LGA1155 Pentium processors family includes three models - G850, G840 and G620 that differ only in their clock speeds – and a fourth G620T model that belongs to the special energy-efficient series. The TDP of regular Pentium processors is 65 W, which is typical of dual-core Sandy Bridge CPUs, while the T-model boasts 35 W TDP.
Pentium G850, G840 and G620 processors as well as Core i3 for LGA1155 formally belong to solutions with 65 W TDP. However, in reality they have lower frequencies and do not support Hyper-Threading and therefore, should be more energy-efficient.
Source

Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor G850 2.9GHz 3MB LGA1155 CPU, Retail (BX80623G850) Price $85.24

Intel Pentium G620 Dual Core 2.6 GHz Intel HD Graphics Retail LGA 1155 Processor - BX80623G620 Price $69.99

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The Intel core i7-3820 is a 32nm processor with a 3.6GHz default clock and Turbo capabilities up to 3.9GHz. This CPU features 10MB of L3 cache and a new beefed up quad-channel DDR3-1600 memory interface which is theoretically capable of 51.2GB/s of bandwidth.
Compared to its main competition, the i7-2600K, the i7-3820 has about 10% higher idle and 20% higher CPU load power consumption. This is a significant increase, but one must keep in mind that the Sandy Bridge-E chip does have 25% more power-sucking L3 cache, a much larger integrated memory controller, and a revamped PCI-E controlller. The Intel Core i7-3820 is an excellent processor and an ideal choice for those who need the inherent bandwidth advantages of the LGA2011 platform. Source

Intel Core i7-3820 Processor 3.6 4 LGA 2011 BX80619I73820 Price $308.01

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Today we have the AMD Phenom II x4 975 Black Edition CPU in the Deneb core line. For those unfamiliar with the Black Edition line of chips, they feature an unlocked multiplier which allows for super easy overclocking in a sub $200 price range. This new 125 watt quad core comes stock at 3.6GHz, but if you’re anything like us, you won’t settle for stock speeds. Join us as we take a look at the 975 Black Edition, and see just what it can pull off. The Black Edition chips that AMD puts out are renowned for being able to hit crazy overclocks. If you’re buying a Black Edition chip, you more than likely have overclocking in mind. The prior version of the x4 Black Edition (955) was able to hit a 7 GHz overclock by using liquid helium. We didn’t push ours quite that far, but we did push it more to the limits that the stock heat sink would allow. We were able to overclock our chip to 4 GHz by just adjusting the multiplier, and not even needing to adjust voltages. With an aftermarket cooling solution, you could easily get higher speeds than we did. Source

AMD Phenom II X4 975, Black Edition (HDZ975FBGMBOX) Price $159.98

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The AMD A8-3870K processor is the replacement for the A8-3850, and is clocked 100mhz higher @ 3GHz. The 'K' moniker indicates that this is an unlocked processor, otherwise known in AMD terms as a 'Black Edition'. The CPU multipliers, GPU and memory multipliers are also unlocked which will prove useful. In the past, the user had to overclock the A8-3850 via base clock increases, which was less than ideal.
This time around, overclocking is possible by raising the multiplier, making it much easier and less dependent on other components in the system. Overclocking this processor really is simple, and we could get the machine posting at 3.6GHz without a problem. Source

AMD A8-3870K APU with AMD Radeon 6550 HD Graphics 3.0GHz Unlocked Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Processor - Retail - AD3870WNGXBOX Price $125.05

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Today we test the video card side of things a bit more and see what goes on when we start to make use of CrossFireX on the 990FX platform. The 990FX chipset shows some good potential and it's going to be interesting to see what happens when we start to make use of all those PCIe lanes that are on offer.
The approach we've taken here today is pretty simple; we've got our two CPUs, the Intel i7 2600k and AMD FX-8150. We've thrown three Sapphire HD 6970 video cards in our Maximus IV Extreme-Z and Crosshair V Formula. Then we've benched them in our standard video card line-up with both CPUs running at what their maximum OC is i.e. we're using our i7 2600k @ 5.2GHz vs the FX-8150 @ 4.76GHz. Read more »

