Intel has shown off the overclocking potential of its upcoming Sandy Bridge processor to a group of journalists at the IDF.

The sample in question was a K-series part, with an unlocked multiplier and Intel managed to push it all the way to 4.9GHz on air cooling. However, Intel did not disclose the stock clock of the processor used in the demo.

An Intel rep told journalists that the OCed sample managed to outperform a 12-core Opteron in Cinebench, which bodes quite well for Intel, although it sounds a bit overly optimistic.

VR-Zone believes that Intel used a Core i7 2600K, with a stock clock of 3.4GHz, so it turns out that the CPU was overclocked by 45 percent with a box cooler. With aftermarket coolers, the processor should be able to go over 5GHz.

More here.