i7 2600 or i5 2500k?

Associate
Joined
16 Feb 2012
Posts
236
Location
Somewhere in East Anglia
Want to know which would be better, people both on here nalready recomended me the i5 as i'm mostly going to be gaming. however wouldn't the i7 be better in the long run as in i wouldn't have to change the processor for some time? Or is it better off getting cheaper cpu then upgrading when the new ones come out :S
 
Do just just game? Also do you mean 2600 or 2600K? Because a non-K version cannot be overclocked and so that will serious limit you in future as with a 2500K you could overclock and get a fair bit more performance.
 
Last edited:
The i5 is the better bet.

The i5 and i7 are basically the same CPU - both quad cores using the sandy bridge architecture. The only real difference between the two is that the i7 has hyperthreading enabled which is an intel technology which creates two virtual processor threads for each physical core. This can provide up to 25% performance boost in CPU-heavy highly multithreaded applications - however usually it is much less that 25% - usually ~10-15% in the best cases. The thing is, games aren't designed like these applications - therefore they don't gain any performance benefit from hyperthreading - hence why in game benchmarks an i7 and i5 sandy bridge clocked at the same level will provide the same performance.

Also, the 2600 (non-K) doesn't have the CPU multiplier unlocked like the i5 2500K and i7 2600K have. This means that overclocking is greatly limited on this CPU, which is a real shame, since these sandy bridge i5 and i7 K series CPU are relatively easy to overclock to 4.5GHz.
 
okay thanks once again for clarifying andi, as im new to pc's i wouldn't really risk overclocking in the future maybe once i know what im dealing with :)
 
fella, i researched for aaaaaages for a rig that could handle FSX and Total War people worry about the graphics card buy the real concern is the processor, an I5 and an I7 are axactly the same, but the I5 has multi threading capabilities, which for a gamer is no use, they both run extremely fast, overclock your son of a beeeach if you get the I7 then push it to 5ghz make sure you cool it down, i have a I52500K OC'D to 4.6 with a Titan Fenrir cooler, and an Evga GTX 560 TI also superclocked i can kick the No swearing please of any game

answer? unless your a music artist or a film maker, I52500K all the way
 
In October I had the same dilemma, I could not decide whether to go 2500k or 2600k. I also got talked out of getting a 2600k, as my PC is used for gaming.

I have to say I am very happy with my i5 and saved my self £70 to :D

Go 2500k
 
At the moment the 2500k is the CPU to get for gaming, period. If it makes you feel better and budget is not a problem then get the 2600k, will you see any benefit in your gaming, NO.
 
Back
Top Bottom