Camera Labs

Hi folks,

After all the leaks we can finally start to get some good info on this new CPU line from Intel. I'm sure there are many reviews out there now that the embargo has been lifted but the first one I've read is from bit-tech.net who have had samples since last November. For more check out their:

Intel Sandy Bridge Review

I may be building a budget PC for a friend in the next few months and the Core i5-2500K is looking pretty attractive if prices drop a little.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Coincidently I just finished skimming through the review at Anandtech. Maybe I'm getting old but I don't pay as much attention to pages upon pages of charts any more. But in short, Intel integrated graphics don't truly suck any more! I think this will be particularly great for budget laptop buyers in time, although for my already-ordered one it would have made no difference since I went higher end anyway.

I think, price depending, getting an i5-2500K to see how far it'll overclock will be fun. For processor intensive tasks I'd like to put that against an overclocked budget X6 model.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

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To quote from bit-tech.net's Core i5-2500K review conclusion:

The Core i5-2500K amazed us with its stock-speed performance...
.
.
The Sandy Bridge lineup gives us some of the easiest conclusions to write that we've ever come across: the new range of Intel CPUs renders almost every other processor redundant and pointless. Only if you need incredible performance in multi-threaded applications should you look beyond the Core i5-2500K for your next CPU.

For the build I have in mind PhotoShop won't be running so "amazed" will do quite nicely - I don't need to be "incredibled".

My only concern for that build is whether I can find a reasonably price motherboard given a fairly tight budget. Early days yet to be worrying about that, though, as prices should settle before I'm ready to decide.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

The Anandtech review suggest the mobo is less important than ever now that more is in the CPU. So maybe that'll help allow lower cost ones to be produced in the long term. You'll probably have to fight through the usual bunch of flagship mobos first with oversized heatsinks.

I found these reviews hard going in terms of looking purely at CPU (architecture) performance. What I want to know is, clock for clock, how much faster is it? They don't directly answer that, and almost impossible to tell from the real world benchmarks due to having to consider multi-threading and turbo modes. I guess my desire for this info is rather niche anyway, as I do run various distributed computing projects. Maximum theoretical per-core throughput is often realisable. For example, I know the AMD X6 quite easily reaches around 4 GHz on air, so would the i5-2500K similarly overclocked do much better? Is the IPC high enough to offset the X6's s two extra cores? What about the relative power consumption in that and comparable lower clocked states? Anyway, I'm sure they'll turn up soon enough.

_________________
Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

It will also help on power consumptions/performance which will really come small laptops in favor.

Looking forward to the designs which have incorporated even NB into CPU.

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Canon 5D MkII -|- Sigma 24mm f/1.8 | Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2.0 | Canon 50mm f/1.4 | Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro | Lensbaby Composer
Canon A-1 -|- Canon 28mm f/2 | Canon 35mm f/2.8 | Canon 50mm f/3.5 Macro

The H67 motherboards should be decently priced - P67 is only needed for overclocking, so unless you have that in mind H67 will do fine plus you get the added bonus of lowering cost on the gpu due to the integrated video since P67 can't use it and H67 can - just like H57 and P55 now.

I'm looking at the 2500k/2600k and a P67 board for my flatmate. We had considered going P55 and Core i5 760/Core i7 860 but decided it would be better to wait it out and pay a tiny bit extra for a large bit performance.

With the 2500 and 2600 matching and occasionally beating Intel's flagship 6-Core 12-Thread 980X monster, it looks like a damn good deal!


[EDIT]

The consensus seems to be 4.0 GHz on air is a doddle, while 4.8-5GHz is definitely achievable with high end air cooling or pretty decent watercooling.

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Canon EOS 5DmkII + BG-E6 + Canon EOS 40D + BG-E2N + Canon EOS 33
Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger - 5 x Cactus V2s Wireless Reciever

MY FLICKR!

Aha sandybridge

I just ordered i7 2600K and Asus P8P67-M, Im looking forward to it xD

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http://www.AnderssonPhoto.com
Cameras: Leica M8, Nikon FE-2, Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, 5D Mark II, 40D
Lenses: Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm 1.4, Ultra Wide Heliar 12mm 5.6 ASPH II, Nikkor AI-S 28mm 2.8, Canon 24-70 2.8L, 85mm 1.2L II, 300mm 2.8L IS, TS-E 45mm 2.8, Sigma 105mm 2.8 Macro
Canon 1.4x/2X TC II, Canon 580EX II X2, Gitzo + Manfrotto.
Wishlist: Leica Monochrom, Summilux 50 ASPH, Voigtlander 35mm 1.2 ASPH II

Hi Don,

Mmmm, shiny.