AMD FX-8150 FX 8-Core Black Edition Processor (FD8150FRGUBOX) Price $249.99

Intel Core i7-2600 Processor 3.4GHz 8 MB Cache Socket LGA1155 Price $295.98

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The FX series processors are part of a platform designed for Gamers and High Definition content enthusiasts called Scorpius, which includes 990 chipset-based motherboards like the MSI FX990A-GD80 and the ASUS Crosshair V Formula, a 6 series video card, and of course the FX series processor.
After having the opportunity to watch some of the world's best overclockers pull a Guinness World record of 8.4GHz from the "Bulldozer" architecture using liquid helium as the cooling medium, I figured a solid 5GHz would be attainable in this case. After all, AMD had also set up a rig running all day long at 4.8Ghz with nothing more than a self-contained water cooling solution keeping it cool. Simple enough, I found that managing the thermal load was the key to overclocking this chip when the voltage is ramped up – just as expected. However, it was not as easy as it would seem, with 8 physical cores in four Bulldozer modules. Rather than fight for big clock speeds on air, I used a Corsair Hydro Series H80 to manage the thermal load and closely replicate what I saw at AMD's Austin headquarters in terms of cooling solution and clock speeds. There are two stability levels here: benchmark stable and what I consider fully stable with Prime95. At 4940MHz (229x21.5 @ 1.435V), I was able to navigate through the OS and game for hours, though the system was not fully stable due to the thermal load. To get Prime95 stable, I had to drop the clock speeds down to 4640MHz (232x20 @1.325V) for a more easily-managed thermal load . After a ton of trial and error to reach my stability point, however, I found that results were not indicative of clock speeds during load testing. Through further research, I found that the FX-8150 starts throttling the clock speed (multiplier) at roughly 81°C, hence the need to further manage the thermal load to get the highest clocks from the FX-8150. A perfect example is shown in the Prime95 screen shot below. In the end, a 1.34GHz or almost 38% bump in clock speed is not that bad and is similar to the gains I have seen with some of my Intel chips. With a full-on water loop, speeds this high should be attainable and fully Prime95 stable. I do have to say, though, this is the highest-clocking AMD chip I have ever laid hands on. 5.0GHz, here I come! Read more »

AMD FX 8150 8-Core Processor, 3.6 8 Socket AM3 - FD8150FRGUBOX Price $249.99

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We are benchmarking the Intel Core i3 2120 CPU against the AMD Phenom II X2 560 CPU. The Intel Core i3 2120 is clocked at 3300Mhz while the AMD Phenom II X2 560 is clocked at 3300Mhz. The Intel Core i3 2120 supports MMX+, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4, EM64T, VT-X AND AVX. A big disadvantage for the Intel Core i3 2120 is the 3MB Level 3 Cache while the AMD Phenom II X2 560 has 6MB Level 3 Cache. We will be using Benchmarks for testing the Intel Core i3 2120 and AMD Phenom II X2 560 which are:- Cinebench, Geekbench, Novabench and Nuclearus. Games are Hawk 2 and Lost Planet 2. The AMD Phenom II X2 560 is Dual Core so it's going to be as interesting fight for the Intel Core i3 2120 which is also Dual Core. Read more »

Intel Core i3-2120 Processor 3.3 GHz 3MB Cache Socket LGA1155 Price $127.98

AMD Phenom II X2 560 3.30 GHz Processor - Dual-core 2000 MHz HT - 1 MB L2 - 6 MB L3 - Box Price $94.07

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AMD provide us with the A8-3850 APU, the top model of the Llano desktop processors. Our test model has the fastest version of the integrated GPU, the HD 6550D, as well as four CPU cores. The CPU part is here with a clock of 2.9 GHz and a total fall back to 4.5 MiB cache. In terms of power consumption is at a maximum of 100W. AMD A8-3850 is available starting at $139.99, so it must therefore oppose the competition in the form of the Intel Core i3 and Intel Core i5 2100 to 2300th.

