i5 2500k or i7 2600k

[quangdaika]

So I'm building a gaming system. Not a hardcore gamer but I want the build to handle everything I can throw at it. No video editing or anything like that. I'm not going to OC but you never know. Which CPU would works best for me?

Thanks

 

[xixou]

i5

 

[jacktesterson]

i5 2500k

 

[Bill Brasky]

i5 2500k

Yep. This is *plenty* for gaming. What graphics cards are you looking at?

 

[quangdaika]

Yep. This is *plenty* for gaming. What graphics cards are you looking at?

Maybe the 6870?

 

[Kenmitch]

I'd say if you don't plan on doing anything that'll take advantage of the hyper-threading your better off going with the 2500k and using the xtra $'s towards a better gpu, ssd, motherboard, power supply, case, memory, etc!

When choosing your MB take into considuration the " I'm not going to OC but you never know " comment you made in your original post. Just make sure you get something that is overclocking friendly in case you decide later you wanna take advantage of the free speed.

 

[Bill Brasky]

To build on what Kenmitch said, you should also try to determine if you want to upgrade to crossfire or SLI in the future. If so, make sure your PSU and motherboard support it!

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

Has anyone done a good, comprehensive, gaming oriented, cpu comparison with modern cpus at different clock speeds? I would love to see how much of a difference that extra L3 cache on 2600 makes. It would also be nice to see how much of a difference sandy makes than Lynnfield/Bloomfield with recent video cards like 6990.


I don't know why both Anand and Hardware Canucks used a GTX280 for their sandy bridge reviews.