Bit-tech.net reported a clearance issue with their CPU cooler of choice - I guess you've already seen that review. Out of interest how much is that motherboard selling for at the moment?

Bob.

_________________
OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

@Bob

The Asus P8P67-M costs £110, at cheapest I think.


I chose Corsair H70 as cooler. Ye I've checked bit-tech

coolers that fit LGA1156 fits LGA1155

_________________
http://www.AnderssonPhoto.com
Cameras: Leica M8, Nikon FE-2, Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, 5D Mark II, 40D
Lenses: Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm 1.4, Ultra Wide Heliar 12mm 5.6 ASPH II, Nikkor AI-S 28mm 2.8, Canon 24-70 2.8L, 85mm 1.2L II, 300mm 2.8L IS, TS-E 45mm 2.8, Sigma 105mm 2.8 Macro
Canon 1.4x/2X TC II, Canon 580EX II X2, Gitzo + Manfrotto.
Wishlist: Leica Monochrom, Summilux 50 ASPH, Voigtlander 35mm 1.2 ASPH II

I did a quick check, and prices ranged from 92 to 126 euros, depending on what version you get (mainly better cooling I guess, and some overclocking functions. My bet is the boards are the same as far as chips go, and you can flash a superior bios onto the cheap board.
(I did this with my P5E Deluxe, which is now a Rampage Formula).

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

Don.Homer:
Why did you choose that MB and CPU? =)
When first bying something small, might as well go mini-ITX (Don't have any Sandy-bridge ones yet I think, but they will come) and 300Mhz and 2MB Cache is not worth 100£ imo.

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Canon 5D MkII -|- Sigma 24mm f/1.8 | Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2.0 | Canon 50mm f/1.4 | Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro | Lensbaby Composer
Canon A-1 -|- Canon 28mm f/2 | Canon 35mm f/2.8 | Canon 50mm f/3.5 Macro

@Lorride
300Mhz and 2MB cache will not be enough if your working heavily especially nowadays. Sometimes even when you first build your computer its good to jump at least three steps above the ground because it will serve you longer.

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EOS Photography


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I like simple, I like RAW, I like to learn more

You can easily OC those last hertz or just use the Turbo mode which is great.
And reviews show little to no practical improvement in photoshop between the cheaper versions and this one except (i3).

Also 100£ gets you a lot more other places, like an SSD scratch disc, an extra SSD for raid, more RAM or even a cheap graphic card to help rendering.

_________________
Canon 5D MkII -|- Sigma 24mm f/1.8 | Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2.0 | Canon 50mm f/1.4 | Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro | Lensbaby Composer
Canon A-1 -|- Canon 28mm f/2 | Canon 35mm f/2.8 | Canon 50mm f/3.5 Macro

@Lorride

Why go for mATX system ^^ well its actually my new gaming rig ^^
Just want a small but powerfull gaming / photo editing rig

I went for sandybridge because that cpu seems nice. and its new :p

mini-ITXs are just too weak for me.

Im also going for OCZ Vertex 2E 128GB SSD and an HD6950 gfx card ^^

though:
I ordered my case from advancetec.co.uk (been waiting for a week) Im starting to get my doubts about that company.

_________________
http://www.AnderssonPhoto.com
Cameras: Leica M8, Nikon FE-2, Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, 5D Mark II, 40D
Lenses: Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm 1.4, Ultra Wide Heliar 12mm 5.6 ASPH II, Nikkor AI-S 28mm 2.8, Canon 24-70 2.8L, 85mm 1.2L II, 300mm 2.8L IS, TS-E 45mm 2.8, Sigma 105mm 2.8 Macro
Canon 1.4x/2X TC II, Canon 580EX II X2, Gitzo + Manfrotto.
Wishlist: Leica Monochrom, Summilux 50 ASPH, Voigtlander 35mm 1.2 ASPH II

mITX aren't to weak for those components, there will be no difference, but then again you might want to upgrade to Crossfire in the future or more RAM. =)

Btw, just to be an ass :p , 6950 & i7 2600K < 570 & i5-2400, in games and its cheaper.

(I am going to stop being bm now ^^)

_________________
Canon 5D MkII -|- Sigma 24mm f/1.8 | Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2.0 | Canon 50mm f/1.4 | Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro | Lensbaby Composer
Canon A-1 -|- Canon 28mm f/2 | Canon 35mm f/2.8 | Canon 50mm f/3.5 Macro