When RawZ met Sandy: Bench Test
Hi Guys,
I promised SB benchmarks and overclocks, so here goes. Purpose of this is to show you what SB can do and what our current stock can overclock to. No GPU benchmarks sorry as I ran out of time as I'm sure you can appreciate the hectic week this has been.
Weapons of choice:
MSI P67A-GD55
Cogage Arrow CPU Cooler w/ 1x 120x38mm San Ace H1011 Fan
2GB Corsair GTX2 RAM
Corsair VX 450W PSU
40GB Mushkin Callisto deluxe SSD
CPUs Tested:
Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz
Intel Core i5-2500 3.30GHz
Bench Setup:
Benchmarks:
2600K:
- CPU-Z
5460.96 MHz -
- Super Pi 1M
6.832s
- Super Pi 32M
6.40.858s
- Pi Fast
13.88s
- wPrime 32M
4.555s
- wPrime 1024M
146.906s
2500K:
- CPU-Z
4926.15 MHz -
- Super Pi 1M
7.597s
- Pi Fast
15.27s
- wPrime 32M
6.193s
- wPrime 1024M
197.278s
2500:
- CPU-Z
4068.04 MHz -
- Super Pi 1M
9.172s
- Pi Fast
18.27s
- wPrime 32M
7.503s
- wPrime 1024M
238.852s
Mini Conclusion:
SB is a lot of fun to play with. For Extreme overclockers it takes the fun away from subzero benching as i've seen benchmarks up to 5.60GHz on air but its down to the CPU. For example my 2600K could hit up to 5.50GHz with HT still on! Yet the cooler 2500K couldn't boot past 4.95GHz no matter the temps or voltages. Its going to be even more about batch numbers yet again. Thankfully our 2600K's currently can hit past the 5GHz barrier. However, benching on air is still fun and makes OC'ing SB very competitive.
Stability wise, both chips can do 4.80-5.00GHz 24/7 stable under LinX and air cooling with no higher than 1.4v. Temps stay in check below 70.C under load on a Prolimatech Megahalems Rev B CPU Cooler and 1x 120mm fan.
The i5 2500 standard chip shouldn't be stiffed at. 4.00GHz 24/7 stable was possible on the GD55 board. I think people seem to forget that its still a Sandy Bridge CPU at the end of the day even if it can't hit the same clocks as the K chips. However considering the price difference between the 2500 and 2500K, i'd recommend the much cheaper i5 2300 if your not going for a more expensive K chip. It would definatly be worth it for an upgrade over a Q6600 & i5-750/60. I must point out that the stable OC on the 2500 didn't need any voltage increase. Temps while idle we're 16.C and load under LinX were no higher than 45.C
The MSI P67A-GD55 really is an awesome board to work and play with. Bit-Tech said that the BIOS was the worst out of the new boards but i found it easy as pie. I did have a minor problem with my USB mouse. It could of been just my Razor mouse but when in the BIOS, the mouse reverted to inverted mode which was a little annoying. There was no way to change this in the BIOS. Other than that, OC'ing was a breeze. I'd really recommend this board to anyone looking for a decent all round board. x8/x8 PCI-e bandwidth is available for SLI & CF too. This board is meant for SI builders. Its basically the same as the GD65 but with 2 less SATA 3 ports (2 still available) and no Dual Bios. However, since MSI have the 20% cashback deal on currently for this week (ending 17th Jan), i'd opt for the GD65 if your buying SB this week. Hurry though! Stock will run out fast!
Thanks
Big thanks to MSI for shipping me the sample board to test!
Originally Posted by heavywater
can't wait to get mine 
