Intel Core i5-680 Review

Behold the Core i5-680! This Desktop processor is a gem in Intel's mid-range collection. Debuted in 2010, it's equipped with 2 cores and 4 threads. With a base clock speed of 3.6GHz, a turbo speed of 3.86GHz, and a power consumption of 73W, it's primed to boost your gaming performance. The Core i5-680 is engineered on the Clarkdale 32nm platform and belongs to the renowned Core i5 series.

Can the Intel Core i5-680 finally dethrone the king of mainstream CPUs, the Phenom II X2 521? It's a maybe. The Core i5-680 doesn't quite reach the same single-core performance as its rival, but more games are starting to use all those threads, so who cares!

The Core i5-680 is the more expensive version of the Core i5-670, and it shows with its higher base and boost clock speeds: 3.6 GHz and 3.86 GHz, respectively. That's a nice boost in speed, but the real game changer is the higher power delivery (PPT). This lets the motherboard pump more juice (up to 142W) to the Core i5-680 compared to the Core i5-670's limit of 73W. This extra power allows the Core i5-680 to crank up the boost clocks even more aggressively, on both single and multiple cores. That means the performance gap between these two CPUs might be bigger than what the specs on paper suggest.

But for most gamers who also do other stuff on their PC besides gaming, the Core i5-680 is a better overall choice. It offers double the threads compared to the similarly priced Phenom II X2 521, and those extra threads come in handy for tasks like editing and encoding videos. The Core i5 chips have always been great for these workloads, and Intel's recent improvements to AVX performance are super impressive.

The Intel Core i5-680 is another impressive addition to Intel's 1 Gen of Core i5 processors. It boasts 2 cores and 4 threads, with a boost clock of up to 3.86 GHz. While the specs might not look super top-of-the-line on paper, the real-world performance you get for your $272 is fantastic.

One of the best things about the Intel Core i5-680 is that it comes with a free CPU cooler! You can grab the Core i5-680 for $272 without having to spend extra on cooling.

The Intel Core i5-680 comes with a basic heatsink cooler, nothing fancy. But it gets the job done for this low-power CPU (TDP of 73W). You won't need a fancy aftermarket cooler unless you want to overclock it.

If you don't care too much about overclocking and max boost speeds, then the Intel Core i5-670 is a good option for $252. It also has 2 cores and 4 threads, but with slightly lower clock speeds (3.46GHz base and 3.73GHz boost).

Building on the success of mainstream Core i5 CPUs, Intel is now attacking the mid-range market with the Core i5-680 processors, available since May 2010.

The Intel Core i5-680 has a base clock of 3.6 GHz that can boost up to 3.86 GHz for lightly threaded tasks. It also maintains a clock rate of 3.6 GHz even when all cores are running. On the other hand, the AMD Phenom II X2 521 is stuck at a constant 3.5 GHz.