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About the new i5 2500K CPU features I am just fine, but I’m of two minds on the integrated graphics on the GMA 3000 found on the Core i5-2500K. On the one hand, the gaming experience using the integrated graphics was much improved over the GMA HD found on the H55 chipset with games having no image quality issues. The integrated graphics is great for those wanting to play mainstream titles like Spore, The Sims, and Need for Speed. Titles like Farmville (the most used app on Facebook and Bejeweled are casual games and can be enjoyed fully on the GMA 3000. On the other hand, the best-selling game of November 2010, Call of Duty Black Ops was hardly playable on default settings using the integrated graphics without Turbo Boost.
With Turbo Boost enabled and the graphics dynamic frequency this game was moderately playable at low settings. That’s the point of the GMA 3000 and 2000 graphics, casual and mainstream gaming performance was over double that of the previous generation. If you don’t play action games the integrated graphics are perfect for you. The integrated graphics does add hardware encoding of videos and full playback of Blu-ray movies including the Blu-ray 3D movies. This makes the GMA 3000 and by extension, the 2500K a good solution for the HTPC user wanting casual gaming. The Core i5-2500K is clocked at 3.3GHz for default and 3.7GHz maximum Turbo Boost. With four cores this is a good replacement for the Core i5-661K. The DH67BL is a great HTPC board with HDMI and DVI-I connections meaning you can attach your latest HDTV. Intel once again takes innovation to a new level and with integrated graphics, improved performance, lower power consumption and competitive pricing; Intel has a solid winner in the new i5 2500K and DH67BL products.
