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CPU full speed - 67~74℃ Using high performance MLC SSD-CORSAIR F60 to test Size is 2.5” and ID is F60. The highest performance is 285/275 MB/s. Random 4K writing performance can reach 50000 IOPS which improve the 4K writing issue in past SSD. ATTO DISK Benchmark over 64k benchmark result is max read 249.4 Mb/s and write 232.9 MB/s CrystalDiskMark 4K QD32 Read - 139.7 MB/s Write - 46.74 MB/s EVEREST File Benchmark over 1024k benchmark result also above 250 MB/s. AS SSD Benchmark Seq Read - 194.91 MB/s Write - 45.36 MB/s 4K-64Thrd Read - 101.97 MB/s Write - 48.73 MB/s 3D is the latest Intel technology that CPU built-in GPU 3DMARK2006 - 1690 StreetFighter IV Benchmark 800 X 600 => 22.20FPS Vedio BD Inception/DVD Taiwanese Puppet Show DVD 720 X 480 CPU => 5~8% 1440 X 1080 CPU => 20~27%

4 Cell battery => 1712g HP ProBook 5320m uses Intel latest Calpella structure. CPU is Intel Core i3-350M. The clock is 133 X 16 => 2.26GHz, L3 3MB, dual core and supports HT technology. The chipset is HM57. Comparing to GM45, I believe the performance will be much better. Performance test OS is Windows7 Ultimate 64Bit Hardware info in Device Manager Windows7 system performance CPU performance test Super PI 32M => 27m 04.587s CPUMARK99 => 351 Nuclearus Multi Core => 8849 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 8.32/3992 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 120274 CINEBENCH 11.5 OpenGL 1.25fps CPU (Single Core) 0.76pts MP Ratio 2.47x PCMark Vantage => 8018 DRAM performance DDR3 4GB X 1 (1 SODIMM) => 1064.2 CL7 7-7-20 1T ADIA64 Memory Read - 7306MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 6530MB/s CPU Temperature Standby - 42~44℃

HP ProBook 5320m 32.8 X 22.10 X 2.35 cm 13.3” matte monitor, the resolution is 1366X768. The open degree is 140. Integrated 2 MP webcam with fixed-focused lens. Left side SD\1 X USB 2.0\1 X Mic in&Line out\2 X USB 2.0\anti-thief lock Left side Power in\thermal holes\DisplayPort\RJ45 LAN\D-SUB Full-sized spill-resistant keyboard with HP DuraKeys

Monster Hunter Frontier => 13678 Unigine Heaven Benchmark => 50.7 FPS Temperature (Room Temp. is around 18℃) System Idle - 24 FurMark GPU Full Speed - 69 Power Consumption System Idle - 90W GPU Full Speed - 179W msi N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II Performance ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Components ★★★★★★★★★☆ Specification ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ Outlook ★★★★★★★★★☆ C/P Value ★★★★★★★★☆☆ windwithme next Review - HP ProBook 5320m NoteBook Thanks This review is also post in my blog.WIND3C Welcome all of you to come and comment.

Unigine Heaven Benchmark => 47.8 FPS Temperature (Room Temp. is around 18℃) System Idle - 24 FurMark GPU Full Speed - 65 Power Consumption System Idle - 88W GPU Full Speed - 320W msi Afterburner OC 960/2400 3DMark Vantage => P25777 3DMark 11 => P5023 FINAL FANTASY XIV 1920 X 1080 => 4850 StreetFighter IV Benchmark 1920 X 1080 => 326.98 FPS BIOHAZARD 5 Benchmark 1920 X 1080 => 153.3 fps

CPU Core Voltage 0.800~1.800V DRAM Voltage 1.108~2.464V GTX560 Ti GPU 880/2100 Default Performance CPU 100 X 50 => 5007.1MHz Disable Turbo Boost、C1E, Enable Internal PLL Voltage Override DDR3 1869.6 CL9 10-9-24 1T 3DMark Vantage => P23602 3DMark 11 => P4645 LOST PLANET 2 DX11 1920 X 1080 TEST B - 50.3 fps FINAL FANTASY XIV 1920 X 1080 => 4535 StreetFighter IV Benchmark 1920 X 1080 => 302.66 FPS BIOHAZARD 5 Benchmark 1920 X 1080 => 142.2 fps Monster Hunter Frontier => 12538

System Configuration CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K MB: msi P67A-GD65 DRAM: CORSAIR VENGEANCE CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 PK1 VGA: msi N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II HD: CORSAIR CSSD-F40GB2 Raid 0 POWER: be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER GOLDEN 550W Cooler: Mega Shadow Deluxe Edition OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit msi P67A-GD65 Sharing windwithme BIOS fine tune setup msi UEFI BIOS Intel i5-2500K OC 5GHz CORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR3 1600 CL9 OC 1866 CL9

msi N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II NVIDIA GTX560 Ti Core/Memory 822/1000 msi N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 880/2100 2 X DVI 1 X HDMI GTX 560 Ti GPU 40nm GF114 SAMSUNG K4G10325FE - HC04 1GB GDDR5

