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Odd as it is for a Quad Core CPU that's a year old and still offers the most advanced computing technology available, the Core i5-2500K feels like an old friend. Of all Intel's Quad Core CPU's it seems like the most honest, the most straight forward. If you're a keen gamer, it's probably still the fittest for purpose.

The Intel core i5 2500K is based on Intel's Sandy Bridge generation of PC processors. That means it's well down the path towards the ultimate destination for computing platforms: system-on-a-chip. Along with four Sandy Bridge-class cores, each of which supports the latest x86 instruction extensions including SSE4.2 and AVX, the Intel core i5 2500K's die contains a dual-channel memory controller and PCI Express system I/O.

That's not all. With Sandy Bridge, Intel brought graphics into the Quad Core CPU die for the first time. The Intel core i5 2500K gets the top HD 3000 graphics core with 12 execution units. It's a big improvement over previous Intel efforts and until AMD's Llano tore up the rule book was the fastest integrated GPU on the planet.

The said, even the HD 3000 isn't a graphics core you'd want to rely on for serious gaming. What it does offer, however, is Intel's clever Quick Sync video encode engine. It mixes up dedicated hardware with those 12 execution units to deliver video encode throughput that even the best general-purpose Quad Core CPUs struggle to match. The only catch is that any given encode app needs special software hooks to take advantage of Quick Sync. If your favorite encode platform or codec isn't supported, you're out of luck.

Quad Core CPU Intel Core i5 2500K Hyper-Threading

As it happens, that Quick Sync engine is even more attractive on the Intel core i5 2500K than it is on closely related Core i7 quad-core models such as the 2700K. That's because the one key feature the Intel core i5 2500K misses out on is Hyper-Threading. Without the ability to chomp through two threads per core, the Intel core i5 2500K's multi-threading throughput suffers to the tune of around 15 to 20 percent.

That's not to say it's a dud in any app that generates a lot of threads. In fact, it's only just behind AMD's octo-threaded FX 8150 in tests, such as Cinebench. But when the threads are at their most demanding, it falls behind. The x264 HD video encode benchmarks puts the Intel core i5 2500K at 25 frames per second to the FX 8150's 34 frames per second.

Of course, you could argue that deficit is offset by the availability of Quick Sync accelerated encoding. But what we can say for sure is that Sandy Bridge's per-core performance, combined with the Intel core i5 2500K's decent 3.3GHz base clock makes for outstanding gaming grunt. Even the mighty new Core i7-3930K can't quite match the Intel core i5 2500K's 92fps in World in Conflict. Only the higher clocked 2700K has it beaten. That's impressive for a relatively elderly and affordable chip. Chuck in the ability to go well beyond 4GHz on air cooling and you have an unbeatable package.

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