Best i5 processor?

cash_13 · 27 Dec 2013 at 16:51

What is the best i5 available for the price with a view to overclocking at a later date when needed.. ?

Thanks in advance

cash_13 · 27 Dec 2013 at 16:53

Forgot to mention I am running

Gygabyte Z68AP-D3 using onboard sound
8 GB RAM
Intel G840 ( Locked @ 2.80 )
2 X Western Digital 200GB HD's....... 120GB Kingston V300 SSD ( ordered )
WIN 7 64 bit Home
Ilyama 22" LED

RJC · 27 Dec 2013 at 16:55

The 3570k for your motherboard, but check you are running the latest BIOS.

cash_13 · 27 Dec 2013 at 17:02

Is there an issue with the stock bios?

cash_13 · 27 Dec 2013 at 17:03

I have not found the need to update it should I ?

wazza300 · 27 Dec 2013 at 17:23

best i5 is one with hyperthreading

why no 2600k?

and you'll need latest bios to support the ivybridge cpu's

cash_13 · 27 Dec 2013 at 17:31

Thanks for the info wazza thought they were just plug and play cheers

wazza300 · 27 Dec 2013 at 17:37

if I were you id look out for a 2600k,2700k or 3770k

but the i5's are ok if on a tight budget whatever you can get for the least ££

cash_13 · 27 Dec 2013 at 17:47

Thanks the reason I put i5 was I originally bout my mobo with the i5 2500k in mind as it was the the processor of choice and the best value but would certainly consider the others thanks again...

Morg · 28 Dec 2013 at 08:46

I think the i5 clock better than an i7 on a z68 motherboard, I'd research what your motherboard can clock an i7 to before deciding. I have a 2500k on a z68 and I don't think I could get any ivy anywhere near as fast. There's a multiplier limit maybe

almighty15 · 28 Dec 2013 at 10:29

I would go 2600k over an i5 2500k personally

valkynaz · 28 Dec 2013 at 11:46

cash_13 said:
What is the best i5 available for the price with a view to overclocking at a later date when needed.. ?

Thanks in advance

The best i5 for your motherboard in my opinion is the 2500k (if you can still get them new anywhere).

I'm using one and I never hit any CPU bottlenecks in any of the games I play.

The 3570k does offer better performance at stock, but the two downsides are that the 3570k has some heat dissipation issues meaning you may not be able to get as good a overclock on a 3570k as you would on a 2500k. However this problem was present at launch and whether or not Intel fixed it later on into the products life I do not know. The 3570k also supports PCI-E 3.0 graphics cards however to use this feature you would also have to upgrade to a Ivybridge motherboard (Z77 ideally).

As for people suggesting an i7, it is useless for just playing games. If the machine is just going to be running video games then the i5 is the best choice as the hyper-threading would be a redundant addition. If using programs such as photo editing or video encoding then the i7 would be a better choice as the hyper-threading would be utilised.

cash_13 · 28 Dec 2013 at 12:54

I mainly use it for COD COH & work related stuff like planning invoicing and the internet..

Nothing heavy graphics wise I would say as I am only runing a 22" monitor running 1920 1080 @ 60 hz

Morg · 28 Dec 2013 at 13:14

After some reading it looks like you need uefi bios on the gigabyte z68 boards to get the most out of ivy, however these bios don't have all the overclocking options that their award bios do. Which bios are you using on your board?

imginy · 28 Dec 2013 at 16:05

valkynaz said:
The best i5 for your motherboard in my opinion is the 2500k (if you can still get them new anywhere).

As for people suggesting an i7, it is useless for just playing games.

I think 3570k is better than 2500k.

I think i7 is great for gaming.

cash_13 · 28 Dec 2013 at 16:29

It has the Award bios just rebooted to find out.

wazza300 · 28 Dec 2013 at 16:33

trouble with ivy on z68 is gigabyte havn't really supported the oc'ing of it verywell from what ive read,some settings/voltages are missing on the uefi bios

if your staying z68 then id pick a 2600k/2700k as that's a good middle ground chip between a 2500k and 3570/3770k

some games and programs take advantage of hyperthreading which helps a lot

Frozennova · 28 Dec 2013 at 16:37

The Z68AP-D3 has all the options there in the UEFI bios for overclocking Ivy. My 3570k was running fine at 4.5Ghz until I decided to give it a hard time benching for a few hours.

wazza300 · 28 Dec 2013 at 16:38

Frozennova said:
The Z68AP-D3 has all the options there in the UEFI bios for overclocking Ivy. My 3570k was running fine at 4.5Ghz until I decided to give it a hard time benching for a few hours.

I wasn't sure tbh,i know easytune software doesn't work but that's pants anyway

cash_13 · 28 Dec 2013 at 16:41

I originally bought the board because it was what everyone was raving about when it first came out as it was supposed to be the dogs gonads for overclocking...... how times change lol