CPU Full Speed - 55~63 Intel Burn Test v2.4，Stress Level Maximum Under OC condition, it increases 6~7℃ in idle mode and 23~24℃ in full speed mode. I think the result is acceptable. If you install inside chassis, it will increase 5~8℃ more. Power Consumption System Idle - 85W CPU Full Speed - 179W The power consumption increases around 20/78W. It’s very good result as well. Sandy Bridge power consumption is much lower than other socket platform. For power saving demand users, it’s a good choice. Using this high performance and clock platform with GTX 560 Ti, you just need one 500W PSU. I use MediaEspresso to compare the video converting time. DVD File VTS_01_1.VOB, capacity is 1023MB. 2500K convert to MP4 file. CPU default mode – 6’ 55” CPU OC to 4.8GHz – 5’06” Comparing default mode and OC to 4.8GHz, you can save 1’49”, around 36%. Using P67, I cannot use latest Quick Sync Video to test the performance. I will test it with H67 platform. However, you can refer to the CPU clock to consider the performance improvement. 3D performance is using NVIDIA latest mid-high VGA, GIGABYTE GTX560 Ti SO. The product ID is N560SO-1GI, 1GB DDR5, and SO means Super OC. The original default clock is OC to GPU/DDR5 1GHz/4580MHz. 3DMark Vantage => P26244 FINAL FANTASY XIV 1920 X 1080 => 4939 LOST PLANET 2 DX11 1920 X 1200 TEST B - 52.7 fps DEVIL MAY CRY4 1920 X 1200 => 251.46/202.39/277.46/184.05 fps Comparing to previous GTX460, NVIDIA GTX560 Ti performance is much higher. Another reason is this model is OC version, the clock is higher than NVIDIA official GTX560 reference card. The 3D performance is much higher. Finally, I enable the Internal PLL Voltage Override CPU 100 X 54 => 5400MHz 1.600V Hyper PI 32M X1 => 6m 36.818s CPUMARK 99 => 833 GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3R Good 1.It’s mainstream P67 product for GIGABYTE. The price is only higher than P67A-UD3. 2.New matte black PCB and new design make product be more elegant. 3.2oz PCB, All Japanese made solid caps and rich applications. 4.Rich BIOS items, wide voltage range and good CPU OC capability. 5.Built-in 2 SATAIII and 8 USB. Weak 1. It doesn’t support NVIDIA SLI 2.CPU voltage only can display correct in own software. Some software cannot display the correct value. 3.1/31 news showed 6 series chipset has some potential issue with SATA2 devices. I hope Intel can solve this issue soon. Performance ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Components ★★★★★★★★☆☆ Specification ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ Outlook ★★★★★★★★☆☆ C/P Value ★★★★★★★★★☆ Since Sandy Bridge is 32nm, the Intel 4Cores CPU power consumption and temperature are much lower. For OC capability, comparing to 45nm i5-760, you can find running 4.2GHz stable one easily. Per new i5-2500K, if you have good cooler, it also can achieve 4.8~5.0GHz to run long term. According to manufacturing improvement, you can see the big performance gap between Sandy Bridge platform and pervious. Intel middle-high end C/P platform transfers from i5-760 with P55 MB to LGA 1155 i5-2500K with entry P67 MB. The CPU/MB price is only higher than last generation a little. Of course, LGA 1156 still has some advantages. It’s cheaper and CPU OC range is higher. If you have less budget or doesn’t want to buy Sandy Bridge K sku CPU, you also can consider LGA 1156. Currently, Intel has 4 different sockets which includes old LGA 775 and extreme position LGA 1366, last mainstream LGA 1156 and new mainstream LGA 1155. It’s very complicated for users. I predict LGA 1155 will move to mid-low market in the future. LGA 1155 will take over the mid-high market few months later after SATA2 BUG issue. You can collect more price information and performance review before purchasing. Windwithme finish this review between Chinese New Year holiday. I wish you all have good fortune in Rabbit year. In new coming year, there are more and more high C/P value hardware. Thanks for reading this mainstream LGA 1155 review. This review is also post in my blog.WIND3C Welcome all of you to come and comment.

DDR3, I use USA CORSAIR latest CORSAIR VENGEANCE series, CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 PK1 The packing shows it supports Core i7 platform and capacity is 2 X 4GB. The clock is DDR3 1600 and parameter is CL9 9-9-24 1.50V. Intel recommend Core I platform DDR3 voltage should be 1.650V. However, this VENGEANCE official spec only needs 1.50V. It’s really helpful for power saving and OC voltage. The outlook is different as normal CORSAIR design. VENGEANCE uses new heatsink. All black design makes delicate be better. CPU 3392.2MHz DDR3 1596.4 CL8 9-8-25 1T 1.500V ADIA64 Memory Read - 18119 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 20874 MB/s MaXXMEM Memory-Copy - 18956 MB/s I tried 2 D2 version Core i5-2500K and the built-in Memory Controller quality are different. One of them can achieve 100/2133, but the other one only can run at 100/1866. This is very important for OC DDR3. It’s not only DRAM quality but also CPU. CPU 4801.7MHz DDR3 1867.4 CL8 10-9-24 1T 1.600V ADIA64 Memory Read - 21811 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 23934 MB/s MaXXMEM Memory-Copy - 24605 MB/s Another advantage of Sandy Bridge platform is DRAM performance improvement. The dual channel is much better than LGA 1156 bandwidth and even close to LGA 1366 tri-channel. During test, VENGEANCE quality is good. I can set CL8 at DDR3 1600 and also can run DDR3 1866 CL8 by rising voltage. Pulling from 1600 to 1866 and rising CPU clock, ADIA64/MaXXMEM bandwidth performance is increasing around 20 to 30%. OC Performance CPU 100 X 48 => 4801.7MHz 1.360V Disable Turbo Boost, C1E and Internal PLL Voltage Override DDR3 1867.4 CL9 10-8-24 1T 1.660V Hyper PI 32M X4 => 8m 16.377s CPUMARK 99 => 741 Nuclearus Multi Core => 26687 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 29.64/14226 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 407352 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 7.55 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.93 pts Windows Experience Index - CPU 7.7 Windows Experience Index is still 7.7. I hope this built-in benchmark can be more detail for performance difference. In most software, under 2500K OC to 4.8GHz condition, the performance increases 30~40% compare to default mode. I would like to test CPU OC under 1.4V. It can run long term and no need to pull high clock or voltage. So, I disable Internal PLL Voltage Override here and don’t test 5GHz which is over 1.4V. Temperature (Room Temp. is around 16℃) System Idle - 23~33

