2500K... 6 years ago! My, how time flies!

[rchunter]

Mine doesn't.

Mine doesn't either. Not even close.

 

[ummduh]

If HEVC is the only problem, stick a GT1030 in there, and you should be good to go for a few more years. The HD6450 is effectively obsolete, it only does h.264, VC-1 and MPEG2. Not HEVC or VP9.

Good deal. Less than 75 dollars and I shouldn't have to change much else. (quick amazon search, no real effort put into prices yet) I'll have to pick one up after christmas. Thanks for the tip.

 

[ZGR]

retired my 2500K when 7700K released, Jan'17. i won't repeat everything that's been said, i'll only say that the thing i miss most about it is the cool operating temps due to the die being soldered to the IHS. the last of it's kind. load temps werent going over 70-75 with my beefy NH-C14. the 7700K reaches 90C even before OCing

Something sounds messed up here.

 

[whm1974]

Something sounds messed up here.

Did he check the heatsink compound to make it wasn't dried out?

 

[Borealis7]

i didn't put too much effort in installing the CPU. i could re-seat the heatsink, re-apply TIM, experiment until i get a good result, but it not too important. the CPU doesn't reach IBT levels of load in anything i use it for daily.

 

[whm1974]

i didn't put too much effort in installing the CPU. i could re-seat the heatsink, re-apply TIM, experiment until i get a good result, but it not too important. the CPU doesn't reach IBT levels of load in anything i use it for daily.

Check to make sure your CPU fan isn't clogged with dust or blocked by a wire.

 

[rbk123]

I'm still running a htpc with a pentium e21?0.. I think it's a 2160, at a 50% oc. IIRC it was 1.8GHz stock and it ran at 3.0Ghz for years until the mobo died, the replacement was never able to handle more than 2.7. HD6450 video card. It's definitely showing its age however. HVEC is a no go.

I have an HTPC that I was similarly running an e2140 with a 100% OC. Then someone mentioned how Q6600's are only $12 on ebay so I picked one up and swapped out the 2140 for peanuts. Best $12 of upgrade money I've ever spent once I OC'd the 6600 to 3.4G.

 

[Belegost]

Every now and then, there comes a CPU worthy of legendary status.

The 2500K is definitely one of those.
So were the i7-920, the Q6600 and the Athlon XP 2500+

See this thread for a further trip down the memory lane:
https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...bile-barton-o-cd-q6600-g0-whats-next.2328943/

The XP 2500+ replaced my old Duron 750 @1GHz, then moved to intel with the Q6600, and replaced that with a 2500K that I am still using as my home desktop today.

The 2500K has definitely been a champ, I've gone through many HDDs and SSDs, 4 monitors, 3 GPUs, 3 Windows versions, 2 PSUs, an extra pair of DDR3 DIMMs - all on the same Asrock P67 and 2500K quietly chugging along at 4.2GHz (my sample supported 4.4, but I dialed it back when Ivy Bridge made me realize I might be holding onto this one a long time.)

That said, I put together an 8400 based system for my son, and I suspect I'll buy myself a new Ryzen platform for my birthday next month because I can definitely feel the difference.

 

[Schmide]

This holiday season I'm beefing up my old 2500k that my niece is running with a 580 (replacing a 280x) and a new 4k monitor. (Acer ET322QK 32” 4K UHD LED Monitor). I'll prob also add another 8gb of ram.

For her I think this is the best improvement $500 can buy. (the extra 8gb is reclaimed from a dead system)

 

[bbhaag]

The 2500K was and continues to be one of the best cpus Intel has ever released. IMO it is getting to the point were this chip might be on the threshold of gaining legendary status much like the 300A. Its longevity and relevance continues to amaze.

 

[nOOky]

I just replaced my i7-2600K with an i7-8700K system a month ago. That cpu/mobo/memory combination will go into my spare gamer, along with the great HD7970. The 2600K is replacing an E8400 running at 4.0 along with a HD6870. Before that it housed an E2160 running stably at 100% overclock with a HD4970 and a 6800 Ultra (I think). My nephew still has my old Thunderbird 1.4 running overclocked to whatever I can't remember on a 1280 x 1024 monitor lol. I have gotten lucky with good setups over the years.

 

[rockfella79]

I have an HTPC that I was similarly running an e2140 with a 100% OC. Then someone mentioned how Q6600's are only $12 on ebay so I picked one up and swapped out the 2140 for peanuts. Best $12 of upgrade money I've ever spent once I OC'd the 6600 to 3.4G.

Nice. I have OCed both chips back in the day.

