• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

best cpu upgrade from i5 2500k

stobbsie

stobbsie

stobbsie

Associate
Joined
16 Sep 2012
Posts
128
hi guys i have my i52500k runnning @ 4.2ghz on 1.2v been very happy with it but am looking to upgrade cpu/pc
i really just want to know in your opinion what intel cpu is best for gaming ,i mainly play battlefield so id like to base the pc biuld on being better than my current set up and also being future proof for at least 12-18 months

intel i5 2500k, h80 cpu cooler,8gb gskill ripjaw 1600 ,asus gtx 660ti,1tb ssd/hybrid,mis z77a-g43 thanks
 
In all honesty, I wouldn't bother upgrading now. Haswell refresh will be out soon and your 2500k has more headroom, mine sits at 4.5ghz.

You may also find that upgrading to the new gen will be a disappointment, there will be only a few % in the performance improvement, roughly 5-10%, but you may not even notice it. You may also get a poor clocking chip compared to what you have now.

My honest opinion would be to replace your cooler and/or graphics card and wait for Skylake.
 
Looking at your system spec, I would say for the best improvement on performance and gaming experience with a reasonable budget would be to overclocked you i5 2500K higher, and spend the money on upgrading from your GTX660Ti to a 290 (or GTX780 if you can find one cheap).
 
If you really want to upgrade, go for a 2700k or 3770k, but your 2500k will be fine with a new graphics card and cooler.
 
As above, zero reason to change from a 2500k at the moment. You'd be far better off upgrading your GPU.
 
Overclock it to 4.5ghz, that's easily the best value upgrade! General thoughts are that the 2xxx range of intels have plenty of life left in them.
 
abbotsmike said:
Overclock it to 4.5ghz, that's easily the best value upgrade! General thoughts are that the 2xxx range of intels have plenty of life left in them.
Click to expand...
Yea...the i5 2500K is looking more and more like the good old Q6600. It wouldn't be the fastest, but it would be fast enough for actual use for quite a long time.
 
snips86x said:
If you really want to upgrade, go for a 2700k or 3770k, but your 2500k will be fine with a new graphics card and cooler.
Click to expand...
thanks for reply i didnt realise the 2500k was so highly thought of,anyway im replying to you as you say i should upgrade cooler i only bought this cooler from here like 3-4 months ago and when the wife isnt killing me with the heating in the house @40c lol my cpu idles around 22 and never goes above 49 when gaming all day i have the h80 push pull i upgraded fans to Cooler Master JetFlo 120 fans and ive never had such low temps i just love it, i have decent airflow in my case as i have 2 front 120mm fans/intake 1 side 120mm fan intake 2 top 120mm fans exhaust as is the rear 120mm , graphics card also never gone above 55c either even in summer ,So my question really is why would i need a better cooler is this cooler supposed to be poor ;-p
 
Last edited:
stobbsie said:
thanks for reply i didnt realise the 2500k was so highly thought of,anyway im replying to you as you say i should upgrade cooler i only bought this cooler from here like 3-4 months ago and when the wife isnt killing me with the heating in the house @40c lol my cpu idles around 22 and never goes above 49 when gaming all day i have the h80 push pull i upgraded fans to Cooler Master JetFlo 120 fans and ive never had such low temps i just love it, i have decent airflow in my case as i have 2 front 120mm fans/intake 1 side 120mm fan intake 2 top 120mm fans exhaust as is the rear 120mm , graphics card also never gone above 55c either even in summer ,So my question really is why would i need a better cooler is this cooler supposed to be poor ;-p
Click to expand...
if you have a good cooler overclock it more. you can still get over 10% extra performance out of it yet.
 
The H80 is a very capable cooler...it's more than enough for overclocking the Sandy i5 high.

For vast majority of the games, a highly overclocked i5 2500K wouldn't have problem pushing 60fps (which is really all people need for the 1920 res 60Hz monitor...unless they were using 120Hz monitor like I do), and usually the bottleneck is far more likely for single GPU graphic card holding the frame rate rather than the CPU. Between the overclocked i5 2500K and GTX660Ti, the GTX660Ti is a greater limitation by far, so upgrade that first.
 
Agree with what people have said. I have almost the same spec as you and just got a GTX780, big difference. Games are just so much smoother now even with everything maxed out!
 
Defo agree with other the I5 2500K is a classic and upgrading other parts of your system would give you more noticeable improvements.

I still have mine running at 4.5Ghz :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom