CPU Upgrade - i5-2500k or i5-3570k?

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samdouglas

203 posts

Master Geek

#105860 12-Jul-2012 13:13

Finally decided to bite the bullet and go from my 24" imac and go back to windows so gonna upgrade my games pc i built a few months ago on the cheap with some better hardware in preparation for a work/games windows 8 (and possibly hackintosh dual boot down the track) setup.

Currently have:

Samsung Ta350 monitor
HD 6850
1 TB WD HDD
8 Gigs Ram
i3-2100

Have just ordered a 128 gig Crucial M4 SSD that i am gonna use for windows 8 system partition and possibly a game or two.

Next up I'd like to upgrade the processor -
Cant decide between i5-2500k / i5-3570 ivy bridge / i7-2700k / i7-3770

2500k i can get for about $300, 3570 about $330 but i7-3770 is about $430 in NZ. (may look at Amazon etc too).

For just the occasional running of VMs for work related stuff (Cognos/Business Objects/IBM Infosphere etc)
is it worth me holding off and saving a bit for the i7 or will the SSD, and i5 and maybe upping the ram to 16 gig be enough?

Yearly bonus coming through from work soon so it may be the only time I can sneak it past the wife in one big hit ;)

Any advice / recommendations appreciated!

Sam

stevenz

2802 posts

Uber Geek

#654511 12-Jul-2012 13:28

i7 is total overkill unless you will benefit from the hyperthreading in a significant way.

The main benefit between Sandy Bridge & Ivy Bridge for most purposes is improved power usage and improved GPU (which you probably won't want to use). The K chips will overclock well and the 2500K will easily match similarly specced Ivy Bridge CPUs albeit with slightly higher power usage.

I stuck a 3470 in my machine recently, it won't overclock _at_all_ without getting very unstable, but the stock speed is fast enough that I don't really care.

Most reviews I've seen have said that if power usage isn't an issue, get the 2500K and overclock it in a big way. I wanted to keep noise/heat down a bit, hence the Ivy Bridge.

@KnightNZ

alexx

867 posts

Ultimate Geek

#654514 12-Jul-2012 13:35

The advantage of the i5-2500k is that it is considered a better CPU for overclocking than the Ivy Bridge series, so for gamers (and others) that might be the better choice.*

The improved on-chip graphics in the Ivy Bridge won't be of interest to you, since you have a HD 6850 video card.

On the other hand, more cores/threads for running VMs might suggest that an i7 is an advantage. I think the ones you listed are 4 core / 8 thread. How many VMs would you be running at a time?

* Disclaimer - I might be looking to sell my near new i5-2500k.

#include <standard.disclaimer>

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#654519 12-Jul-2012 13:40

alexx: The advantage of the i5-2500k is that it is considered a better CPU for overclocking than the Ivy Bridge series, so for gamers (and others) that might be the better choice.*

The improved on-chip graphics in the Ivy Bridge won't be of interest to you, since you have a HD 6850 video card.

On the other hand, more cores/threads for running VMs might suggest that an i7 is an advantage. I think the ones you listed are 4 core / 8 thread. How many VMs would you be running at a time?

* Disclaimer - I might be looking to sell my near new i5-2500k.

The onboard graphics chip maybe useful if you want to run a third monitor off it, and have a motherboard that supports running both a dedicated graphics card and the integrated graphics. Although your graphics card may already support a 3rd card?
I have got mine setup this way on a work station and it works well. I went for the i7 ivy bridge myself. Possibily overkill a bit, but I do run graphics programs on it and there wasn't a huge price difference.

samdouglas

203 posts

Master Geek

#654582 12-Jul-2012 14:36

alexx: The advantage of the i5-2500k is that it is considered a better CPU for overclocking than the Ivy Bridge series, so for gamers (and others) that might be the better choice.*

The improved on-chip graphics in the Ivy Bridge won't be of interest to you, since you have a HD 6850 video card.

On the other hand, more cores/threads for running VMs might suggest that an i7 is an advantage. I think the ones you listed are 4 core / 8 thread. How many VMs would you be running at a time?

* Disclaimer - I might be looking to sell my near new i5-2500k.

aye i had read about the 2500k being the cpu of choice for gamers - just not sure if the extra grunt from the i7 will make a huge difference with the VMs.

I would only ever have one VM at a time running so nothing too taxing, but i will also be doing a fair bit of graphic design (photoshop/illustrator/indesign) and video editing (1080p home movies once i find a windows equivalent of imovie that is easy to use) but again these are likely to be fairly infrequent.

How much you looking for your i5 :)

And how much might i get for a several month old i3-2100 that has had light use :)

geekiegeek

2513 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#654613 12-Jul-2012 15:03

Dual boot with OS X. Then you can keep your OS X software as well as having windows for games etc.

samdouglas

203 posts

Master Geek

#654620 12-Jul-2012 15:20

geekiegeek: Dual boot with OS X. Then you can keep your OS X software as well as having windows for games etc.

yeah considering that. ive read the HD 6850 works well with a hackintosh so think i will give it a try.

lucky015

743 posts

Ultimate Geek

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Trusted

#654842 13-Jul-2012 00:40

mattwnz:
alexx: The advantage of the i5-2500k is that it is considered a better CPU for overclocking than the Ivy Bridge series, so for gamers (and others) that might be the better choice.*

The improved on-chip graphics in the Ivy Bridge won't be of interest to you, since you have a HD 6850 video card.

On the other hand, more cores/threads for running VMs might suggest that an i7 is an advantage. I think the ones you listed are 4 core / 8 thread. How many VMs would you be running at a time?