 

[WildW]

2500k @ 4.6 on Z77 with a GTX1060. Keep thinking about upgrading with every new CPU launch but can't really justify it. For what I do nothing would be meaningfully faster.

 

[scannall]

Why? Could be until this time next year for the 9700k to be available. Not like the 8700k is going to become any less of a beast when it does either.

Personally, I'd wait until Meltdown and Spectre are addressed in hardware. It really is a big deal.

 

[Kenmitch]

The 2500K was and continues to be one of the best cpus Intel has ever released. IMO it is getting to the point were this chip might be on the threshold of gaining legendary status much like the 300A. Its longevity and relevance continues to amaze.

2500k wasn't a bad chip for it's time. Best chip I've ever had the pleasure of torturing was it's cousin the 2550k....That chip was a BEAST!

 

[Hans Gruber]

The only legendary 2500K CPU's were those that achieved 5ghz or very close to it. From what I understand 4.6-4.8ghz was easily achieved on air. My 3570K hits a wall @ 4.6ghz requiring unrealistic voltage.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Like scannall says above:

"Personally, I'd wait until Meltdown and Spectre are addressed in hardware. It really is a big deal."

Exactly. At this point, as long as the everyday tasks - and even more! - can still be addressed comfortably by an 15/i7 Sandy Bridge - or a FX-83xx chip on the AMD side - we can carry over to the next generation of (hopefully) secured-but-not-slowed-down chips.

 

[AlucardX]

Built mine in 2011, just finished buying my parts for a new 8700k build. It has served me well

 

[jel01790]

Still have one in my old PC. Works great years after release.

 

[Eug]

Anyone who bought an i5-2500k (or i7-2600k) should be applauded for their wisdom. You definitely got your money's worth. Unfortunately I wasn't one of them - kept floundering along with a Phenom II during that time period.

I'm actually upgrading TO a Phenom II X6 1055T for my main Windows desktop at home.

https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...055t-any-issues-i-should-be-aware-of.2533986/

It's not a gaming machine though obviously. It's just a Office, surfing, VPN, email, and video playback machine. I've noticed that with the Athlon II X3 435, it's bogging down now on some websites, and certain interface actions can be laggy. The Athlon II is actually quite usable, but the Phenom II X6 should give it some more oomph for business machine use for a few more years.

Also, my true main desktop is an iMac, with an i5-7600. I had an i7-7700K for about a week, but inside an iMac, that 7700K rev'd up the fan way too often, with the CPU spiking to 100C with any sustained load. So, I returned it and got the 7600. This replaces the Core i7-870 iMac I had before (along side the Athlon). Actually, the i7-870 iMac hasn't been replaced. It is now being used as an external monitor for my i5-7600 iMac.

 

[rbk123]

Personally, I'd wait until Meltdown and Spectre are addressed in hardware. It really is a big deal.

Definitely. It would be killer if this was the prevailing thought and ended up bringing chip/new PC sales to a virtual halt. THAT would seriously motivate Intel/AMD...

 

[WildW]

Definitely. It would be killer if this was the prevailing thought and ended up bringing chip/new PC sales to a virtual halt. THAT would seriously motivate Intel/AMD...

And there was me thinking about it the other way around.

Intel: We found a problem with every processor from the last 20 years. You're all gonna need to buy new ones. Unless yours is new enough that you might sue us, then there's a patch for it.

 

[yhelothar]

I'm still running my Westmere-EP X5660 Xeon hexcore. It's running at 3.8GHz. I'm running a GTX1070 graphics card.

 

[rbk123]

And there was me thinking about it the other way around.

Intel: We found a problem with every processor from the last 20 years. You're all gonna need to buy new ones. Unless yours is new enough that you might sue us, then there's a patch for it.

We are in sync and I'm with you on this one, because there isn't a new one yet that is safe. That's the motivation part - it's going to take them a while to come out with a new one that will be; and they can do so at whatever pace they like if their sales stay the same.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Like scannall says above:

"Personally, I'd wait until Meltdown and Spectre are addressed in hardware. It really is a big deal."

Exactly. At this point, as long as the everyday tasks - and even more! - can still be addressed comfortably by an 15/i7 Sandy Bridge - or a FX-83xx chip on the AMD side - we can carry over to the next generation of (hopefully) secured-but-not-slowed-down chips.

Dont really follow the logic in this argument. A current cpu will be "affected" at least a much or more by the patches, so a new cpu will still give the same relative upgrade. In any case, for gaming, the "slowed down" chips show very minimal penalty.