2500K temperature is lower, even 2600K use high end cooler, because I lower the voltage and no Hyper-Threading. Under full speed, the temperature is still under 40℃. Intel 4 Cores CPU uses 32nm manufacturing is another reason. Power Consumption System Idle - 65W CPU Full Speed - 101W Through Power Angel test, the power consumption watt is very good. As 32nm manufacturing, Sandy Bridge 2500K with GTX 560 Ti power consumption is much lower. Comparing to LGA 1156 platform, it’s lower than i7-870 with ATI 5830 idle/full speed at least 70~100W. Sharing windwithme BIOS fine tune setup Boot Screen Main BIOS Tuning Menu, called M.I.T. Clock Setup Page CPU Clock/Frequency, DDR3 Multiplier 2500K in default mode setup has 37, 36, 35 and 34. Turbo Boost 2.0 technology has more detail CPU boosting mode. Internal PLL Voltage Override is new item in F7a BIOS. It can enhance CPU stability at 5GHz. It’s limited for D2 version Sandy Bridge CPU and you need to pull CPU voltage to very high level. Memory Setup Page The items have 800, 1066, 1333, 1600, 1866 and 2133. Advanced DDR3 Parameters Setup Page Setup below is for DDR3 1866 CL8 10-9-24 1T Voltage Page Load-Line Calibration Auto/Disabled/Enabled CPU Vcore 0.750~1.700V QPI/Vtt Voltage 0.08~1.700V PCH Core 0.840~1.940V CPU PLL 1.520~2.520V DRAM Voltage 0.900~2.600V PC Health Status Sandy Bridge structure doesn’t need to adjust too many BIOS items. However, the users need to pay more to buy K sku CPU, 2500K/2600K, to wide OC range. The other non-K sku only can OC to 105~108MHz. LGA 1155 structure segment is more clear but more limitation for OC.

GIGABYTE heat sink is also new designed. The matte material makes the quality be better. CPU socket sides are 8 phases CPU PWM and the same design heat sink. System Configuration CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K MB: GIGABYTE P67A-UD3R DRAM: CORSAIR VENGEANCE CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 PK1 VGA: GIGABYTE GTX560 SOC HD: CORSAIR CSSD-F40GB2 Raid 0 POWER: be quiet! STRAIGHT POWER GOLDEN 550W Cooler: Mega Shadow Deluxe Edition OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit Default Performance CPU 100.1 X 35 => 3502.7MHz Enable Turbo Boost, Enable C1E, Voltage drops to 1.050V. (Default is 1.220V) DDR3 1596.4 CL8 9-8-24 1T 1.500V Sandy Bridge CPU structure is different with previous Core i7. The clock is 100MHz. Some P67 MB work at 99.8MHz in default mode. It’s a little bit lower than spec. Hyper PI 32M X4 => 10m 41.660s CPUMARK 99 => 522 Nuclearus Multi Core => 19095 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 21.28/10215 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 315229 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 5.42 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.38 pts Windows Experience Index - CPU 7.7 Comparing to my previous review, i7-2600K, 2 CPUs performance difference is only Hyper-Threading and 3.3/3.4GHz clock. Hyper PI 32M, 2500K is much faster. It dues to 2600K is 4C8T, and the software needs to operate 8 Hyper PI 32M. However, dues to support Hyper-Threading, 2600K in most benchmark software have higher score. For single core test, 2500K, 3.3GHz, is still lose a little bit. However, 2500K default performance can run most applications already. Temperature (Room Temp. is around 16℃) System Idle - 17~26 CPU Full Speed - 31~40 Intel Burn Test v2.4，Stress Level Maximum

