right ive sold my daughters pc so looking to buy new motherboard cpu already got ram now my choice is i3 2120 or i5 2500k obiously the 2500k is the better cpu but my question is which to buy as she only plays sims and left for dead 2 mafia 2 mass effect 3 football manager fall out newvegas splintercell grandtheft auto is it worth the extra cash for the 2500k oh shes got a msi 6950 gpu
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cpu choice
- Thread starter Alex h
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Soldato
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TBH, if she is really into gaming then yes, I would go for the i5 2500K. It is a much faster CPU due to twice as many cores and has the ability to overclock, therefore it will last much longer before it needs to be upgraded.
Also, increasingly games are making use of quad cores and some games (like GTA4) don't really perform well on dual cores.
If you do go down the route of a i5 2500K then I would strongly suggest going for a Z68 board (like this good value one) as it offers the ability to overclock the CPU, with K series CPUs like the i5 2500K overclocking to 4.5GHz isn't very difficult (wit the use of a decent CPU cooler).
Also, increasingly games are making use of quad cores and some games (like GTA4) don't really perform well on dual cores.
If you do go down the route of a i5 2500K then I would strongly suggest going for a Z68 board (like this good value one) as it offers the ability to overclock the CPU, with K series CPUs like the i5 2500K overclocking to 4.5GHz isn't very difficult (wit the use of a decent CPU cooler).
Soldato
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The UD3P is also a good board, it is a bit more expensive than the one I suggested and doesn't have a connection to the onboard graphics (for use with intel quick sync or as a backup GPU), but on the other hand it does support SLI and CF at PCIE x8/x8 speeds and the power circuitry is a bit more robust (good for overclocking).
You may also want to conisder this board, it does the SLI/CF like the UD3P, but also offers access to the onboard GPU.
You may also want to conisder this board, it does the SLI/CF like the UD3P, but also offers access to the onboard GPU.
Soldato
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Now might not be the best time to pay full price around £170 for a 2500K with IvyBridge arriving soon (even with the delay). Think you wanna try your luck on getting a cheap 2500K chip off the auction site? I got mine at December for just £125 plus £5 delivery.