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i5 2500k

Depends on whether you want the same socket (keep motherboard), or you mean an entire platform upgrade (CPU / mobo / RAM)?

Same socket, easy, i7-3770K.

Different socket? Probably wise to hold on and wait for Skylake in August.

Edit: OP asked for "best". i7-3770K is the "best" CPU available for 1155. I did not ask about OP's CPU requirements and usage, nor did OP offer.
 
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VirtualLarry said:
Depends on whether you want the same socket (keep motherboard), or you mean an entire platform upgrade (CPU / mobo / RAM)?

Same socket, easy, i7-3770K.

Different socket? Probably wise to hold on and wait for Skylake in August.
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Thanks that is exactly what I was looking for!
 
The best upgrade, if possible and if you haven't already done it, is to overclock to an easy 4.5GHz or higher depending on how lucky you got on the silicon lottery.

Apart from that, the upgrade path is a 2600k/2700k/3770k if you can get one for cheap.
 
A 2500k to a 3770k is not much of an upgrade for gaming. Overclocking does not count as an upgrade because you are compromising stability for performance. You can actually buy a CPU that will perform a little faster than a 2500k overclocked to 4.5 GHz in gaming and that CPU is the 4790k. So I recommend a 4790k and a new motherboard, either H97 or Z97, if you want to upgrade to a faster CPU. You want stability as well as speed then forget overclocking and buy a 4790k.
 
We have no info on the current overclock of the CPU (if any), nor of the CPU cooler. A decent aftermarket cooler and an aggressive overclock would put your 2500K in the heat of the battle again, and let you buy some time to see how the upcoming Broadwell and Skylake CPUs do. Best thing is that most coolers are compatible with all current and upcoming sockets, so any purchase made now will continue to be useful moving forward.
 
A well done OC with the required cooling to support it is stable, safe and reliable, for gaming and most non critical stuff. If OP has a P67/Z68/Z77 board and isn't running any critical tasks on that rig, this is something to consider.

The only real benefit an i7 (2600k/3770k) brings to the table here over the 2500k is the 4 extra threads and that depends on what OP is doing... otherwise clockspeed is the upgrade here. Sandy can still hang around with the best on most tasks.

Of course if a 3770k isn't enough of an upgrade for OP, i5/i7 skylake + Z170 is just around the corner and would be a noticeable upgrade.
 
Even now, HT can sometimes cause performance regression when all cores are not fully loaded. So an i7 from the same generation might not be the answer, and Ivys tend to run hot and we still don't know about the OP's CPU cooler.
 
I think it's a nice upgrade.

But I'd probably go with a Haswell i5 and board combo if I needed to buy right now.

I'd actually wait and see what Skylake looks like.
 
What do you plan to do with that old 1155 socket i5 once you've ditched it? I've been eyeing DA Inquisition and Ye Olde G630 has just about run out of gas. :'(
 
Sonikku said:
What do you plan to do with that old 1155 socket i5 once you've ditched it? I've been eyeing DA Inquisition and Ye Olde G630 has just about run out of gas. :'(
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I'm biding my time with these Sandy Bridgers.

Someone noted that the OC'd processor "compromises stability/reliability for performance."

I think it's possible to tweak these things to perfection. But one has to make a good judgment about when to quit. There's always a risk of false indications -- when some driver problem or resource conflict seems to "look" like over-clocking instability.

And there's always the risk that the user didn't do enough testing, didn't apply attention to "indications" that some instability still lurks.

If things look right in the next four or five months, I'll start ordering parts.
 
Sandy Bridge CPUs were some of the best and easiest overclockers I ever laid hands on, and I'm sure that is a pretty common opinion. The talk about instability is crap if it applies to a gaming rig. Still no word from the OP about what frequency the CPU is running, or what cooler is being used. Then again, OP makes no mention of the intended usage, so, maybe OCing wouldn't be appropriate.
 
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If you don't need the extra cores, then the i7-3770K is just not enough of an upgrade to be worth the hassle. If your 2500K is not overclocked, then that's the obvious thing to do until the Skylake cpus come out (and that will require new motherboard, etc..). The post about instability with overclocking above is laughable - that was the whole point of the "K" CPUs - to be overclocked (and you paid a little extra for that feature).
 
Well I have an i7-4930k and there is no non-k version of it. So the 4930k is meant to overclock as well? Most people that buy 6-core CPUs are doing professional work with their PCs as well and some might not even be gaming on them and professional work or even business work like using office suite software should not mix with overclocking. There is no choice for Intel 6-core CPUs but to buy one with an unlocked turbo multiplier.
 
