Intel Core i5-2560M Review
| Category | Laptop | ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
|---|---|---|
| Target | mid-range | ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Socket Compatibility | BGA1023 | ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Integrated Graphics | ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ | |
| Cooler Included | Yes | ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Overclock Potential | 0 % | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Year | 2011 Model | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Price | 122.53 USD | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
| Number of Cores | 2 Cores | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Number of Threads | 4 Threads | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Core Frequency | 2.7 GHz | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Boost Frequency | 2.7 GHz | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Max Stable Overclock | 2.7 GHz | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Power Consumption | 35 W | ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
| Manufacturing Process | 32 nm | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| L3 Cache | 3 MB | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Maximum Supported Memory | 16 GB | ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Price-Value Score | 65 % | ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Speed Score | 32 % | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Productivity Score | 22 % | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Gaming Score | 62 % | ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Max 1080p Bottleneck | 68.4 % | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Max 1440p Bottleneck | 34.2 % | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Max 4K Bottleneck | 17.1 % | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
| Overall Score | 25/100 | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ |
The Core i5-2560M is one of Intel's mid-range Laptop processors. It was released in 2011 with 2 cores and 4 threads. With base clock at 2.7GHz, max speed at 2.7GHz, and a 35W power rating. The Core i5-2560M is based on the Sandy Bridge 32nm family and is part of the Core i5 series.
Core i5-2560M is also the successor of Intel's last gen Core i5-560M processor that was based on the Arrandale and 32nm process and was released in 2010.
Now, we're asking ourselves whether or not the Intel Core i5-2560M finally dethrones the A4-3320M as the de facto ruler of the mainstream processors. Ultimately, it depends: the Core i5-2560M doesn't reach the same single-core performance as AMD, but we're starting to see more games adopt multi-threaded CPUs, so that doesn't matter as much.
But, like most humans, if you do things other than gaming, the Core i5-2560M offers a better mixture of performance in single- and multi-threaded applications. The Core i5-2560M offers twice the threads of the price-comparable A4-3320M, and it wields them to great effect in threaded workloads. As such, rendering and encoding remain a strong suit of the Core i5 chips, and Intel's improvements to AVX throughput have yielded impressive results.
Out of the box, the Core i5-2560M is a better all-arounder than the A4-3320M and offers incrementally higher performance than its downstream counterpart. The bundled cooler reduces platform costs, and a wide array of motherboards offers plenty of choices for builders.
One of the nice things about the Intel Core i5-2560M processors is that the retail boxed models come with a CPU cooler. So, you can pick something like the Intel Core i5-2560M up for $122.53 and don’t need to spend any extra money on CPU cooling.
The Intel Core i5-2560M retail boxed processor comes with the traditional ‘pancake’ CPU cooler. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done on this processor which is rated at 35W TDP. You do not need to have an aftermarket cooling solution unless you want to.
Fresh from a successful roll-out of mainstream Core i5 CPUs, Intel's attack on AMD now extends down into the mid-range with its Core i5-2560M processors, which the company is making available as of n/d.
Which GPU to Pick for Intel Core i5-2560M
Below is a comparison of all graphics cards average FPS performance (using an average of 80+ games at ultra quality settings), combined with the Intel Core i5-2560M.
