Core i3 2120K - unlocked dualcore sandy!?

[Xorp]

What kind of enthusiast would still buy a dual core?

Most games still don't take advantage of >2 cores

 

[RyanGreener]

Even at 150, I think it's a decent CPU for the role it MAY play. Yes, you can get 2500k's for 180+tax at microcenter, but that's a microcenter deal only, and they may have deals on these as well.

Also, for those who do not do tasks that require/utilize many cores, this is great. Chances are, because it is dual core, it will draw less power/create less heat so it may overclock high without having high voltages or intense cooling required, along with the fact that the PSU requirements would not have to be as high (but I know that SB in general is very energy efficient). This is a plus to those who don't have access/room for extreme cooling (massive tower heatsinks/water cooling). I remember socket 775 was awesome for overclocking. An E8600 dual core I had did 4.0 GHz on stock voltage, and if I had a better motherboard/better cooling, I could have easily ramped it up to 5.0 GHz (because on modest voltage, it did 4.4 GHz but the motherboard/heat was the limiting factor, as I was nowhere near the peak voltage). I don't think most of the extreme cooled+voltage quads could get past 4.0 GHz. Finally, if it has hyperthreading, it'll still have 4 threads at least and it'll be able to "somewhat" match the multitasking ability of the i5...

But anyways, I agree that it would be great if it cost less (130ish at least)

 

[Arkadrel]

Most games still don't take advantage of >2 cores

I thought almost all new games did? maybe Im missing something here?
Also it has a impact on performance.

Notice the differnce between 2 cores and 4 cores is usually quite big, thats because most of the games are optimised to run with 4 cores.

There are even alot of games that ll use 6+ threads/cores or more.
For some reason I cant help but think 2 cores is just to little.

But if the "Core i3 2120k" has hyper-threading then with 2 cores / 4 threads, and good overclock ability it ought to be a popular cpu anyway.
Does anyone know yet if it comes with Hyper-threading?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

What rock have you been hiding under for the past five months? ^_^

the "i-bought-an-i7-nehalem-last-year-so-i'll-pretend-sandy-bridge-doesn't-rape-my-whole-setup-for-half-the-cost" rock

 

[dualsmp]

According to this link there is no hypertheading on the 2120k.

http://www.vortez.net/news_story/intel_core_i3_2120k.html

Kinda a deal killer IMO at the $150 price. Processor would be ok at $99 I suppose but not much more. Even the first gen i3 clarkdale had hyperthreading, except the lowest clocked part. On that note I'm more than satisfied with my i3 530 with HT at 4.0Ghz and it does everything I need it to do.

Edit:
Actually there is hypertheading according to softpedia. Processor looks much more tempting with HT.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Intel-Prepares-Overclocking-Friendly-Core-i3-2120K-CPU-201302.shtml

 

[podspi]

According to this link there is no hypertheading on the 2120k.

http://www.vortez.net/news_story/intel_core_i3_2120k.html

Kinda a deal killer IMO at the $150 price. Processor would be ok at $99 I suppose but not much more. Even the first gen i3 clarkdale had hyperthreading, except the lowest clocked part. On that note I'm more than satisfied with my i3 530 with HT at 4.0Ghz and it does everything I need it to do.

No HT?! Why?! Was kind of hoping this would show up @ MC for around ~ $150. I almost picked up their earlier i3 deal for $99, but it sold out before I could ...

Oh well, if it can hit 5ghz reliably still might be something fun to pick up...

 

[dualsmp]

See my edit. Looks like it may have HT.

 

[RyanGreener]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the current SB i3 have HT? I don't see why a higher unlocked version wouldn't have it.

 

[AdamK47]

Most games still don't take advantage of >2 cores

This old myth again? It's true of older games, obviously. Newer games DO take advantage of multiple cores. Even the hex core in my system is taken advantage of nicely. I just looked at the utilization of my system while playing The Witcher 2 and found this:

This was taken with everything maxed in the game and with vsync (60hz/60fps).

Dragon Age 1 and 2, Mass Effect 1 and 2, and pretty much everything that runs off of Unreal Engine 3 will take advantage of the 6 cores in my system.

Another example: Here's a task manager shot while running Battlefield Bad Company 2 several months ago.

You can't say that most games don't take advantage of >2 anymore.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

This chip will be an overclockers dream. Seems like it's sole purpose is to break records.

 

[RyanGreener]

This chip will be an overclockers dream. Seems like it's sole purpose is to break records.

Yeah. Less heat = easier overclocks I'm betting, especially if you disable HT (if it comes with it).

 

[AdamK47]

This chip will be an overclockers dream. Seems like it's sole purpose is to break records.

That's a viable conclusion if it's native dual core. Otherwise it will overclock the same as a Sandybridge with 2 cores disabled.

 

[podspi]

That's a viable conclusion if it's native dual core. Otherwise it will overclock the same as a Sandybridge with 2 cores disabled.

I was under the impression that the i3's were a different die?

I didn't think Intel did any die-harvesting like AMD does...

 

[bunnyfubbles]

That's a viable conclusion if it's native dual core. Otherwise it will overclock the same as a Sandybridge with 2 cores disabled.

I was under the impression that the i3's were a different die?

