From a i5 2500k to a i7 6700k: my impressions

Disco_P · 6 Mar 2016 at 19:19

I tested a 2550K at stock (with intel turbo boost) and 4.6Ghz in Witcher 3 and GTA V. GPU was a GTX Titan and 16GB 1600Mhz memory. Witcher 3 saw about an 8% gain in Novigrad (the most CPU demanding area) and in the GTA V benchmark the difference was negligible. I don't really know what to think of these results.

Superlevure · 6 Mar 2016 at 20:01

Disco_P said:
I tested a 2550K at stock (with intel turbo boost) and 4.6Ghz in Witcher 3 and GTA V. GPU was a GTX Titan and 16GB 1600Mhz memory. Witcher 3 saw about an 8% gain in Novigrad (the most CPU demanding area) and in the GTA V benchmark the difference was negligible. I don't really know what to think of these results.

Looks like the CPU doesn't really matter on these.

The only games that were going below 60 fps (and sometimes well below, around 30-40fps) were the Assassin Creeds: Black Flag, Unity and Syndicate. I get it's the number of polygons on screen. The boost with skylake was jaw dropping.
(again, my i5 2500K was NOT overclocked for the reasons explained above)

Disco_P · 6 Mar 2016 at 21:15

Superlevure said:
Looks like the CPU doesn't really matter on these.

They are my most CPU bound games.

Devrij · 6 Mar 2016 at 21:42

The 2500k is still a great chip, but mainly due to its excellent overclock ability. I went to a 3770k and tbh I've not noticed any real difference with the extra threads. Maybe the extra ipc of skyline would help more than the hyperthreading

Akagi · 6 Mar 2016 at 21:46

Stock 2500K > 6700K perhaps

But I'm still not chopping my 5GHz 2700K in for a new i7!

hedgey · 7 Mar 2016 at 01:45

this thread isn't really saying anything - of course a cpu at 4.2ghz feels faster than a cpu at 3.7ghz.

Sin_Chase · 7 Mar 2016 at 02:32

hedgey said:
this thread isn't really saying anything - of course a cpu at 4.2ghz feels faster than a cpu at 3.7ghz.

Sigh, someone is missing the point.

The 2500k is considered a very capable chip, so much so that MANY people would say not to bother upgrading for gaming. NOBODY is disputing the fact the newer i7 is faster than the older i5, but that's not the point of the thread is it?

The point of the thread is that the OP has seen a very tangible benefit upgrading from a chip many would say not to bother with.

MissChief · 7 Mar 2016 at 03:24

Sin_Chase said:
The point of the thread is that the OP has seen a very tangible benefit upgrading from a chip many would say not to bother with.

And caused confusion and doubt in many too! Myself included!

Ayahuasca · 7 Mar 2016 at 08:39

Sin_Chase said:
The point of the thread is that the OP has seen a very tangible benefit upgrading from a chip many would say not to bother with.

Yeah but it's worth pointing out those on heavily overclocked 2500k's will not see anywhere near as much benefit, running a 2500k at stock is going to bottleneck any modern mid to high end GPU.

Random Guy · 7 Mar 2016 at 08:47

Not to mention that the 2500k, unlike the 2600k and 2700k, does not have hyperthreading. Perhaps this accounts for some of the gain OP sees?

Nasher · 7 Mar 2016 at 09:09

It does seem to, especially in recent games. If I disable HT on my 2600k there is a noticable drop in performance.

mohawk · 7 Mar 2016 at 11:09

one thing that might sway people is the resale value of their old CPU's

Im looking at going to the 6700k from the 2700k (only because my mobo is dieing - 3 dead usb ports and counting!) and i can resell my 2700k for about £120!

which drastically reduces the price paid for the 6700k!

David Bisset · 7 Mar 2016 at 11:19

Sin_Chase said:
Sigh, someone is missing the point.

The 2500k is considered a very capable chip, so much so that MANY people would say not to bother upgrading for gaming. NOBODY is disputing the fact the newer i7 is faster than the older i5, but that's not the point of the thread is it?