In early January 2011, Intel announced new generation platform, LGA 1155 CPU socket. It’s called Sandy Bridge, also named as 2nd generation Intel Core Processor. There are three key differences with old structure. First, the CPU clock changes from 133MHz to 100MHz. Second, under CPU non-OC mode, memory can support up to DDR3 2133. Furthermore, Sandy Bridge CPU all built in new generation GPU. The GPU can work with Intel H6X chipset. This review just finished on 30 Jan. Intel announced the design error press on 31 Jan. There are many data and threads in internet. The brief is Intel 6 series chipset in some cases, the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD-drives. If you already bought, some MB brands recommended you can install at 2 P67 SATA3 ports first. If you need more than 2 HDD/SSD/DVD-ROM devices, you need to buy the P67/H67 boards which support extra non-P67 SATA ports to avoid the installation difficulty. Besides, for internet news, Intel new 6 series chipset will fulfill market demand by end of April. If you consider to buy LGA 1155 platform now, you better to check all MB makers return policy carefully. For the users who have purchased, you can swap the boards with MB makers from April. GIGABYTE has 2 official announcements immediately. The users can swap the complete new products after new B3 stepping P67 chipset boards produced. However, after I read 3 major brands announcements, I do suggest you to check the detail carefully. EX: Swap for complete new products, refurbished, or repaired? Only swap boards or complete packing? Can return for cash? The details above are the users really caring about, no matter you have bought or not. Due to Chinese New Year holiday, many users will purchase their new computers. You can consider LGA1156 or LGA1366. If you don’t worry about the swap, you still can go for Sandy Bridge or consider AMD platforms. The buying suggestions are my personal opinions. I just hope the Intel Chipset issue can be solved by good communication between MB makers, distributors and dealers. The users can have better warranty and save some Intel products image. Now, in the market you can see 5 CPU models, 2600K/2600、2500K/2500、2400 and 2300. Last time, windwithme has introduced 2600K performance and OC guide. This time, I choose the other hot selling one, the cheaper Core i5-2500K. The product ID is Intel Core i5-2500K. K sku is started from middle 2010 which means unlock clock version. The clock is 3.3GHz and supports latest Turbo Boost 2.0 to achieve 3.70GHz. It’s physical 4 Cores and doesn’t support Hyper-Threading. It can execute 4 threads and called 4C/4T. It’s 32nm manufacturing, the power consumption is 95W, L3 Cache is 6MB and it’s 2nd highest CPU in LGA115. Intel always has clear distinguished. 4 Cores CPU uses copper bottom version and the bottom has some solid state thermal paste. I would recommend you to add some more thermal paste to enhance the ability. Left side is the back of 2500K D2 Revision. MB is GIGABYTE P67A-UD3R. You can find the serious change from your first sight of the product outlook. PCB, DRAM and PCI slots are all black. Also GIGABYTE uses special matte black PCB. It enhances the looking. GIGABYTE also has lower spec one, P67A-UD3 and the PCB is original blue. If you want black PCB, the most entry model is P67A-UD3R. Now the UD3R price is around 5500NTD, 190USD. Lower Left Corner 2 X PCI-E 2.0 X16 supports 2-Way CrossFireX and bandwidth is X16+X4. 3 X PCI-E X1 2 X PCI Realtek RTL8111E LAN Chip Realtek ALC892 Audio Chip supports 7.1 channel and Dolby Home Theater surrounding technology. Lower Right Corner 2 X White SATAIII provided by P67 chipset supports SATA3 4 X Black SATAII, provided by P67 chipset supports SATA2 You can use mix mode and it supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10. Upper Right Corner 4 X DIMM DDR3 supports 1066/1333/1600/1866/2133. DDR3 supports max capacity at 32GB. It supports XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) memory and next is 24-PIN power connector. Upper Left Corner UD3R is 8 phases PWM. For 32nm CPU, this design is enough. The extra 2 phases PWM is for CPU VTT. The upper left is 8Pin power connector. IO 8 X USB 2.0(Black) 2 X USB 3.0(Blue) 1 X 1394 1 X RJ-45 LAN 1 X S/PDIF Coaxial/Fiber output

Idle The voltage is 12.17~12.18V which is different with board meterage 12.3V OCCT Full Speed The voltage is 12.14V which is lower than idle condition around 0.03~0.04V You can see no matter idle or OC, 5V is raising 0.1V There is no 5V dropping 2.26% status in OCCT software. 12V wave is only 0.03~0.04V. Even though it’s bigger than default, it’s still only 0.33% wave. These 2 factors are much lower than mainboard meterage. CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX750W Conclusion Good 1.Professional Series new packing and accessories are very good quality 2.CORSAIR provides 7 years warranty 3.Modulized design for better flexibility. The inner capacitors are Japanese made and solid caps. 4.80Plus Gold Certificate and the energy efficiency is 90.80% 5.5V is no dropping in meter test and 12V is only falling 1%. The voltage wave is very small. 6.It supports Hybrid Silent Fan Control technology which fanless below 20% output. Weak 1.Suggesting they can add 6 X PCI-E 6+2 Pin 2.80Plus Gold Certificate and good components make the price be too high Performance ★★★★★★★★★☆ Components ★★★★★★★★★★ Specification ★★★★★★★★★☆ Outlook ★★★★★★★★☆☆ C/P Value ★★★★★★★★☆☆ I used to review Seasonic X-SERIES 750W which is good components and performance Gold product. You can see CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX750W should be ODM by Seasonic. Before, Seasonic ODM PSU has better components than own brand one. AX750W inner layout is very different with X-SERIES 750W. I think it should be the revised upgrade version. There are some special parts within my test. First is the fanless mode in Idle condition. The PSU body temperature is also low. During CPU/VGA full speed running, fan rpm is controlled by output rate. I don’t hear any obvious noise. PSU body temperature is always below 40 degree C. It’s good control for noise and temperature. CORSAIR AX750W price is around 170USD. The key concerns of buying PSU are components, 80Plus Level, price, warranty and brand awareness. AX750W is high end components level. I think 80Plus level doesn’t equal to components. For the price, many non-modulized or lower components grade PSU price will be much lower. I hope this review can be reference for the users who want to own a Gold Certificate and high end components PSU. windwithme will introduce more Gold Certificate PSU in near future. Thanks. This article is also in my blog WIND 3C. Any comments are always welcome

