Intel’s Core i5-655K & Core i7-875K: Overclocked and Analyzed
by Rajinder Gill on May 28, 2010 5:00 AM ESTNow that we’ve got a couple of baselines out of the way using Intel’s stock heat-sink, it’s time to peg thermals back a bit on and see how the i5-655K substrate responds to lower load temperatures:
Switching over to our water-cooling loop decreases load temperature deltas by up to 35 degrees Celsius on this sample (as reported by on-die DTS). The upshot of this is seen quite clearly in the graph - lower load temperatures decrease processor power consumption at equivalent frequencies due to a positive temperature co-efficient (the hotter the CPU runs the more power it leaks - all else being equal). With the end result being that we’re able to boost our previous 3.77GHz stock VID overclock using the stock Intel cooler by almost 200MHz to 3.953GHz.
The improved thermal dissipation allows us to ramp voltages and takes us all the way to 4.55GHz before we hit the wall of diminishing returns. The demands on voltage ramping past this point are such that we start to see a minimum 5~10 watt rise in power consumption for every 20MHz increase in frequency. Also note, that we’re about 40MHz away from doubling up on stock processor power consumption; 4.25GHz seems to be the sensible operating point, coming in at 16 Watts over stock power draw to VCC and VTT with a 900MHz boost in full-load core frequency - and that’s with all performance related domains overclocked.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
51 Comments
View All Comments
wavetrex - Friday, May 28, 2010 - link
In the table it sais $284 for the 980X, that MUST be a mistake!mianmian - Friday, May 28, 2010 - link
In a previous Anandtech aritical, it was $999, maybe it is $824 nowTexpat - Friday, May 28, 2010 - link
I think the price for the 980x might be wrong. $1,000 would be closer tot he truth.ltcommanderdata - Friday, May 28, 2010 - link
I'm really pleasantly surprised that the 2.93GHz Core i7 875K at $342 is cheaper yet has more features than the 2.93GHz Core i7 870 at $562. Although I'm guessing that's only temporary as the upcoming 3.06GHz Core i7 880 will probably take over the $562 price point, with the Core i7 870 dropping down to $284 and the Core i7 860 being phased out. There's also a Core i5 760 to replace the Core i5 750.DrMrLordX - Friday, May 28, 2010 - link
You guys really busted out the big guns with the dual-stage cascade! Please do this more often when overclocking. I would love to see a C3 Propus at -100C (or a Thuban).jleach1 - Friday, May 28, 2010 - link
On the second page, i believe in the 'test rig' table the proc is listed as a i5-870 instead of the i7-870Rajinder Gill - Friday, May 28, 2010 - link
Thanks - fixed!GeorgeH - Friday, May 28, 2010 - link
"it’s full of talk about voltages and harps on about overclocking"No need to be shy about that - Anandtech is bookmarked because of awesome articles and analyses like this one.
FlanK3r - Friday, May 28, 2010 - link
not bad, my x6 1090T is full stable 4300MHz 2800MHz NB with aircooling ,-)...for games and benchmarks 4400-4450 MHz :)AstroGuardian - Friday, May 28, 2010 - link
Guys, i think you should not hurry to release articles instead of taking them slow and sure. Many typos especially in the graphs.i3-530 vs i5-540