The point of the thread is that the OP has seen a very tangible benefit upgrading from a chip many would say not to bother with.

Every 'should I upgrade a 2500k' thread involving one at stock gets the advice to overclock it properly. Having done this first the majority of the difference would have gone away, which is why the advice is normally not to bother. Not saying a 2500k is faster than a 6700k or anything of course, but as the 2500k clocks so well the difference is minimal.

The OPs experience doesn't refute that at all. Also we've no idea what driver changes & game patches there have been in the meantime, as the scene he called out initially ran horribly on all systems and was then patched causing a significant performance difference. I'm very happy his experience has been good, and it's nice to hear about - but we can't conclude that therefor the 2500k isn't capable.

~>Dg<~ · 7 Mar 2016 at 11:28

well thats the thing.in some games it is a big difference whether the i2500k is ocerclocked or not.

now if its games/game you play daily or a lot if it is a big different it can be worth it.

in some instances it can be like 20/30 fps difference.that alone is a top end gpu difference.then work that out.

what gpu would give you that boost from your current card ? that alone makes it worth it.

not only that so many benchmarks don't show minimums.so very important.

i5 2500k could have avg fps very similar yet minimums a lot lower. as above play a game you play regular with better minimums can transform the game.

w00dy85 · 7 Mar 2016 at 11:36

I upgraded from a 2500k at 4.4GHz to a 6700K running at 4.7GHz 6 months ago.

I was not planning on upgrading but a friend offered me £220 for my old 2500k, motherboard and 16GB ram. Plus I got my 6700K for £275 and I got a free £70 cooler with my motherboard, so I jumped at the chance. But I would not of upgraded if I was going to get a 6600k, I think that would have been pointless.

But after having the 2500k for over 4 years, I had the upgrade itch to

David Bisset · 7 Mar 2016 at 12:02

~>Dg<~ said:
well thats the thing.in some games it is a big difference whether the i2500k is ocerclocked or not.

now if its games/game you play daily or a lot if it is a big different it can be worth it.

in some instances it can be like 20/30 fps difference.that alone is a top end gpu difference.then work that out.

what gpu would give you that boost from your current card ? that alone makes it worth it.

not only that so many benchmarks don't show minimums.so very important.

i5 2500k could have avg fps very similar yet minimums a lot lower. as above play a game you play regular with better minimums can transform the game.

Quite possibly true, though plenty reviews look at minimums so links to those would be relevant. That doesn't describe the situation here hence my urging caution in drawing conclusions.

Again, it's great the OP saw a big jump and that's a huge win for his gameplay experience but in no way can his experience be used as proof that a 2500k is not capable of running the latest games.

Nexus18 · 7 Mar 2016 at 12:22

How much difference would I see going to say a stock i7 6700k or i7 5820k from an i5 750 @ 4GHz?

Going to be upgrading to either setup at some point this year anyway but only when I see some good/sensible deals/pricing...

My GPU is 290 an res. 2560x1080 although sometime this year, it will either be 2560x1440 or 3440x1440...

Ayahuasca · 7 Mar 2016 at 13:25

You'll see a huge increase, especially minimums.

Nexus18 · 7 Mar 2016 at 17:04

Yeah hopefully so, saying that the only game I have played so far where my CPU usage is extremely high with GPU usage below 95% is ROTTR, most games use between 70-80% CPU usage with 99% GPU usage.

I really hope we see some good deals soon though as I don't think either setup is worth the £400+ outlay....

dink · 7 Mar 2016 at 18:12

Agrr every time I read a thread like this I wonder whether I should make the jump.

Currently running an i7 3770 (none K variant) with 16GB ram and a GTX 980ti and do experience some stutter in some games, Fallout 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider as a couple of recent examples and I keep wondering whether an upgrade to a Skylake i7 k processor or even x99 would see any benefit (?)

Kinda thread hijacking here as didnt want to create another thread about upgrading