OCCT Full Speed The voltage is 12.17V which is lower than idle condition around 0.01~0.02V 5V is rising to higher voltage in full speed condition. 12V only has 0.01~0.02V small wave. This meterage is much lower than mainboard measurement. OC System Setup CPU 180 X 23 => 4140MHz DARM DDR3 1800 CL7 8-7-20 1T Enter to OS Desktop - 186~190W Run OCCT Power Supply Test Items i7-950 OC to 4.14GHz, 4 physical cores and 4 HT cores full load plus GTX460 - 596~636W。 Power Angel shows this X58 OC mode max power consumption is 636W According to 80Plus website, there are only 20, 50 and 100% transfer efficiency. I decide to use transfer efficiency at 100% and it’s about 88.11% After transferring, 110V 636W is around 560W real output. OCCT Test Result CPU Voltage Variation Disable Intel C1E in default mode. CPU clock and voltage both rise to highest. 3.3V The highest is 3.33V and mostly it’s between 3.28~3.3V during test. The voltage wave is around 1.50% 5V Mostly it’s between 4.87~4.76V. The voltage wave is around 2.26%. 12V The highest is 12.3V and the mostly is between 12.18~12.24V. The voltage wave is 0.96%. 3V and 5V voltage wave is around 1.5% and 2.26%. Even 12V is only 1.05%. You can see this PSU in high load condition is still working excellent. 3V and 5V voltage wave is around 1.50 and 2.26%. The wave range is higher than default mode. However, it’s still much lower than acceptable 5% tolerance. 12V is even lower. It’s just only 0.96%. You can see this PSU in 75% high load condition is still working excellent. Using More Accurate Meter Idle 5V testing result is 5.05V which is higher than board meterage 4.87V. OCCT Full Speed The voltage is 5.06V which is lower than idle condition around 0.1V

OCCT V3.1.0 POWER SUPPLY Mode Enter to OS desktop - 153~156W Run OCCT Power Supply Test Items i7-950 default is 3.07GHz. 4 physical cores and 4 HT cores full load plus GTX460 - 392~418W。 Power Angel shows this X58 default mode max power consumption is 418W According to 80Plus website, output 50% transfer efficiency is around 90.80% After transferring, 110V 418W is around 380W real output. OCCT Test Result CPU Voltage Variation Disable Intel C1E in default mode. CPU clock and voltage both rise to highest. 3.3V The highest is 3.34V and mostly it’s between 3.31~3.33V during test. The voltage wave is around 0.90% 5V Mostly it’s between 4.84~4.89V. The voltage wave is around 1.02%. 12V The highest is 12.37V and the mostly is 12.24V. The voltage wave is 1.05%. 3V and 5V voltage wave is around 0.9~1.02%. It’s very good condition. Even 12V is only 1.05%. You can see this PSU in high load condition is still working excellent. Using More Accurate Meter Idle 5V testing result is 5.03~5.05V which is higher than board meterage 4.89V. OCCT Full Speed The voltage is 5.06V which is higher than idle condition. Idle 12V testing result is 12.18~12.19V which is some different with board meterage 12.37V

Modulized cable connectors. It can be better if it’s with clearly indicate. Even MB 24/8 Pin cable is also moduliozed. It’s very rare design. I remember there is only X-SERIES 750W using this. Take a look inside.(PS：Please don’t do it by yourself, due to it will be out of warranty.) The fan is SANYODENKI 9S1212F404. 12cm dual balls bearing with temperature controller. A bird’s eye view Internal heatsink is black The capacitors are solid and Japanese made to enhance AX750W stability and durability. Double faced PCB design I guess CORSAIR AX750W and my previous review, Seasonic X-SERIES 750W, should be from same design team. Many designs and components are similar. However, after checking the detail, the PCB design is some different. CORSAIR PCB and heatsink are black and heatsink is bigger. Also PCB some layout is changed. AX750W could be X-SERIES 750W revised version. I use MB GIGABYTE X58A-UD3R; due to X58 is the most high end Intel platform. It supports On/Off Charge, USB 3.0/SATA3, Cloud OC and 2oz copper PCB. The platform is X58A-UD3R with Intel Core i7-950. The main reason is LGA1366 is the most power consumption platform so far. It’s very suitable for PSU loading test. System Configuration CPU: Intel Core i7-950 MB: GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMG6GX3M3A2000C8 VGA: GIGABYTE GTX460 OC HD: Intel X25-V 40GB RAID 0 POWER: CORSAIR Gold AX750W Cooler: Mega Shadow Deluxe Edition OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit The test below is under default setup and OC CPU to 4140MHz to compare PSU output status in middle and high power consumption modes. Default Setup CPU 133.2 X 24 => 3197.7MHz DARM DDR3 1865.2 CL7 8-7-20 1T