| Graphics Card | Price | Cost Per Frame | Avg 1080p | Avg 1440p | Avg 4K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 24GB | $ 1,599 | $ 12.8 | 125 FPS
|
199.2 FPS
|
159.1 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Ti 20GB | $ 799 | $ 6.8 | 116.7 FPS
|
185.9 FPS
|
148.5 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB | $ 999 | $ 8.9 | 112.8 FPS
|
176.5 FPS
|
128.3 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16GB | $ 1,199 | $ 11.1 | 108.4 FPS
|
172.5 FPS
|
137.8 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB | $ 799 | $ 7.7 | 104.1 FPS
|
165.7 FPS
|
132.3 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT 20GB | $ 899 | $ 8.8 | 102.6 FPS
|
160.5 FPS
|
116.5 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 24GB | $ 1,499 | $ 15.4 | 97.4 FPS
|
149.7 FPS
|
112.5 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT 16GB | $ 1,099 | $ 11.8 | 93.2 FPS
|
145.9 FPS
|
105.9 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 24GB | $ 1,999 | $ 21.8 | 91.7 FPS
|
146 FPS
|
116.6 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB | $ 999 | $ 10.9 | 91.3 FPS
|
141.1 FPS
|
104.3 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT 16GB | $ 649 | $ 7.5 | 86 FPS
|
132.8 FPS
|
98.2 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 20GB | $ 799 | $ 9.4 | 84.9 FPS
|
133.1 FPS
|
103.7 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB | $ 699 | $ 8.2 | 84.9 FPS
|
130.4 FPS
|
98 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 12GB | $ 599 | $ 7.3 | 81.9 FPS
|
127.3 FPS
|
100.4 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 10GB | $ 599 | $ 8.2 | 72.8 FPS
|
112.8 FPS
|
86.3 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 6800 16GB | $ 579 | $ 8.5 | 68.1 FPS
|
105.2 FPS
|
77.7 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8GB | $ 499 | $ 7.7 | 64.9 FPS
|
99.8 FPS
|
75 FPS
|
| NVIDIA TITAN RTX 24GB | $ 2,499 | $ 41.9 | 59.6 FPS
|
94.6 FPS
|
71.6 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11GB | $ 1,299 | $ 22.4 | 58 FPS
|
92.1 FPS
|
69.6 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 12GB | $ 479 | $ 8.4 | 57.3 FPS
|
89.2 FPS
|
65 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB 8GB | $ 399 | $ 7.1 | 56.4 FPS
|
88.7 FPS
|
68.7 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB | $ 399 | $ 7.5 | 53.2 FPS
|
83.9 FPS
|
64.3 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8GB | $ 699 | $ 13.3 | 52.7 FPS
|
82.8 FPS
|
62.3 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT 8GB | $ 399 | $ 7.9 | 50.8 FPS
|
79.5 FPS
|
59 FPS
|
| NVIDIA TITAN V 12GB | $ 2,999 | $ 59.4 | 50.5 FPS
|
80.1 FPS
|
61.8 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB | $ 299 | $ 5.9 | 50.5 FPS
|
79.8 FPS
|
61.8 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 7600 8GB | $ 269 | $ 5.3 | 50.4 FPS
|
79 FPS
|
58.5 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 8GB | $ 699 | $ 14 | 49.8 FPS
|
77.4 FPS
|
57.8 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT 8GB | $ 379 | $ 7.9 | 47.7 FPS
|
74.2 FPS
|
54.8 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB | $ 759 | $ 16.3 | 46.7 FPS
|
73.8 FPS
|
55.5 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8GB | $ 499 | $ 10.8 | 46.4 FPS
|
71.3 FPS
|
53.5 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon VII 16GB | $ 699 | $ 15.3 | 45.7 FPS
|
70.8 FPS
|
52.3 FPS
|
| NVIDIA TITAN Xp 12GB | $ 1,199 | $ 26.2 | 45.7 FPS
|
71.3 FPS
|
54.8 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 8GB | $ 399 | $ 8.9 | 44.6 FPS
|
68.9 FPS
|
50.8 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 8GB | $ 499 | $ 11.3 | 44 FPS
|
66.6 FPS
|
50.7 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 8GB | $ 200 | $ 4.5 | 44 FPS
|
68.9 FPS
|
53.3 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB | $ 329 | $ 7.5 | 43.6 FPS
|
67.3 FPS
|
51 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB | $ 400 | $ 9.6 | 41.6 FPS
|
62 FPS
|
46.3 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 5700 8GB | $ 349 | $ 8.6 | 40.8 FPS
|
63.2 FPS
|
46.6 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB | $ 499 | $ 12.6 | 39.6 FPS
|
60.4 FPS
|
44.7 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB | $ 350 | $ 9 | 39.1 FPS
|
57 FPS
|
41.8 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT 6GB | $ 279 | $ 7.2 | 38.5 FPS
|
59.1 FPS
|
43.5 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon R9 295X2 4GB | $ 1,499 | $ 40.4 | 37.1 FPS
|
55.8 FPS
|
43.9 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 8GB | $ 499 | $ 13.5 | 37 FPS
|
57.3 FPS