* Disclaimer - I might be looking to sell my near new i5-2500k.

The onboard graphics chip maybe useful if you want to run a third monitor off it, and have a motherboard that supports running both a dedicated graphics card and the integrated graphics. Although your graphics card may already support a 3rd card?
I have got mine setup this way on a work station and it works well. I went for the i7 ivy bridge myself. Possibily overkill a bit, but I do run graphics programs on it and there wasn't a huge price difference.

A HD6850 should be perfectly capable of supporting a Triple monitor setup on its own with the correct adapters, Actively using CPU graphics un-nessicerally is not something I would advise for heat and other reasons, Especially if overclocking is being considered.

CPU wise, the 2500k is better if you have any intention to to overclock, The 3570 would probably better if you intend to use it only at stock.

I would go with the 2500k personally to keep my options open, On-board graphics aren't really worth taking into consideration unless you have a specific requirement for them.

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mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#654844 13-Jul-2012 00:44

lucky015:
mattwnz:
alexx: The advantage of the i5-2500k is that it is considered a better CPU for overclocking than the Ivy Bridge series, so for gamers (and others) that might be the better choice.*

The improved on-chip graphics in the Ivy Bridge won't be of interest to you, since you have a HD 6850 video card.

On the other hand, more cores/threads for running VMs might suggest that an i7 is an advantage. I think the ones you listed are 4 core / 8 thread. How many VMs would you be running at a time?

* Disclaimer - I might be looking to sell my near new i5-2500k.

The onboard graphics chip maybe useful if you want to run a third monitor off it, and have a motherboard that supports running both a dedicated graphics card and the integrated graphics. Although your graphics card may already support a 3rd card?
I have got mine setup this way on a work station and it works well. I went for the i7 ivy bridge myself. Possibily overkill a bit, but I do run graphics programs on it and there wasn't a huge price difference.

A HD6850 should be perfectly capable of supporting a Triple monitor setup on its own with the correct adapters, Actively using CPU graphics un-nessicerally is not something I would advise for heat and other reasons, Especially if overclocking is being considered.

For overclocking, yes. I have found that my i7 chip doesn't run any hotter when using onboard graphics, compared to when it wasn't. But it isn't overclocked.

lucky015

743 posts

Ultimate Geek

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Trusted

#654845 13-Jul-2012 00:56

mattwnz:
lucky015:
mattwnz:
alexx: The advantage of the i5-2500k is that it is considered a better CPU for overclocking than the Ivy Bridge series, so for gamers (and others) that might be the better choice.*

The improved on-chip graphics in the Ivy Bridge won't be of interest to you, since you have a HD 6850 video card.

On the other hand, more cores/threads for running VMs might suggest that an i7 is an advantage. I think the ones you listed are 4 core / 8 thread. How many VMs would you be running at a time?

* Disclaimer - I might be looking to sell my near new i5-2500k.

The onboard graphics chip maybe useful if you want to run a third monitor off it, and have a motherboard that supports running both a dedicated graphics card and the integrated graphics. Although your graphics card may already support a 3rd card?
I have got mine setup this way on a work station and it works well. I went for the i7 ivy bridge myself. Possibily overkill a bit, but I do run graphics programs on it and there wasn't a huge price difference.

A HD6850 should be perfectly capable of supporting a Triple monitor setup on its own with the correct adapters, Actively using CPU graphics un-nessicerally is not something I would advise for heat and other reasons, Especially if overclocking is being considered.

For overclocking, yes. I have found that my i7 chip doesn't run any hotter when using onboard graphics, compared to when it wasn't. But it isn't overclocked.

Interesting, However by default don't i7's dynamically underclock, overclock and park cores based primarily on temps? It sounds strange that there would not be a noticeable difference at Stock but I suppose it would be much more noticeable with Fixed clock speeds.

I certainly notice a difference in temps between CPU graphics and Discrete with on my i7 laptop.

timmmay

20574 posts

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#655063 13-Jul-2012 13:56

I'd suggest the older i5 will be fine for most things, the only time you might benefit from the i7 is if you edit a lot of video. 16GB will help a lot with VMs IMHO, they're usually RAM limited. RAM's so cheap if you're doing much with them go for 32GB. Having a fast SSD means you won't lose too much if you don't have enough RAM, much better than swap on a HDD.

reven

3743 posts

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#655094 13-Jul-2012 14:37

im running a similar machine/server.

core i5 2500k
vertex 3 SSD 120gb (think its a vertex 3, might be 160gb... ) for os
16GB RAM (cant remember expect but higher end stuff)

very fast machine, its primarily used as a TV server/media player, running a quad DVB-S2 tuner and decrypting between 3 to 6 sky channels at a time on a regular basis while playing back 1080ps/encoding dvds/ripping cds etc.

runs my sql server, sql server, a few local webapps.

ive dedicated 4GB of RAM as a RAM drive for a live tv buffer (to reduce channel change), so OS can only really use 12GB.

i5 2500k is perfect, fast, not too expensive.

i didnt bother overclocking it (fast enough as is)

samdouglas

203 posts

Master Geek

#660045 22-Jul-2012 20:35

cheers for all the replies folks.
So looks like i5-2500k is going to be the ticket.
Any recommendations for places to source a used one? Hopefully under the magic $200 mark?

Thanks!

Sam

lokhor

2858 posts

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#667957 5-Aug-2012 21:00

I've been reading a lot of motherboard reviews and they all seem to use the core i5 3570k and overclock it to 4.7-4.8ghz with ease

All comments are my own opinion, and not that of my employer unless explicitly stated.