When should I buy this?

mufcmark · 25 Mar 2011 at 00:18

I'm pretty set that I'm going to buy a i5 760 second hand as for £100 it seems really good value with sealed ones going for around £117.

So the question is...

Would I be best to wait until bulldozer is out and then second hand i5 760s prices will fall or should I just buy it now?

Surveyor · 25 Mar 2011 at 00:24

Buy it when you need it.

Can't see Bulldozer having much effect on the second hand price of i5 760's.

Any hit will have been taken when Sandybridge was released.

mufcmark · 25 Mar 2011 at 00:56

In terms of fps, how would a i5 760 overclocked to 4ghz compare to a i5 2500k overclocked to 4.5ghz?

For around £100 would it be worth it?

cmndr_andi · 25 Mar 2011 at 01:01

+1 to what surveyor said

If you are sitting there with a system that isn't up to the job - then please pull the trigger now on an i5 760.

Bulldozer isn't expected until June/July time - so if you feel you currently have a system that will fulfil your needs until that time, then you may as well wait and see what Bulldozer brings to the table and how it effects Sandy Bridge i5 prices.

In terms of fps, how would a i5 760 overclocked to 4ghz compare to a i5 2500k overclocked to 4.5ghz?

For around £100 would it be worth it?

If you are talking about games - a 4GHz i5 760 will pretty much max out any game you can throw at it today (assuming you don't have £600+ worth of graphics cards). Therefore in that light the i5 2500K would seem to be rather overkill. However, the 2500K has a lot more raw power than the 760 (especially when clocked to 4.5GHZ) - so as games continue to get more taxing (both on the GPU and CPU) the 2500K will be able to "keep up" for much longer before you need to upgrade. Also, it is rumoured that Ivy Bridge CPUs will work with existing s1155 board - so that may be something to bear in mind in terms of long-term upgrades.

Is this all worth £100? In my mind it is, but if you are on a tough budget and buying a better CPU/mobo means you have to compromise on the GPU or other key components - then going for the 760 makes sense and is an absolutely stonking gaming CPU.

This page compares the 2500K, 760 and other modern GPUs in a range of games.

mufcmark · 25 Mar 2011 at 01:25

Intel upgrade socket every 2 years and I'd plan to keep this for at least 3 years so the next time I'd upgrade, I'll probably buy a new mobo as well so maybe it's not worth going i5 2500k.

I could invest more into a gpu or ssd with the extra money.

hybrid572 · 25 Mar 2011 at 11:27

Curiously, what cmndr_andi's linked benchmarks actually point to is that unless you're playing a game that's very CPU intensive (Starcraft 2 on Ultra, Civ V, and DOWII to a certain extent), even an Athlon II X4 is going to fly ahead of your graphics card in games, unless you spend serious money on the graphics, as he says.

If you can get a second hand i5 760 for £100 and a board for about £50, then that's basically half the cost of Sandy Bridge. I'd go for that saving of £150, I should imagine that by the time an overclocked i5 760 becomes useless, you'd probably be looking at upgrading your i5 2500K system anyway.