AMD A8-3870K APU with AMD Radeon 6550 HD Graphics 3.0GHz Unlocked Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Processor - Retail - AD3870WNGXBOX Price $139.99

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Today we are going to look at the AMD Phenom II X6 1075T processor which has been on the market for quite a while now. It comes in at a very similar price to the Phenom II X4 975 Black Edition but features two extra cores. Despite not having an unlocked multiplier, it can easily be overclocked providing you have an adequate cooler. The 1075T processor itself looks almost identical to every other model in the range as they all use the same heatspreader and pin arrangement. It’s six cores are clocked at 3.00 GHz which is achieved using a bus speed of 200 MHz and a multiplier of 15x.
We achieved good scores in this test with the 1075T, including a healthy improvement when it was overclocked. Read more...

AMD Phenom II X6 1075T Thuban 3gHz 6 x 512 KB L2 Cache 6 MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Processor - Retail HDT75TFBGRBOX Price $174.99

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The Intel Core i7 990X Extreme Edition processor is the new flagship processor. Featuring six cores plus hyper-threading, you know there is some power behind it! Coming at us with 3.46 GHz of processing power per core and up to 3.73 GHz with turbo enabled, it's sure to be a fun processor to play with. If of course, you can swing the budget for this beast. The Intel Core i7 990X Extreme falls into the category of how fast do you want to go, and how much do you want to spend. Read more...

Intel Core i7 Processor Extreme Edition i7-990X 3.46GHz 12MB LGA1366 CPU BX80613I7990X Price $1,096.66

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The Intel Core i3-2120 we are reviewing today utilizes an updated version of DMI (Direct Media Interface) to connect to the Platform Controller Hub; aptly called DMI 2.0. DMI 2.0 doubles the transfer rate to 21Gb/s with a x4 link from DMI 1.0. LGA 1155 CPUs also retain the integrated dual channel DDR3-1333 memory controller found on Lynnfield core processors. LGA 2011 Sandy Bridge processors will feature QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) 4.8 GT/s to 6.4 GT/s, along with an upgraded native quad channel DDR3-1600 memory controller.

The current family of Intel Sandy Bridge desktop processors includes:

Core i7: i7-2600K, i7-2600S, i7-2600

Core i5: i5-2500K, i5-2500S, i5-2500T, i5-2500, i5-2400, i5-2400S, i5-2390T, i5-2300

Core i3: i3-2120, i3-2100, i3-2100T

The 'K' suffix denotes unlocked multiplier, 'S' for a low power processor, and 'T' for an ultra low power processor.

Second generation Intel Core i3s like the 2120 we are reviewing today have two physical cores with Hyper-Threading. Like previous generation Nehalem processors, the main difference between Core i3s and i5s, other than quantity of cache and lack of AES instructions, is that the latter has four physical cores, rather than two physical cores and two logical cores for four simultaneous threads. Read more...

Intel Core i3 Processor i3-2120 3.3GHz 3MB LGA1155 CPU BX80623I32120 Price $127.98

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In an attempt to put AMD's fastest quad-core processor on the market, they release the Phenom II X4 975, which comes with a very high 3.6 GHz clock frequency, that's right 3600 MHz (!) as a default peak clock frequency.

As this is a BE model this processor caters much more for overclocking as it will have its multiplier and voltages unlocked. Black Edition processors support software-selectable increases to memory controller, HyperTransport, DDR3 and CPU core frequency. This Phenom II part is based on AMD's 45nm Silicon On Insulator process technology and has a total of 2MB L2 cache; 512KB per core. However -- a big change in Phenom II architecture was a large increase in L3 cache. Phenom II can address 6MB L3 cache shared among the cores as a buffer, so it can exchange data in-between the four logical cores. That's 8 MB of cache and then there is another 512KB total L1 per processor. Read more...

AMD Phenom II X4 975, Black Edition (HDZ975FBGMBOX)Price $198.95

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The newest Intel Sandy Bridge K series processors have unlocked multipliers, making overclocking these processors extremely easy with the correct motherboard. There are two K parts initially, a 2500K and a 2600K. The 2500K is an i5 part that has 4 cores with no HyperThreading feature. The 2600K is an i7 part that has 4 cores featuring HyperThreading allowing for 8 threads to be run simultaneously.

The "Sandy Bridge" processors we are seeing here today are Intel's second generation of "Core" processor that will be represented under the brand names of Intel Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7. Read more...

