is it worth getting a i5 2500K if i'm not gunna OC it, or should I just get a 2300 or 2400

Matt84

Matt84

Matt84

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Ok so i'm looking to upgrade.

so far I've got on my list

Gigabyte P67A-UD4-B3 Intel P67 (Socket 1155)

Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 750W V2

as for RAM i'm looking at the Vengeance, XMS3 and Ripjaws 8GB 1600mhz which in your greatly valued opinions would be the wiser choice?

as for GPU i'm not screaming for ultra high performance right now, Ive got an 8800 GTX kicking about that will do for a few months, I'd probably be looking at a 580 when they're (hopefully) cheaper, around september / november.

I'm not greatly knowledgable with PCs and overclocking is something I tend to do only if I really need a performance increase, ie when the system is old. I don't try it with new set ups so my main question, is is it worth buying a 2500k if i'm not gunna OC it, i'm mainly upgrading for BF3 and i'm hoping to run it maxxed atleast 1440x900 res, but the difference between a 2300 and a 2500k is only what, 20-30 quid, so in the grand scheme of things it's not gunna hurt the wallet all that much.

any advice would be appreciated thanks in advance.
 
Buy the 2500k and overclock when it seems slow. You could buy the non-k chip which doesn't overclock as much but the price difference is minimal and in a year you'd regret not being able to get that little extra
 
If you're happy to spend the £20 quid or so do it.

The 2500K is faster at stock and when the need arises you can overclock as long as you buy a P67 or Z68 (out in a few days) motherboard.

If you buy the retail 2500K you also get a free copy of Operation Flashpoint Red River.
 
They seem to have fixed the 2500k at £161.99 now as well whereas it was £169.99 I think. All since the special offer the other day.
 
Why would you not want a 2500k and an oc? It's so easy to do and a moderate 4ghz or so has virtually no consequences in terms if heat in a half decent case. Definitely worth the bit extra on a p67 motherboard for futureproofing.
 
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After seeing exactly what the 2500k chip can do with minimal effort, i think a boost to 4Ghz is quite a worthwhile and relatively safe thing to do, and considering that it's practically designed for overclocks, there's most likely a dozen guides.

the bundles listed on Ocuk say adding more then 4g ram reduces the overclock, is that a case of limited capability from the motherboard thats included? after reaqding here, it seems the gigabyte board I chose looks very promising.

My case is a Antec 900. Should be fine with simple air cooling?
 
Your case is still good.

The RAM situation is due to adding more sticks of RAM can put extra strain on the memory controller( using 2X4GB is the same as using 2X2GB though), which could require a little bump in Voltage to compensate, so the OCUk BIOS settings will need adjusting, causing the warranty to be effected etc.
 
Matt84 said:
After seeing exactly what the 2500k chip can do with minimal effort, i think a boost to 4Ghz is quite a worthwhile and relatively safe thing to do, and considering that it's practically designed for overclocks, there's most likely a dozen guides.

the bundles listed on Ocuk say adding more then 4g ram reduces the overclock, is that a case of limited capability from the motherboard thats included? after reaqding here, it seems the gigabyte board I chose looks very promising.

My case is a Antec 900. Should be fine with simple air cooling?
Click to expand...

If you want 8GB just get 2x4GB.

It's adding extra sticks rather than extra capacity which might reduce any overclock.
 
Extremely easy to overclock. And if your at all worried there's always the msi p67 boards with the 1 button oc genie. But you'd get better results doing it manually.
 
Matt84 said:
as for RAM i'm looking at the Vengeance, XMS3 and Ripjaws 8GB 1600mhz which in your greatly valued opinions would be the wiser choice?
Click to expand...

I'd go with the xms3 as it won't conflict with an aftermarket cooler if you ever decide you want to put one in
 
Wait a few days (hopefully) for Z68 mobos to appear - with the 2500K you'll get the overclocking PLUS better onboard graphics (HD3000) PLUS LucidVirtu (intelligent switching between onboard/discrete graphics) PLUS SSD caching...

If that's not grabbed you, it should also bring the price of P67 boards down. (I've just seen a GA-P67A-UD3P-B3 for £108inc. It's started already!)
 
DennisMenace said:
Wait a few days (hopefully) for Z68 mobos to appear - with the 2500K you'll get the overclocking PLUS better onboard graphics (HD3000) PLUS LucidVirtu (intelligent switching between onboard/discrete graphics) PLUS SSD caching...

If that's not grabbed you, it should also bring the price of P67 boards down. (I've just seen a GA-P67A-UD3P-B3 for £108inc. It's started already!)
Click to expand...

Pictures of Z68 motherboards so far suggest that not all will have outputs for the onboard graphics:

http://motherboardnews.com/2011/05/03/gigabytes-z68x-ud5-b3-and-z68x-ud4-b3-get-previewed/

LucidVirtu will only be available on certain motherboards and it will add to the cost. It's unlikely to be available on the lower priced motherboards.

SSD caching is the ability to add a small solid-state drive to a system already running a larger mechanical disk with the purpose of speeding up read performance of data cached to the SSD. Probably only relevant to a minorty as most people buying an SSD will use it as their main drive.
 
unfortunately the UD4P is gone now :/ the ud3p is still there, but it appears to be xfire only, no SLi, it'd be nice to have the option to sli in the future.

So I'm having to look for alternatives. I need a coax audio for my Z5500s.

A SSD isn't something I'd get at this point in time, maybe around November... and I'd prolly get one around 120GB, when they first came out they didn't seem very impressive considering the price, but they're much better now.
 
Surveyor said:
SSD caching is the ability to add a small solid-state drive to a system already running a larger mechanical disk with the purpose of speeding up read performance of data cached to the SSD. Probably only relevant to a minorty as most people buying an SSD will use it as their main drive.
Click to expand...

Yeah, kinda what the Seagate Momentus XT is doing, but using external SSD for caching.
 
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