In the past 3 years, PSU market competition is on 80Plus. All brands make own design be more green and get better certificate from 80Plus. As per 80Plus level, it has platinum, gold, silver and bronze. It bases on energy efficiency. Of course, this standard is not absolutely. The excellent PSUs also need other features. I think components are also the key factors. CORSAIR is a well-known memory brand from USA. They have very good reputation in DRAM products. CORSAIR PSU product is just around 3 years. Their products are positioning at high quality and stability for mid-high end. Previously, CORSAIR PSU has HX, TX and VX series. The highest one is 80Plius Silver certificate. In months ago, they launched new AX, GS, and CX product series. This review is most high end AX series, the 80Plus Gold level. It belongs to Professional Series Gold. AX has 3 products, 750/850/1200W. I use entry AX 750W to share this latest high end PSU. First of all, let’s see the package. The box main symbols are spec and technical feature. 7 years warranty, 80Plus Gold certificate are 2 main features. Accessories Product manual, cable ties, CORSAIR sticker, screws and power cord PSU body is packed by flannelette bag Professional Series Gold AX750W Body The shell is black matt baking for good quality. Hybrid Silent Fan Control technology has Fanless mode, Quiet mode and Cooling mode. When the PSU output below 20%, the fan is complete stationary and silent. Quiet mode is working as PSU output between 20~50%. The fan starts to work and the noise level is 16dBA. High quality cable collecting pack and modulized cables 12 X SATA 8 X 4 Pin 2 X Floppy 1 X ATX 24 Pin 1 X EPS/ATX12V 8/4 Pin 4 X PCI-E 6+2 Pin The back design is cell heating holes. Active PFC spec for 110~240VAC Product Spec Model, CMPSU-750AX Simplex +12V design. Total is 62A and max is 744W

Update BIOSTAR TP67XE 1/3 BIOS - Internal PLL Voltage Override 2500K D2 OC 5404MHz Thanks

Power consumption test: System standby: 139W CPU in full usage: 257W Compared with power consumption of default clock rate: Power consumption of system standby: 65% higher Power consumption of CPU in full usage: 105% higher It seems that the consumption increase so much, but as far as 5GHz high clock rate and high performance platform is concerned, 257W can be acceptable. By the way, is 5GHz the maximum for 2600K under air-cooling? If fortunately, 5.1GHz can be achieved steadily. CPU 100 X 51 => 5100.4MHz(Turbo Boost disabled; C1E disabled) DDR3 2133.6 CL7 10-7-27 1T 1.650V Hyper PI 32M X8=> 11m 48.382s Fritz Chess Benchmark => 40.11/19251 As to the latest Sandy Bridge LGA 1155 CPU in 2011, 2300~2500K all use L3 Cache 6MB, and only 2600/2600K is equipped with 8MB. K series are 2500K and 2600K, but other Sandy Bridge CPU, with limited scope of bus speed, may only have 5~8% overclocking scope. Therefore, LGA 1155 is categorised definitely. To the consumers who want to overclock, choosing K series is suggested, but with higher prices. And most of the other Sandy Bridge CPUs may be suitable to the consumers who don’t overclock. About the consideration above, I’m not sure that Intel is overconfident with Sandy Bridge performance, or that Intel wants to let LGA 1156 survive. Originally, I thought that the reason why clock rate and power consumption of LGA 1155 platform made great progress was that 45nm manufacturing process became 32nm. However, afterwards I find that all Sandy Bridge CPUs are built in GPU, so it will be more convenient for users in future to use the chipset with display output function, such as H67. Moreover, another advantage of this new platform is that it has higher performance of DDR3 and Turbo Boost 2.0 technology. I use new generation P67 chipset in the test. When manufacturers release P67 motherboards in the market, their prices, I estimate, will be a bit expensive than the prices of P55 motherboards. BIOSTAR TP67XE is still featured parity, and the price is about US$160. The motherboard supports the latest USB 3.0 and SATA3; unique BIO-Remote2 multimedia software; and THX TrueStudioPRO sound effects technology. Furthermore, TP67XE also shows great performance of overclocking, so it can be a high C/P P67 product. BIOSTAR now also aims for supporting multimedia software and hardware technology, making its products more competitive in the market. I shared much overclocking experience about X58 and P55 before, and I shall continue overclocking and analysing P67 motherboards from various brands in future. If there is something this article doesn’t mention, I shall renew related information in the future reports. Finally, I hope with the release of new generation products, the prices of previous generation platforms can be lowered faster. So, consumers can choose more platforms with good quality at bargain prices. This article is also in my blog WIND 3C. Any comments are always welcome

