Intel Core i5 2390T

It's difficult to know where to place the Core i5 2390T in Intel's range: with a dual-core architecture and a 3 MB cache, it seems close to the Core i3 2100.  But with a 3.5 GHz Turbo mode on top of normal performance of 2.7 GHz, it also reminds us of the Core i5 2300 series, although the latter has processors with four cores rather than two.

It's not easy to know what to make of this new Sandy Bridge collection at all, especially given that the Core i5 2390T has a much lower TDP of 35 W, compared to 65 W on the i3 2100 and 95 W on the i5 2300.


In practice, that leads to limited energy consumption, which peaks at just 121 W, but that's only 7 W less than the Core i3 2100 which manages to put in a similar overall performance without relying on a Turbo mode.  We think most users will decide based on price.

For more information about the dual-core and quad-core Core i5 2000 series, we suggest you read our detailed review of the Intel Core i5 2500K.   There's also our performance index table, which allows you to compare all the processors we've reviewed so far at a glance.

Power Use	Performance: Applications	Performance: Games

View Performance Index Table