even be quad-core for all we know), overclocked to 4.92 GHz with a "regular" air-cooler. The chip was idling at 45°C.

Sandy Bridge-E, as we know, can be effectively overclocked by increasing its base clock (BClk). On this particular setup, the BClk was set at 120 MHz, with a multiplier value of 41X, and core voltage of 1.51V. The memory used was DDR3-2400 MHz with CAS latency of 10T. This is particularly encouraging, not just to enthusiasts on a tight budget, but also the cooling products industry in general. Core i7 "Sandy Bridge-E" retail boxes don't contain a cooling solution, and Intel has been showing off its branded closed-loop water-cooling solution (to be purchased separately) as something that's "recommended" for Core i7 "Sandy Bridge-E". This gave many an impression that you need at least closed-loop water coolers for any hope of achieving decent overclocked speeds with these chips, and that perhaps these chips are bad overclockers in general. The likes of Xigmatek, Thermalright, Noctua, and Scythe can breathe a huge sigh of relief.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Enmity]

all this tells me is that sandybridge-E overclocks just the same as sandy bridge. This is good news though since theres no need for any higher oc potential with amd behind the ball at the moment.

 

[LiveOrDie]

This gave many an impression that you need at least closed-loop water coolers for any hope of achieving decent overclocked speeds with these chips, and that perhaps these chips are bad overclockers in general

I would doubt that they use water coolers becasue normal air coolers don't fit with the ram so close to the cpu socket.

 

[entropy13]

all this tells me is that sandybridge-E overclocks just the same as sandy bridge. This is good news though since theres no need for any higher oc potential with amd behind the ball at the moment.

A lot of Sandy Bridge (2600K, 2500K) struggle to get 4.8GHz on air, much less 5.0GHz so I don't see where you're coming from.

 

[mediasorcerer]

maybe the 2400 memory helped?

 

[ViperXTR]

"enthusiast on a thight budget"
'__'

 

[Jarman]

i doubt they would struggle with 1.51 volts coursing through their veins....i doubt they would last very long either though!!

 

[Deleted member 24505]

120BClk thats pretty good, most SB wont go over 105 without problems.

 

[Enmity]

I'd argue that 4.8Ghz is close to 5ghz, which is exactly what they claim. So where are you coming from? a hand picked sandy bridge-e can overclock a whopping 100mhz over the current sb on average? thats amazing

edit :

especially at that voltage

 

[Yellow&Nerdy?]

We all know this CPU was cherry-picked and the voltage was jacked way up. So the OC-capability is probably similar to Sandy Bridge. Some 2600K's have reached 5 GHz as well.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Idle temp seems a little high to me - My SB chip idles around 30-35'c

 

[mediasorcerer]

my i5k is idling @4738mhz=19c-25c atm,the antec i installed recently is doing a very good job so far,,

 

[Initialised]

I didn't think they were as easy as SB, I've heard of people struggling to get much past 4.5GHz when all the memory banks are loaded up.

 

[de.das.dude]

i remember we were told tha sandy bridge will easily do 5ghz on air. so is this BS being thrown around again?

 

[MikeMurphy]

As far as I'm concerned SB-E is way overpriced. It better do 6ghz, on air.

 

[Delta6326]

As far as I'm concerned SB-E is way overpriced. It better do 6ghz, on air.

Overpriced...? It hasn't even officially come out yet. Prices are never final till you see it in store, is what I say.

 

[cadaveca]

Good advice, Delta...AMD says 8150 should be selling for $245, and it's priced signifigantly higher than that.


I'm rather excited for X79...clocking looks like there's going to be a fair bit of options that 1155 doesn't have, and that's all good, to me.

 

[n-ster]

As far as I'm concerned SB-E is way overpriced. It better do 6ghz, on air.

How so?

AFAIK no official price are out, and even if the non-official ones were true, the 4 core is well priced, and the 6-core @ 500~600$ is understandable. A 4 core SB-E setup is getting dangerously close priced as a 2700K setup, and with many advantages that X79 offers

 

[RejZoR]

5GHz or bust...

 

[3volvedcombat]

Personally a huge step better then AMD right now,

Couldn't imagine how fast they can make there 2011 socket, and Intel has recently been crunching out some amazing chips, no question about it.

AMD better get some way bigger bawls out in the market, or this just wont be fair. Intel just cranks out the horsepower, and they probably can crank out even faster chips if the competition became dangerous enough .

That is a very decent clock on air, and they have a pretty decent amount of time to perfect and revise, which they do on occasion.

I have a feeling, LGA2011 = LGA775, massive upgrade's on the chips and chip-set capability's and there in a possession to hog a socket because the competition just is not even keeping up. I mean it just sounds fuckin huge in the first place, I really have no doubt's via pass releases.

As far as I'm concerned SB-E is way overpriced. It better do 6ghz, on air.

The ignorant are ignorant....

He must be Jesus?

 

[Delta6326]

Yeah I think I may be switching out my LGA775 and getting LGA2011.

But 1.51Volts is crazy I would never put that through my chip. I don't like to go over 1.36V... I'm at 1.25

 

[BrooksyX]

So whats the big deal? My 2500k can reach 4.8ghz stable with decent volts on air. Hell it will even post at 5.0ghz just wont boot windows. Sure if I really upped the voltage I could get it there but I leave it at 4.5ghz. Power bill is high enough as it is.

 

[n-ster]

I have to agree this is NOT impressive, 1.51V is stupidly high and this is weak compared to SB. If this is the 6-core though, I'll be more impressed, but I'm more interested in smaller voltage bumps, like 1.35V... maybe 1.4V MAX

 

[Completely Bonkers]

Sound like this chip will be a GUINESS WORLD RECORD BREAKER on liquid he! Lol, AMD PR backfire!

 

[FreedomEclipse]

hmmm, come to think of it....wouldnt 1.5v be pretty dangerious to a 22nm CPU?? If anything about 1.4v hurts standard SB chips. 1.5v through a 22nm CPU cant be healthy