i5 2500K to 4690K or 4790k?

[AgentUnknown]

Is it worth upgrading from a 2500k to 4690k or 4790k? I would have to buy a new mobo. Do I have to buy new ram as well?

 

[Yuriman]

Are you overclocked? An overclocked 2500K is not really any slower than an overclocked 4690K, and a 4790K will only be better in tasks that take advantage of more than 4 threads.

You can reuse your RAM.

 

[AgentUnknown]

Yes I am oced. Wow 2500k provided great value.

 

[videogames101]

The 2500k will go down as the best CPU of all time I think.

 

[AgentUnknown]

How many years or months do I have left with sandy bridge?

 

[Dice144]

I personally got rid of the 2500k (wish I would of gotten the 2600k) I am a multiple tasking freak and wanted 8 threads.

4770k was a big step up for what I use the PC for.

 

[Charlie98]

The 2500k will go down as the best CPU of all time I think.

It's kind of like the 350 Chevy motor of the CPU world... :biggrin:

Maybe not the best evarrr, but it sure ranks up there with Stairway to Heaven.

How many years or months do I have left with sandy bridge?

Depends on what you ask out of your CPU... and how hard you are OC'ing it. I'm still rocking mine, in fact, I just dropped it in a better mobo to see if there is some more OC room in mine... I was stuck at 4.1GHz on my old mobo, I'm already at 4.2GHz @ -.08v with 100% stability, and I think there is more...

 

[AgentUnknown]

Are these temps right for a 2500k?

 

[Gikaseixas]

It depends. What do you use your PC for? If mainly gaming you should be ok, if you use multithreaded programs you will not regret getting a 4790k.

It comes with a high stock clock, has better single thread performance and just kills your 2500k in multithreaded applications.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

It depends. What do you use your PC for? If mainly gaming you should be ok, if you use multithreaded programs you will not regret getting a 4790k.

It comes with a high stock clock, has better single thread performance and just kills your 2500k in multithreaded applications.

That's apparently the only drawback: no hyperthreading. At first I regretted choosing 2600K over the 2500K. Changed my mind about that rather quickly, though.

The P67 chipset is a bit dated. My Z68 chipset only slightly less so, but the way I have this beast humming along right now, I think I could continue for years.

The only reason I've built computers in recent years over taking longer between build projects or getting $400 knockoffs from COSTCO or Egg -- compulsion, desire -- it's a hobby.

Whether 2500K or 2600K or 2700K -- I never heard anyone in a hurry to dump them, and I mostly think I hear people clucking contently and complacently thinking they really lucked out when they built their Sandy Bridge. And to play with words -- that's the nitty-gritty of Sandy silly-con.

 

[Gikaseixas]

At first I regretted choosing 2600K over the 2500K. Changed my mind about that rather quickly

I agree, 2600k is still a powerful cpu, i would keep using it for a couple more years, i cannot say the same for the 2500k as i use multithreaded apps

 

[davie jambo]

Are these temps right for a 2500k?

Is that max temps showing at 100% load ? If so yes , yes they are correct

Pretty similar to mine

 

[NTMBK]

How many years or months do I have left with sandy bridge?

For games? A long time, given that the new consoles have relatively weak CPUs. I wouldn't bother upgrading it until at least Canyonlake, which is probably not going to be here until late 2016, possibly early 2017.

 

[Essence_of_War]

How many years or months do I have left with sandy bridge?

As long as you'd like

Seriously though, I would not be considering an upgrade until DDR4 is standard on the mainstream platform.

 

[poohbear]

Former 2500k owner here that upgraded to 4790k. 4690k would be a side grade & total waste of money. 4790k is a decent upgrade if u do video editing & apps that use more than 4 threads. Otherwise i wouldnt bother. For video editing i noticed a massive difference, for gaming not so much.

 

[Arcadio]

I was thinking of building a new PC next year to replace my Sandybridge 2700K system, but the feeling that I get from this thread is that I should wait...

 

[AgentUnknown]

Ok thanks guys!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Ok thanks guys!

What CPU cooler are you using?

Not trying to prod you -- it looks great there.

I bought the NH-D14 cooler before I even put the CPU, board and RAM together. I was able to make it just as effective as the H110i. At severe loading of my hyper-threaded 2600K, the average-of-maximums on the cores peaks to 73C @ 4.6, 75C @ 4.7.

If you're happy with your clock speed, don't bother with it. I'm just thinking that 4.5 on the 2500K should be easy with a decent cooler and at least an average draw from the chip lottery.

 

[escrow4]

I disagree. Upgrade. Both Evil Within and Lords of the Fallen showed a fat delta of 10FPS+ between Haswell and SNB. Don't be surprised if you see that gap next year with new AAA games. Plus Z68 and older platform wise is pretty meh compared to Z97.

 

[master_shake_]

there has been little to no reason to upgrade to anything after a 2500k

pci-e 3 is marginally better 1-2 percent.

heat output from anything after sandy has been worse.

 

[master_shake_]

I disagree. Upgrade. Both Evil Within and Lords of the Fallen showed a fat delta of 10FPS+ between Haswell and SNB. Don't be surprised if you see that gap next year with new AAA games. Plus Z68 and older platform wise is pretty meh compared to Z97.

bad optimization.

 

[Yuriman]

there has been little to no reason to upgrade to anything after a 2500k

pci-e 3 is marginally better 1-2 percent.

heat output from anything after sandy has been worse.

Heat output has actually gone down. Temperatures are higher due to a change in how the heatspreader is attached, but there's less heat to be dissipated.

Haswell is in another league for mobile devices, but desktops haven't received much in the way of performance.

 

[AgentUnknown]

I am using 212 cooler. Pea size thermal paste arctic silver spread on cpu.

 

[escrow4]

bad optimization.

10-20FPS+ isn't bad optimization, especially with Lords of the Fallen.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I am using 212 cooler. Pea size thermal paste arctic silver spread on cpu.

Sure. You could tweak that sucker for a couple hundred more Mhz with that cooler, I think. But I always recommend that one get all this done up front, before you've loaded software and started routine usage. In other words -- AFTER you've cloned the boot drive, and BEFORE you need to depend on the system for being BSOD/reset/freeze-free.

It never works out that way, but that's the ideal.

Heat output has actually gone down. Temperatures are higher due to a change in how the heatspreader is attached, but there's less heat to be dissipated.

Haswell is in another league for mobile devices, but desktops haven't received much in the way of performance.

That is also true, but in addition to the introduction of a TIM or polymer to replace the solder, you also have the smaller die-size. Heat transfer depends on the area of contact.

You also add to that the smaller lithography, and I think we find more electrical leakage with higher volts and speeds in an overclocking perspective. I think that adds to the effect of higher temperatures requiring more volts, generating more heat, etc.

I disagree. Upgrade. Both Evil Within and Lords of the Fallen showed a fat delta of 10FPS+ between Haswell and SNB. Don't be surprised if you see that gap next year with new AAA games. Plus Z68 and older platform wise is pretty meh compared to Z97.

It's all in the eye of the beholder. A lot of mainstreamers would be struck with awe to see an OC'd Sandy Bridge. If a person could care less about 4K video, or doesn't feel like investing in double or triple SLI, they probably couldn't care even if they could witness the difference.

A lot of people might ask why they should spend $1,000 or more just to get better frames/sec in a $70 game.