i5 2500K 3.3GHz vs IVY Bridge i5 and i7

buckman341

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Upgrading my system a bit here. Will be getting the new Asus Sabertooth z77 and now just trying to find the ideal CPU to go with it.

Reading Best Gaming CPU: $200 And Up : Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: May 2012
It seems that the i5 2500K is a very good CPU for gaming for it's price range.

"From the standpoint of raw compute power, Core i5-2500K offers very little over the cheaper Core i5-3470. It does hold three distinctions, however: it runs, by default, a few hundred megahertz faster, it has no integrated graphics engine, and it has an unlocked CPU multiplier. "

Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K

Currently the 2500K has a 15.00 discount so it's priced pretty much the same as the Ivy 3470 he's comparing it to. The i7's for Sandy and Ivy just seem a little out of my price range at the moment and it seems the i5 Ivy's don't offer too many compelling reasons to take them for a gaming system aside from the lower power usage (heat). Don't really need the integrated graphics portion of course. Just

Does anyone have any advice relevant to this? I've been out of the tech game a while so I may be missing something. Thanks a lot.
 
Should actually be between the 2500k and 3570k, which is $35 more than the 2500k considering the promo.

The 3570k runs ~10% faster at stock clocks, but also has an unlocked multiplier for overclocking.
The other benefit for gamers is, if you plan on having it awhile, Ivy Bridge supports PCIe 3.0 which isn't very relevant now but may be in the future.
 
You mentioned it runs 10% faster at stock clocks... just wondering if I'm misunderstanding something here. The 2500K runs at 3.3K stock and the 3570 runs at 3.4K stock if I'm reading the specs right.

Didn't know about the USB, thanks. My understanding was the Sabertooth supported usb 3.0 You also need the chip to have native support to make it happen?


edit: didn't notice the K suffix for unlocked chip at first.
 
According to the tomshardware link I posted, the 2500K has an unlocked multiplier but didn't mention the 3570 as having one. Also you mentioned it runs 10% faster at stock clocks... just wondering if I'm misunderstanding something here. The 2500K runs at 3.3K stock and the 3570 runs at 3.4K stock if I'm reading the specs right.

Didn't know about the USB, thanks. My understanding was the Sabertooth supported usb 3.0 You also need the chip to have native support to make it happen?

He is comparing the 2500K and 3570K.
The K moniker means the CPU has an unlocked multiplier to allow for overclocking. Stock vs stock the 3570k is faster than the 2500k. With an unlocked multiplier you can get better performance by overclocking if you so desire. Also, the 3570k may have a higher GHZ rating, but the architecture is also faster giving it faster cycles per clock. Meaning both at 3.4GHZ the 3570K will be faster.

He wasn't talking about USB3, rather PCI-E 3.0 which is the bus your graphics card uses to communicate with the rest of the computer. PCI-E 3.0 is a technology built in to the newer Ivy Bridge (3570/3770 ect) CPU's which the older Sandy Bridge (2500k/2600k ect) CPU's don't have. It isn't a necessity right now but it might be in a few years coming. USB3 comes with all P67a, Z68, and Z77 boards and does not require any extra special technology from the CPU.
 
Thanks for the clarification. Not sure how I read USB from PCI, it's midnight where I'm at though ;P
 
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