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Intel Targets AMD With Affordable Unlocked CPUs

Posted by kdawson on from the overclock-at-will dept.

EconolineCrush writes "For years, AMD has catered to gamers and enthusiasts with mid-range Black Edition processors whose unlocked multipliers make overclocking easy. Intel has traditionally reserved unlocked multipliers for its ultra-expensive Extreme CPUs, but it has now brought the feature to affordable models that compete directly with AMD's most popular processors. The Core i5-655K and Core i7-875K have two and four cores, respectively, and they're priced at just $216 and $342. It appears that both will easily hit speeds in excess of 4GHz with air cooling. Surprisingly, even at stock speeds, the i7-875K offers better performance and power efficiency per dollar than just about any other desktop CPU out there."

12 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. igive up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    whi has the world one icrazy? For goodness sake there are 26 other letters to choose from.

    It seems to me that for too long naming conventions follow the turbo marketing rule and bear little significance to the product. icore... please.

    But i suppose this is good news for people that brought a CPU that doesn't allow you to tweak the multipler. I understand that this makes it much easier to clock and keep a reliable system. But for most people this is not an issue. Maybe it shows Intel are realising how much they are loosing to the gamer / media center PC builder, that works on a budget (would have selected the AMD over the Intel for price vs speed).

    I just use a dual core Intel that's not clocked, and it's fine for what I need. If anything it's the RAM that I need to upgrade (to 8Gb).

    1. Re:igive up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Certainly doesn't speak English very well.

  2. 4 GHz, eh? by Pojut · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought we learned that, like sex and the Pentium 4, faster isn't always necessarily better...

    --
    Living With a Nerd
    1. Re:4 GHz, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I thought we learned that, like sex and the Pentium 4, faster isn't always necessarily better...

      Well, that depends... have you seen some of the women around here?

    2. Re:4 GHz, eh? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Funny

      When making a direct comparison between chip X running at frequency Y and chip X running at frequency Z, speed does correlate pretty closely to frequency(unless you are being bottlenecked hard by some other aspect of the system). Assuming you don't care about puny things like "deafening fan noise" and "having to throw a baby seal into the boiler every 15 minutes just to keep the lights from flickering"(and, if you are a true overclocker, you care nothing for such trifles) faster is better.

    3. Re:4 GHz, eh? by ch-chuck · · Score: 5, Funny

      sex and the Pentium 4

      Is that the new TV show for geeks?

      --
      try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    4. Re:4 GHz, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      It's going to be very hot!

  3. Goes to 11 by wjousts · · Score: 5, Funny

    It appears that both will easily hit speeds in excess of 4GHz with air cooling.

    Nigel Tufnel: These go to eleven.

  4. 4GHZ by clinko · · Score: 5, Funny

    The cards! they bounce TOO FAST!!

  5. Re:Yawn by thijsh · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, but the $32 CPU has an e-peen value of zero, while these babies raise your e-peen over 9000!!! It's 'the most e-peen for your buck' (I think that was in the small letters at the bottom of the Intel advertisement).

  6. Re:NO 1336? so you are stuck with 16 pci-e lanes s by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    No, here at Intel, we only support 1337.

  7. Re:Depends on how you read the chart by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Funny

    What a coincidence, I got impatient and ordered one of those just now.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"