CPU 5020.4MHz DDR3 2142 CL7 10-7-27 1T 1.650V ADIA64 Memory Read: 25582 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth: 28475 MB/s MaXXMEM Memory-Copy: 28139 MB/s After CPU clock rises, the test figures of memory bandwidth in ADIA64 and MaXXMEM also rise obviously, but not in Sandra Memory Bandwidth; this is the main difference amongst the three software. And about the test figure of bandwidth, even if LGA 1155 and LGA 1156 are both dual-channel design, the former shows about 20% greater performance than the latter does. Although Sandy Bridge CPU only uses dual-channel design, its memory bandwidth can compete with that of LGA 1366. ADIA64 Memory Read: 26605 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth: 29903 MB/s MaXXMEM Memory-Copy: 29007 MB/s Due to the limited scope of bus speed of Sandy Bridge architecture, about only 104~108MHz can be adjusted (depending upon each CPU). The default CPU bus speed can contribute to achieve DDR3 2133 clock rate, so overclocking would not be a big problem. If DRAM quality is good enough, performance over DDR3 2200 is not a difficult challenge. Overclocking performance: CPU 100.4 X 50 => 5020.2MHz(Turbo Boost disabled; C1E disabled) DDR3 2142 CL7 10-7-27 1T 1.650V Hyper PI 32M X8=> 12m 06.384s CPUMARK 99=> 774 Nuclearus Multi Core => 32585 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 39.29/18859 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 427585 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 9.82 pts CPU(Single Core) => 2.05 pts PCMark Vantage => 25062 3DMark Vantage CPU SCORE => 65044 After 2600K is overclocked from 3.5 GHz to 5GHz, performance increases 20~30% in most software mentioned above. When CPU is in full usage, voltage only needs 1.392V; hence, 32nm manufacturing process makes overclocking ability much better. According to the related information I acquired on the Internet, 2600K over 5GHz is not commonly seen; generally, the scope 2600K D1 is about 4.7~4.9GHz under air-cooling system. The performance of Sandy Bridge is still better than 45nm 4C8T CPU (overclocking scope is 4.1~4.3GHz). Temperature: System standby: 43℃~46℃ CPU in full usage: 74℃~83℃ Intel Burn Test v2.4，Stress Level Maximum If you want to overclock over 5GHz, you have to increase voltage, and note that temperature also rises much. If you prefer low voltage and temperature for long-time using, 4.5GHz can be steady under 1.272V only. Users can set personal setting by their preference.

Please refer to my BIOS setting: Boot logo: Main page: Compliency is AMI UEFI X64 2.0 O.N.E page: The default setting of Turbo Mode is 38, 37, 36, and 35, with better CPU speeding up mode in version 2.0. As to DRAM frequency, 1066~2133 modes are supported, so users can enjoy better DDR3 performance. CPU Base Clock shows 10000, which means current bus speed is 100.00MHz; if it shows 10560, which means 105.60MHz. Therefore, the item may not show an integer, such as 133, 166, 200MHz. The setting above is DDR3 arguments, providing users to choose faster arguments; of course, making the system steady is also important. There are 4 modes for CPU VCore Mode: SPEC Volgate/Auto/Offset Mode/Fixed Mode CPU VCore Offset +0.010~+0.520V CPU VCore Fixed 1.000~1.790V DRAM Voltage 1.300~2.200V CPU Configuration: Some functions about CPU, such as common HT technology; you also can choose how many cores you want to activate. PC Health Status: With built-in monitor chipset, you can know main voltage or temperature information. As to overclocking, this time it is not necessary for LGA 1155 to adjust too many items. So just focus on CPU voltage, clock multiplier; and DRAM clock, arguments, voltage. Due to the limited scope of bus speed (about 5~7%), using K series CPU would be a better choice to overclock substantially. As to DDR3, I use US brand CORSAIR high-level DOMINATOR-GT series—the latest CMT4GX3M2B2133C9. GT series use red and black as colour matching; in recent year, more and more motherboard and DRAM also use the two colours. The argument specification is CL9 10-9-27 1.50V. Compared with DDR3 voltage specification (1.650V) recommended by Intel, 1.50V only of GT 2133 can make the system steady. AIRFLOW of Red-black version with DOMINATOR-GT makes the appearance quality nicer. CPU 3502.8MHz DDR3 2135.2 CL7 10-7-27 1T 1.650V ADIA64 Memory Read: 22132 MB/s Sandra Memory Bandwidth: 28132 MB/s MaXXMEM Memory-Copy: 21755 MB/s

Default performance: CPU 100.1 X 35 => 3502.7MHz (Turbo Boost enabled, C1E disabled) DDR3 2135.2 CL7 10-7-27 1T 1.650V The architecture of Sandy Bridge CPU is different from that of previous Core i7. The bus speed is changed to 100MHz. And about other frequency information, the highest ratio of 1366 CPU is 133/1866, 1156 CPU is 133/1600. Now the default frequency of 1155 CPU can achieve 100/2133, making DDR3 clock show better performance. Hyper PI 32M X8=> 14m 57.750s CPUMARK 99=> 540 Nuclearus Multi Core => 22513 Fritz Chess Benchmark => 27.58/13236 CrystalMark 2004R3 => 332817 CINEBENCH R11.5 CPU => 6.83 pts CPU(Single Core) => 1.43 pts PCMark Vantage => 19941 3DMark Vantage CPU SCORE => 53268 The default clock of 2006K is 3.4GHz. After Turbo Boost 2.0 is enabled, the clock can achieve 3.5~3.8GHz by CPU usage. Hence, the test figures above are great, so the result means CPU can easily deal with many tasks under any circumstances. And as to CPU performance under the same clock, I find that LGA 1155 is about 10% higher than LGA 1156. As to DDR3 bandwidth, probably with more advanced Memory Controller technology, I find there is 20~30% performance improvement in much software. Therefore, about basic performance and DDR3 bandwidth, Intel Sandy Bridge CPU with latest architecture has made great progress. Temperature: System standby: 33℃~37℃ Hence about the temperature of 2600K: Standby: about 3℃~5℃lower than the temperature of 1156 45nm CPU. Full usage: about 10℃lower than the temperature of 1156 45nm CPU. It goes without saying that as to testing temperature, different motherboards display divergent results. But through the comparing, we can observe the temperature difference between 32nm and 45nm of 4C8T. Power consumption: Standby: 84W CPU full speed: 125W As to power consumption, with 32nm manufacturing process technology, the power saving of this CPU is 30~50W more than that of 45nm Core i7. So obviously Sandy Bridge CPU can save more energy, and this is also one of the reasons why consumers may prefer quad-core platform.

