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2500K vs 2600K - for me

nineteenforty4

nineteenforty4

nineteenforty4

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Joined
30 Aug 2011
Posts
128
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Inside your head
Hallo
I am thinking of building myself a PC, I am not in anyway a computer person so please leave out any rare Jargon words.

I was set on using a Intel i5 2500K CPU but I have found a local store that is selling the i7 2600K for about £25 more. So I am confused as to what to do.

My question is this which one would be better for me? My main concern is making the PC really fast and secondly future proof. I don't run multiple big programmes at once, just one big programme at a time so I'm not sure if the 2600K is worth investing in and I have heard that Hyperthreading might mean the i5 is faster at running -single- big programmes. But the main reason I have seen for people choosing the i5 over the i7 is price and £25 doesn't seem that big a gap to me.

What does the i7 have over the i5 basically and will it have any effect on me if I don't multi-task? The big programmes I run tend to be games and number crunching simulations. (engineering+chemistry student)



Also one more question - is the stock CPU cooler with these processors good ? and how noisy is it ?
 
Firstly, you absolutely sure its an i7 2500k thats £25 more? The none K version can't be overclocked at all. Also is it definitely a retail chip either way, compared to OEM, which are also cheaper yet have no cooler with them and just 1 years warranty compared to 3 years!

Personally I'd say get a Z series motherboard which can support ivybridge cpus when they are released and buy an i5 2500k chip and use that extra £25 to put towards a very good cooler, like a silver arrow. The stock HSF isn't that great at all to be fair and I had overheating problems with mine even though it was fitted perfectly when I tried to overclock with it. It also ran hot at idle but was pretty quiet.

Hyperthreading isn't supported by most programs, which means you don't really get much of a performance increase, if any, in the programs that aren't supported by it. This is especially true for games. Some number crunching programs DO support HT, but you're best off finding out if the ones you use do before buying an i7 chip in my opinion.
 
RJC said:
Hello and welcome to the forum :)

The link below will show a rough difference between the 2 cpus:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=287

If its only £25 more for the i7 I would go with this personally.

The stock cooler is not great but should see 4ghz if your lucky, I would look at a after market cooler.

Cooler below is good, but you would need to use ram with low heatsinks.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-001-GD&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link

I don't have the ability to eagle eye the whole thing right now(loud music) but I do have to ask this: The i5 is edging the i7 at one or two things - what's causing this?

And both models are K full thing coolers and all.
 
The real question is does that extra 25 break the bank? I mean for that small amount you get a slightly faster stock clock, little more L3 cache and hyperthreading. While most things might not make great use of it now in a year or two that might change since you mentioned future proofing(if there is such a thing).

Games and programs coming out now and in the near future are starting to make use of more than a couple cores. Here in the states the difference between the two is about $100 so if the choice was mine to make I would probably buy the i7 and a good aftermarket cooler.
 
For £25 quid go with the i7 2600k. Both processors are even in most ways, with the I7 having somewhat niche abilities. If you ever end up using anything that takes advantage of those abilities you only spent £25 for the boost.

:) Jargon free advice :p
 
Last edited:
If your spending that much on purchasing a brand new computer I think an extra £25 isn't much to ask.

But yes definitely go for the 2600K unless the i5 has an inflated price.
 
James J said:
Firstly, you absolutely sure its an i7 2600k thats £25 more? The none K version can't be overclocked at all. Also is it definitely a retail chip either way, compared to OEM, which are also cheaper yet have no cooler with them and just 1 years warranty compared to 3 years!
Click to expand...

That - check it's what you think it is, because it's almost a "too good to be true" :)

If it is, that's £25 well spent imho, especially as you list "number crunching" among your uses.
 
whats saying that either of them are priced in comparison with OCUK prices, the i7 could be at a resonable price and the i5 could bit a bit pricey. All I can say to op is check out ocuk's prices and make sure this other place is at least close!
 
reading that was going to ask how much the local shop is selling them for, might be cheaper to buy it online(be it ocuk or elsewhere) rather than instore.
 
James J said:
Firstly, you absolutely sure its an i7 2500k thats £25 more? The none K version can't be overclocked at all. Also is it definitely a retail chip either way, compared to OEM, which are also cheaper yet have no cooler with them and just 1 years warranty compared to 3 years!
Click to expand...

Not strictly true. The non K chips (2500 & 2600 at least) have "limited overclocking" ability. IIRC they can have their max turbo increase by 4 steps so 4.2GHZ (single core) for the 2600 and 4.1GHz for the 2500.

How much are both CPU's in question. I would be more concerned that the i5 2500k has been artificially inflated in price making the difference only £25.
 
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