New Build: i5 2500K vs i7 2600K

[M-Squared]

Hi there!

I'm on the verge of building a new rig at the start of next year, and I'm torn between choosing a CPU for my system.

I will be using the PC for office work, programming in Visual Studio, database design using SQL Server & Oracle, as well as some light Photoshop & Audition usage, music production and gaming in my spare time.

My question is this: Will there be a significant difference in e.g. compile time and overall performance in these programs when comparing these two processors? I know games don't benefit much from the 2600K's hyper threading, so I was wondering whether these other applications would make better use of 8 threads.

Bear in mind that I would like to keep this system for at least the next 2 years, so would a 2600K give a certain degree of "future-proofing" over a 2500K?

For additional info, here's the rest of the relevant hardware:

• Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3
• Memory - Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz (4GB x 2 kit)
• HDD - Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB
• GPU - Gigabyte GTX 560 Ti
• Power Supply - Corsair GS600

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Rvenger]

My vote is a 2500k and use the extra money for an SSD.

 

[Magic Carpet]

That's easy. 2600k, definitely. It's a much faster processor when you do proper multi-tasking and compiling at the same time. But you need to learn how to make full use of it. If you can't, maybe it's not for you ;-p

SSD is required, yes.

 

[dma0991]

First you would need to verify if your compiler supports more than 4 threads simultaneously and whether HT is supported. In Anand's test to compile Chromium did show that there is a difference when it comes to multithreaded support for VS2008 and future versions.

I wouldn't count on getting a Core i7 2600K just for the 'future proofing' criteria because nothing is for certain when it comes to CPU performance. There will always be a better processor in the market sooner or later.

What would make it sweeter is if you could add in a SSD and a heatsink in the future and it should give you some extra boost if you overclock to 4.5GHz. If your office work somehow does not permit you to do any overclocking due to voiding warranties then get the SSD anyway.

 

[Hulk]

I went with the 2500k and honestly I regret it. I miss those 4 extra logical cores when I'm doing video editing. i.e. timeline preview and rendering.

The 2500k is still fantastic, don't get me wrong. But I wish I just spent the extra money for the 2600k. If you don't work with applications that will benefit from HT then save your money. But if you do then go for it.

 

[Arachnotronic]

2600K, man.