A Rough Only Promising Release

The arrival of Intel's fifth generation Core processors has been heavily delayed, only at present that we are starting to get our first look at Broadwell, it seems at that place are all the same issues with the 14nm node. For starters, Intel has but announced two socketed CPUs, a single Core i7 and a Core i5.

Nothing for the Core i3 range has been appear still, which is unlike Intel. It is also unlike Intel to come out with such a staggered release. By which nosotros mean you still can't actually go your easily on a new Core i7 or Core i5 processor even so. In fact, availability isn't supposed to improve until sometime in August.

So with just 2 socketed Broadwell CPUs on offering, what tin consumers wait? Admittedly, the Core 5775C didn't look great in our tests and that'due south a shame, considering nosotros believed it to be a rather impressive processor.

It is important to keep in mind that the 5775C's base clock speed is 18% lower than that of the 4790K, while the Turbo clock is 14% lower. This in itself is a thwarting, though both processors are fully unlocked and then stock frequencies don't affair very much.

That said, the 5775C couldn't even be overclocked to match the maximum Turbo frequency of the 4790K which is 4.4GHz (at least our sample couldn't be, anyway). Just to get the CPU stable enough at four.2GHz for testing we had to feed it quite a lot of extra voltage.

This means that out of the box, the raw performance of the 5775C won't often print, while its overclocking potential at this betoken is also pretty abysmal.

Where the 5775C shines is in its 3D operation, and nosotros hope AMD has been taking note. The Iris Pro 6200 makes the 5775C the fastest socketed processor bachelor when it comes to 3D rendering. AMD'due south A10-7870K was just no lucifer for the i7-5775C in any of the games we tested.

The 128MB of eDRAM which acts a bit like a L4 enshroud was the primal to the 5775C'southward astonishing 3D performance. That said, we suspect information technology came in handy on the CPU side of things when running a few of our application tests, where the 5775C was surprisingly fast.

Power consumption also looks to have been improved, though nosotros have had problem gauging exactly how much better Broadwell is. The clock-for-clock tests required a lilliputian extra voltage for the 5775C which would skew any ability consumption results, so nosotros will have to repeat the tests at a lower frequency.

Pricewise, Intel has prepare the MSRP at $366 for the Core i7-5775C which is higher than the $339 the i7-4790K is currently fetching. This and then makes Broadwell a tough sell, and unless you are in desperate need for a loftier-end CPU with fast integrated graphics, then we see no real reason to purchase the i7-5775C.

In the terminate, most consumers volition exist better off property back for a few more than months till Skylake arrives along with the new 100-series chipsets and DDR4 memory support.

Pros: Improved power consumption. Integrated Iris Pro 6200 graphics steals the only edge AMD's APUs had over Intel. Compatible with the LGA1150 platform.

Cons: Limited availability, likely the issue of 14nm node's immaturity. Unimpressive functioning and poor overclocking potential. For raw power (sans integrated graphics), the 4790K is cheaper and faster.