Upper-left of the motherboard: TP67XE adopts 10-phase power supply, the design that is enough for 32nm CPU. There are two 8-Pin power connectors, which are usually seen only on high-level motherboard (such as for server). The existence of dual 8-Pin is not aimed at high power consumption of P67, but at LN2 users who have to consume more 12V under high clock (such as overclocking). IO: 6 X USB 2.0 (Red/Black) 2 X USB 3.0 (Blue) 1 X eSATA/USB 2.0 (both Red) 1 X 1394 1 X RJ-45 1 X S/PDIF In the past, I preferred not using a computer case when testing hardware. But this time many net pals hope me to use a case so that the test result, such as overclocking ability and temperature, will be more similar to most consumers’ condition. The case is high-intermediate-level product Antec DF-35, with 1 x top 140mm fan, 1 x rear white 120mm fan, and 2 x front variable-speed 120mm fans with white LED. DF-35 has such advanced cooling system that it is helpful to keep the system steady after the computer is overclocked. Test platform: CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K MB: BIOSTAR TSERIES TP67XE DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMT4GX3M2B2133C9 VGA: GIGABYTE GTX460 OC HD: Intel X25-V 40GB RAID 0 POWER: Antec High Current Gamer 620W Cooler: Mega Shadow Deluxe Edition Case: Antec DF-35 OS: Windows7 Ultimate 64bit Whole LGA 1155 system in Antec DF-35: BIOSTAR provides much software: Energy-saving software has been very popular in recent years. CPU can effectively lower power consumption according to user’s setting. TOVERCLOCKER is BIOSTAR’s unique software The software provides CPU, Memory information, and also shows H/W Monitor. In TOVERCLOCKER, OC TWEAKER, which can adjust many clocks, is a useful tool to overclock.

About one and a half years ago, Intel released LGA 1156, and plus three chipset P55/H55/H57. As to CPU, main products are Core i3/i5/i7, and their obvious features are: dual-core with built-in GPU, quad-core with built-in HT, and quad-core without built-in HT respectively. As mentioned before, the primary goal of LGA 1156 platform is to replace Intel high-intermediate-level products; besides, LGA 1366 is still the predominant platform for the high-level ones. The product positioning of the new LGA 1155 is similar to that of LGA 1156. To most users, they probably feel that the replacing is too fast. When facing three kinds of LGA platform, they even feel perplexed. If future price of LGA 1156 can be lowered appropriately, it is also a good trend that the platform becomes the mainstream for low-intermediate-level products. At the beginning of 2010, Intel introduced 32nm CPU, and the related products are: dual-core—LGA 1156 i3 and i5; six-core—LGA 1366 i7 980X Extreme, representing low and high-level CPU respectively. As for 32nm quad-core processor, Sandy Bridge LGA 1155 will be released in 2011. This article will introduce the latest LGA 1155 platform, and analyse important features about 32nm Sandy Bridge CPU. As for the CPU, it is Intel Core i7-2600K, and “K” means that CPU multiplier can be unlocked. The clock is 3.4GHz (maximum: 3.80GHz), and Turbo Boost 2.0 technology is supported. There are 4 Cores and Hyper-Threading technology, so 8 Threading is supported, also abbreviated as 4C/8T. And, the CPU uses 32 nm manufacturing process, with 95W and 8MB L3 Cache, is the highest-level specification amongst current LGA 1155. Back side of 2600K D1 and 2400 D2: The motherboard is BIOSTAR TSERIES TP67XE, and this brand’s products are famous for parity and overclocking. The colour of the package is different; this time red makes the looking of the motherboard more distinguishing feature. Accessories: User’s Manual, Rear I/O Panel for ATX Case, Serial ATA Cable, CorssFire/SLI Bridge, Fully Setup Driver CD. As for colour matching, PCB is black, and PCI-E or DIMM are matched red or white; the whole appearance looks not bad. Red matching is an eye-catching design. More and more electronic products are matched red and black, the colour combination (similar to the colour used in automobile racing) that stresses speed or high performance. Lower-left of the motherboard: 2 X PCI-E 2.0 X16: support 2Way CrossFireX and SLI technology, with bandwidth X8+X8 2 X PCI-E X1 2 X PCI LAN chipset: Realtek RTL8111DL Codec: Realtek ALC892, with 8+2 channels and supporting Blu-ray Codec technology Lower-right of the motherboard: 3 X red SATAII: provided by P67 chipset, support RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10 2 X white SATAIII: provided by P67 chipset, support RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10 Power button, reset button, and debug indicators Upper-right of the motherboard: 4 X DIMM DDR3, supporting 1066/1333/1600/1866/2133, maximum capacity of DDR3 is 16GB. Only by overclocking can DDR3 2133 above be achieved. 1 X IDE, 24-pin power connector