UK E-tailer Leaks Price of K-model Sandy Bridge CPU

As rumor has it, Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors are set to be launched this coming January, but aside from that, there are few other specifics known about them, especially with launch specs and pricing. Due to a “mess-up” at one UK e-tailer, though, it does look like we have a baseline to go by. Kind of; the pricing is for a “K” model, which are typically more expensive to begin with.

Thanks to the sleuthing done by Hexus, the “Core i5-2500K” quad-core processor is a 3.30GHz model with 6MB of L3 Cache, and should retail for around £170 ($275USD). Intel doesn’t offer a similarly priced K model in its current line-up, but the closest match is the Core i7-875K at $342, featuring a 2.93GHz clock speed and 8MB of L3 Cache.

The fact that the Core i5-2500K has less cache than current LGA1156 quad-cores is a bit strange, but dollar for dollar, it offers far greater performance for less money when compared to the Core i7-875K. That’s a good sign, but as Intel isn’t likely to release Sandy Bridge until January, we really are in the early days of things, and pricing could easily change between now and then. Plus, being that this is a “K” model (made for overclocking thanks to its unlocked multiplier), it’s even harder to gauge things.

As neat as this early bit of info is, what’s most interesting is that it looks like we’re back into quadruple number model names. Even since Intel launched its first Nehalem-based CPU, we’ve been seeing triple digit models, but as the company has pretty-well exhausted those options (being that its six-core is the i7-980X), we’ll have to get used to the quad numbers again. Oh, how I hate to type more than I have to!

The processor that has appeared is the Core i5 2500k and retail site More Computers has it listed for £170.63. The page doesn’t divulge too many details, though it does list the chip as running at 3.3GHz and having a 6MB L3 cache. This actually lines-up perfectly with earlier details suggesting that the quad-core CPU would have a 3.7GHz Turbo Boost, an 850MHz graphics-core that will boost up to 1,100MHz and a 95W TDP. Unfortunately, this model is expected to ship without support for Hyper-Threading.