I didn't think Intel did any die-harvesting like AMD does...

yup, the die is physically smaller in size with less transistors

 

[Concillian]

I thought almost all new games did? maybe Im missing something here?
Also it has a impact on performance.

<And a bunch of other images showing similar stuff>

Notice the differnce between 2 cores and 4 cores is usually quite big, thats because most of the games are optimised to run with 4 cores.

There are even alot of games that ll use 6+ threads/cores or more.
For some reason I cant help but think 2 cores is just to little.

But if the "Core i3 2120k" has hyper-threading then with 2 cores / 4 threads, and good overclock ability it ought to be a popular cpu anyway.
Does anyone know yet if it comes with Hyper-threading?

1) Once I dug around I found this is from a 1090T article...

2) no HT. In apps that can use more threads, HT will add ~20&#37; or so.

3) SB is at least 10% faster per clock...

I think the single thread advantage of the SB is significantly larger than 10%, but I'm giving the benefit of the doubt here.

4) Nobody's going to buy this and run it at 3.3 GHz, gonna be ~4.5 Ghz 40% faster clock than the 1090T

5) 2 core performance in all of these games except 2 is PERFECT and 4 core, while definitely faster, will provide zero actual perceived benefit because FPS from CPU is already to the point that you aren't going to notice any performance improvement.

combine all that together and you're looking at 180% speed of a 2 core Phenom Architecture, which is damn close to 4 cores of a stock 1090T... so performance should be pretty close to the 4 core level in all of those games. At 4 the 4 core level, the FPS is at a pretty sweet level, which suggests it might be a pretty good tradeoff for someone to make if they want to save a few bucks on a system. At the same time in those games like Starcraft II, WoW, and other games which do not see advantage from more than 2 cores, it will completely WALK ALL OVER processors which go for cores > single threaded performance like the Phenom IIs. In those games, there are verified cases of FPS problems with low IPC processors.

A budget processor is not about what is absolutely best... it's about what makes the best tradeoffs to the consumer to be a budget processor. Of course there are things it will get trounced on... it's a budget processor, but lets face it, those games that will see benefits on paper from a 4 core are still perfectly playable at high settings with a 2 core SB with HT at 4+ GHz, while being downright optimal for games that still can't use more than 2 cores.

At it's price level it doesn't need to be the fastest thing ever. It's about what makes sense given other offerings around the same price level, and other stuff in the <$150 range is either MUCH worse in speed at a given clock speed, or un-OC'able and stuck at a MUCH lower clock speed than the 4.5 - 5GHz GHz potential this guy likely has. This is what makes the offering attractive.

 

[betasub]

I'm still trying to work out what AdamK47's Witcher2 task manager screenshot proves. Apart from thread-scheduling across different cores.

 

[sm625]

I think a really fast dual core for $150 would perform well in real world tests compared to say a 25&#37; slower clocked quad core. Especially in minimum frame rates, where a single thread on the cpu is choking off the video card for just a few milliseconds. But I cant find an article where they compare dual to quad and focus on minimum frame rates.

 

[Rvenger]

I don't know if I missed anything but the i3 2120 'non K' is at newegg and has HT. Should give you an idea about the 2120k


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-077-_-Product

 

[sm625]

I just looked at the utilization of my system while playing The Witcher 2 and found this:

When I added up the average cpu utilizations at any given point in time, I am seeing only about 2.5 cores being utilized. A faster dual core should run Witcher 2 at higher frame rates. As long as it is about 0.5 / 2 (25%) faster.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Chart in OP must be wrong. Unlocked i3 2120K must have turbo boost, since isn't that how you overclock the 2500K chips? You set the turbo multi to whatever you want, and the chip boosts to that speed? If there is no turbo multi to set (due to lack of turbo boost support) on the i3, then how do you set the turbo multi to overclock?

 

[Concillian]

When I added up the average cpu utilizations at any given point in time, I am seeing only about 2.5 cores being utilized. A faster dual core should run Witcher 2 at higher frame rates. As long as it is about 0.5 / 2 (25%) faster.

Just demonstrates that this game on his settings is not really pushing the CPU at all.Most games will not be limited to minimum FPS < 40 (where I've tested myself to start noticing FPS as slightly low) with a dual SB at ~4.5 GHz. BFBC2 might be one. I suspect there are VERY few others. Marketing and benchmarks with bigger bars will sell 2500k to people who think they need a CPU capable of 150 FPS though.

 

[MrTransistorm]

Chart in OP must be wrong. Unlocked i3 2120K must have turbo boost, since isn't that how you overclock the 2500K chips? You set the turbo multi to whatever you want, and the chip boosts to that speed? If there is no turbo multi to set (due to lack of turbo boost support) on the i3, then how do you set the turbo multi to overclock?

Most people probably use turbo overclocking, but there is also a separate base multiplier setting that is independent of turbo.

 

[psolord]

Sorry for the bump, but people that may be interested in this cpu, should read this!
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?271794-Core-i3-2120K&p=4869845

Wizzard says the 2120K was a typo!

 

[Zap]

:sadface;

 

[bunnyfubbles]

we knew of a regular i3 2120 a while ago, but the source of the rumor for the 2120K is http://www.xfastest.com/cms/tid-61002/, what's the connection with Wizzard?