Intel Core i7-2600 Processor 3.4GHz 8 MB Cache Socket LGA1155 Price $295.98
Intel Core i5 Processor i5-2500K 3.3GHz 6MB LGA1155 CPU BOX80623I52500K Price $218.98

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Based on the Regor core, the Athlon-II X2-260 has a 3.2GHz clock speed, up 100MHz from the Athlon-II X2-255 at 3.1Ghz which was released in January 2010. The Athlon-II X2-260 is at the very low end of the newly released processors and represents a value based market at only $79. Benchmark Reviews is going to directly compare the Athlon-II X2-260 to its predecessor to see just what advantages can be found in the new chip running 100MHz faster. Read more...

AMD Athlon II X2 260 3.2GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Buy now for $78.99

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Today we are looking at one of the processors from AMD's 2010 line up, designed to go up against Intel's Pentium dual cores at the important $100.99. Intel would no doubt prefer us to pitch this chip against its Core i3 530, but as that processor costs 20% more that wouldn't be a fair comparison. In actual fact the closest contemporary competitor is the Pentium G6950, which also uses the Clarkdale core. Intel released this chip rather quietly obviously mindful that without blistering clock speeds the Clarkdale architecture isn't as competitive as it would like. Either chip can be snapped up for around $100.99 from the cheapest online sources. Read more...

AMD Phenom II X2 555 3.2GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Black Edition Desktop Processor - C3 Revision Buy now for $100.99

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AMD has been pushing out alot of different Athlon II versions to the market so today we are giving our attention to their X3 435 CPU on our test bench. The 435 performs extremly well with one core less than the more expensive X4 620 cpu. We were able to boost the FSB to 240 which gives us another 600MHz. It is possible to unlock a fourth core using some decent motherboard with AMD 710/750 Southbridge. We decided to run this a couple of AMD cpu's and also vs a Intel processor to give you an idea how this processor performs. Read more...

AMD Athlon II X3 435 2.9GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Processor Price $89.99

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What makes the Core i7 860 so interesting is that it's priced on par with everybody's favorite Nehalem: the Core i7 920. The 870 has great turbo modes, but it's nearly twice the price of the 860. The Core i5 750 wins in the price department, but it lacks Hyper Threading - part of what makes Nehalem so tasty in the first place. The 860 effectively gives us the best of both worlds, hence the focus on it for today's review. Read more...

Intel Core i7-860 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Price $289.99

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The default clock of the AMD Phenom II X4 965 processor is 3.4GHz, with 4 x 512KB of L2 cache and 6MB of L3 cache and it is based on 45nm manufacturing technology. AMD packages the latest processor in the same 940 pin AM3 socket which makes it fully backwards compatible with the AM2+ motherboards. Using multipliers, we managed to get 3.5GHz out of the CPU without much trouble. However, due to time constraints we didn't get a lot of time to push harder. Coming in at $249 for a 3.4GHz clocked quad core CPU retail packed with heatsink and fan, it’s certainly got our thumbs up. Read more...

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3 140W Quad-Core Processor Price $195.99 (/w Free Shipping)

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Intel has cut prices on a range of mainstream and value-oriented Core 2 and Pentium processors. While pricing on higher-end quad-core Core i7 and Core 2 Quad CPUs carry over unchanged:

Intel's quad-core CPU's Q9400 and Q9300 had their prices reduced 14% and 10% respectively;

Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor New price $189.99

Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz Processor - 2.5GHz - 1333MHz FSB - Retail New price $209.49

Their entry-level the Q8400 quad-core CPU with 4MB of L2 cache saw a 11% cut;

2.66GHz Intel Coe 2 Quad Q8400 1333MHz 4MB L2 Cache Socket LGA775 AT80580PJ0674ML New price $174.95

The Core 2 Duo E7500's price is reduced to $118.50 , a reduction of 15%;

Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 2.93GHz 1066MHz 3MB Socket 775 Dual-Core CPU

Pentium CPUs - E6300 and E5300 saw cuts of 12% and 14% respectively, and are now priced at $78.78 and $66.00 respectively;

Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor E6300 2.8GHz 1066MHz 2MB LGA775 CPU OEM AT80571PH0722ML

Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5300 2.6GHz 800MHz 2MB Socket 775 CPU

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