Dave3000 said:
Well I have an i7-4930k and there is no non-k version of it. So the 4930k is meant to overclock as well? Most people that buy 6-core CPUs are doing professional work with their PCs as well and some might not even be gaming on them and professional work or even business work like using office suite software should not mix with overclocking. There is no choice for Intel 6-core CPUs but to buy one with an unlocked turbo multiplier.
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Yeah, models with a "K" have an unlocked multiplier, making it relatively easy to overclock them.

4.6Ghz with air cooling:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/cpu/core-i7-4960x-4930k-4820k/Screenshots/i7-4930k-2.png

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core-i7-4960x-4930k-4820k_9.html
 
Leyawiin said:
If I had an unlocked Sandy Bridge like that I'd overclock and sit tight.
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The OP -- pcslookout -- Gave a happy response to VirtualLarry and then went out for coffee and never came back.

If he had to ask about upgrade choices from the Sandy on a skt-1155 motherboard, he doesn't seem like much of a candidate for joining the Omega-Xi fraternity (of both brothers and sisters, of course.)

When Ivy Bridge was first released, I'd just completed building my 2600K system with the Z68 chipset. I happened to wander into the forums again several months later, when IDontCare launched his "De-Lidding" thread.

Immediately, I took a dislike to the IB's because of Intel's cheap-assed fabrication changes with the notorious TIM putty.

Last fall, I happened to acquire an unabused, year-old 3570K as part of a bundle in which all three items were approximately worth $200 or more each, so I figure I got it for ~$100. We popped it into a budget-end ASUS Z77-A board -- so far without over-clocking it -- and I was fairly impressed with the processor.

But right now, I can't justify upgrading either my 2600K or 2700K systems for anything other than my computer-building addiction. Even if Passages Malibu treated it, I couldn't afford the treatment as easily as I can afford the addiction. I'm planning to do it, though -- "build a Haswell." But I can't even make up my mind between an "E" processor and the 4790K. Put it another way: I keep "flip-flopping."

If someone HAD a 2500K and asked about upgrading, you could only SUGGEST that they overclock it. Sheesh!! I know a woman my age who got her BS later in life for "Computer Information Systems." She's afraid to open up a PC and play with circuit-boards and wires. Any number of mainstreamers are skittish about fiddling with their BIOS, and I'd seen others who created their own disaster because of unprepared, untutored curiosity.
 
+1for skylake. the 2500k is in the same family as what we have now, no sense in upgrading with so little to gain.
 
I'd be curious what the OP uses his/her computer for? For gaming there is no reason to upgrade from an overclocked 2500k. Most games are GPU bound. The new graphics APIs are going to reduce the CPU load immensely for anything that is CPU bound. I'm not planning to upgrade until I see what AMD's Zen brings to the table.
 
I can assure you guys, that a 2500k is NOT always "easily" overclocked. With my mobo (in my sig) overclocking has been nothing but constant headache and loss of time. Many people with identical mobos claim they got an "easy" overclock - not so for me.

I was only able to get to 4.2GHz stable. Raising voltage does nothing. Playing with RAM timings does nothing. It usually doesn't crash and doesn't BSOD at higher clocks, but it simply wont boot windows. After several times playing with it like this, I was very sorry because my Windows installation got corrupted and I was cursing the day when I decided to try to push my CPU further. I spent several hours just to reinstall and recover everything.

I read countless guides and spoke to many people. I confirmed that I was doing everything correctly and that there is nothing wrong with my mobo. But 4.2GHz is it! Anything better is just not gonna happen in my case.
 
Keep in mind that 4.2GHz on all 4 cores is about 27% above 3.3GHz stock on all 4 cores. That's 27% extra free performance right there. I'm not taking turbo into account there because games today hammer on all 4 cores and keep the cpu at 90-100% usage (GTAV, BF4MP, Witcher 3, etc). On other less threaded workloads, it's still a nice increase from what turbo brings to the table.

Even if your 2500k is sub par, your overclock puts it back in the fight with a stock 4670/90k. Not bad for an almost 4 year and a half old CPU. Now consider the on par 2500Ks out there that do 4.5GHz, or the even better ones that do 4.7/4.8GHz on sane voltages that aren't harmful on the long run. These are above a stock 4670/90k. Insane value there, on the whole OC range.


So, if OP confirms he's got an OC capable motherboard and if needed could invest on better cooling (nothing too special, a cheap 212 evo is enough for 4.5GHz here, the stock cooler can stand 4GHz on stock voltage without much trouble), he's done for until something breaks or the upgrade itch can't be scratched off anymore.
 
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