|
42.2 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB | $ 409 | $ 11.1 | 36.7 FPS
|
55.9 FPS
|
41.3 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti 6GB | $ 249 | $ 6.9 | 35.9 FPS
|
54.3 FPS
|
40.8 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN X 12GB | $ 999 | $ 28 | 35.7 FPS
|
53.7 FPS
|
39.7 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6GB | $ 279 | $ 8 | 34.9 FPS
|
53.2 FPS
|
39.2 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 8GB | $ 399 | $ 11.5 | 34.7 FPS
|
53.6 FPS
|
39.5 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB | $ 399 | $ 11.8 | 33.8 FPS
|
51 FPS
|
37.4 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6GB | $ 229 | $ 7 | 32.9 FPS
|
50.2 FPS
|
37.1 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB | $ 649 | $ 20.9 | 31.1 FPS
|
47.1 FPS
|
34.7 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 6GB | $ 220 | $ 7.1 | 31 FPS
|
47.2 FPS
|
34.8 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 590 8GB | $ 279 | $ 9.5 | 29.4 FPS
|
43.5 FPS
|
31.4 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon R9 FURY X 4GB | $ 649 | $ 23 | 28.2 FPS
|
44.7 FPS
|
33.9 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB | $ 160 | $ 5.9 | 27 FPS
|
41 FPS
|
30.2 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 8GB 8GB | $ 199 | $ 7.4 | 26.8 FPS
|
39.6 FPS
|
28.5 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4GB | $ 549 | $ 20.6 | 26.6 FPS
|
39.9 FPS
|
29.7 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB | $ 229 | $ 8.8 | 26.1 FPS
|
38.5 FPS
|
27.6 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon R9 Nano 4GB | $ 649 | $ 25.3 | 25.7 FPS
|
40 FPS
|
30.1 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK 6GB | $ 999 | $ 40.1 | 24.9 FPS
|
37 FPS
|
28.6 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon R9 FURY 4GB | $ 549 | $ 22.6 | 24.3 FPS
|
37.7 FPS
|
28 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB | $ 254 | $ 10.5 | 24.2 FPS
|
36 FPS
|
26.6 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT 4GB 4GB | $ 169 | $ 7 | 24 FPS
|
35.5 FPS
|
25.5 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon R9 390X 8GB | $ 429 | $ 18.4 | 23.3 FPS
|
36.1 FPS
|
27 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB | $ 170 | $ 7.4 | 23 FPS
|
34.3 FPS
|
25.3 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB | $ 329 | $ 14.6 | 22.6 FPS
|
33.3 FPS
|
25.6 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 480 8GB | $ 400 | $ 18.3 | 21.9 FPS
|
33.6 FPS
|
25.4 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon R9 390 8GB | $ 329 | $ 15.1 | 21.8 FPS
|
33 FPS
|
23.2 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 570 4GB | $ 169 | $ 7.9 | 21.5 FPS
|
32.5 FPS
|
23.5 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4GB | $ 149 | $ 7.2 | 20.6 FPS
|
31.1 FPS
|
22.8 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 470 4GB | $ 179 | $ 9.3 | 19.2 FPS
|
29.2 FPS
|
21.5 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon R9 380X 4GB | $ 229 | $ 14.1 | 16.2 FPS
|
24.3 FPS
|
18.2 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon R9 285 2GB | $ 249 | $ 17.2 | 14.5 FPS
|
21.9 FPS
|
15.5 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon R9 380 2GB | $ 199 | $ 13.8 | 14.4 FPS
|
21.6 FPS
|
15.5 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB | $ 169 | $ 11.9 | 14.2 FPS
|
21.4 FPS
|
15.8 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon R9 280 3GB | $ 279 | $ 19.9 | 14 FPS
|
21.3 FPS
|
14.8 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 2GB | $ 199 | $ 14.3 | 13.9 FPS
|
20.8 FPS
|
15.1 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 3GB | $ 169 | $ 14 | 12.1 FPS
|
18.1 FPS
|
13.1 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 560 4GB | $ 99 | $ 8.8 | 11.2 FPS
|
16.5 FPS
|
12 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 2GB | $ 159 | $ 14.5 | 11 FPS
|
16.2 FPS
|
12.2 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon R7 370 2GB | $ 149 | $ 13.9 | 10.7 FPS
|
15.2 FPS
|
11.5 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon R7 265 2GB | $ 149 | $ 13.9 | 10.7 FPS
|
14.7 FPS
|
11.1 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 460 4GB | $ 140 | $ 14.1 | 9.9 FPS
|
14.6 FPS
|
10.7 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB | $ 149 | $ 15.7 | 9.5 FPS
|
12.6 FPS
|
9.6 FPS
|
| AMD Radeon RX 550 2GB | $ 79 | $ 10.1 | 7.8 FPS
|
11.6 FPS
|
8.4 FPS
|
| NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 2GB | $ 79 | $ 10.7 | 7.4 FPS
|
11 FPS
|
7.7 FPS
|
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