Intel Sandy Bridge given first real benchmarks

Intel's Sandy Bridge processor architecture has had a first real test that shows a rare upset in graphics. Living up to claims of much faster integrated graphics, a quad-core 3.1GHz Core i5 2400 successfully outran AMD's Radeon HD 5450 dedicated video card in a series of AnandTech gaming benchmarks. The feat is an achievement for Intel, whose current video is notorious for trailing well behind not just dedicated video but often AMD and NVIDIA integrated video as well.

Despite being a mid-range processor, the i5 2400 was also much faster than its existing equivalents. It's about 15 to 20 percent faster than an existing 2.8GHz Core i5 and in many tests comes second only to the six-core i7 980X, which not only has the extra parallel processing but a higher 3.33GHz clock speed.

Intel is due to push out the first Sandy Bridge-based desktop processors towards the end of the year and will focus mostly on the middle and upper-middle range, culminating in a 3.4GHz Core i7 2600. Notebook equivalents aren't due until early 2011 as they're waiting on Intel's Huron River platform.

By Electronista Staff