Intel Preparing Another Unlocked Processor

Tweet

Yesterday, we told you about Intel offering an unlocked Core i7 to the enthusiast crowd. That was surprising, considering Intel’s modern processors usually are locked to discourage clock frequency overclocking. In addition to the high-range Core i7, we’ve now learned that Intel will be offering an unlocked Core i5 chip, namely a Core i5-655K processor.

The Core i5-655K will be a dual-core processor with a default clockspeed of 3.2GHz. It also has a 45nm graphics core on the same die as the processor, but I’m guessing most people who buy an unlocked processor won’t use the integrated graphics. Judging by the naming convention and speculation, the Core i5-650 will be the current chip that the i5-655K is based on. That chip also offers a 3.2GHz clockspeed and a 4MB L3 cache. The -655K will also have Intel’s Turboboost tech, but most home overclockers probably can get better results than that.

The Core i5-655k will use the LGA 1156 socket and will have a TDP of 73W. While the current Core i5-650 has an MSRP of $194, like we speculated with the unlocked Core i7, expect a bit of a premium added to the price. You can expect the unlocked Core i5 around early June 2010.

To recap the unlocked the Core i7 we saw yesterday, it’ll be a quad-core Core i7-875K that will also use a LGA 1156 socket. It’s default clockspeed will be about 3.0GHz and it will have a native TDP of 95W. Expect the price to be upwards of $562. No word on a release date for this chip, but it probably is coming around the same time as the Core i5 chip (so – early June 2010).