Sandy Bridge 2500K $179.99 , 2600k $279.99 plus cheapish boards

[Zap]

I bought my Nehalem at MC on launch day. It wasn't like Black Friday, but it was crowded. It was actually pretty fun - everyone had an opinion on what I was buying. It was like geeks just showed up to observe and comment - like it was a sports game or something.

I expect the Chicago/Westmont MC will be the same tomorrow. I'm heading there with a couple buddies that are "regulars" over there (apparently they go there every 2-3 weeks and have done so for a couple years). Last time we were there, chatted with the manager and a couple employees, and a few customers. Even talked overclocking with employees. It was almost like the social aspect of LAN parties, but with buying parts instead of gaming.

 

[Zargon]

I was thinking of heading to westmont, but its about 2:15 min drive each way.

if they had good mobo prices I would think about it.

I guess I could get a 2500k and a 2600k and sell one to recoup the cost..

 

[JasonCoder]

HT is only an advantage if an app is poorly optimized. You can't optimize for HT, it doesn't make sense.

Definitely not true, not sure what you're talking about. If the OS has more threads to use and to hand your app, and you are making use of them, it's a very good thing(tm).

 

[AkumaX]

so.. what would change if i went from i7-875k to i5-2500k?

pros:
- cooler? (by how much?)
- less power (watts? by how much?)

cons:
- no HT

if im going to be doing a bit of x264 encoding (NO QS UNTIL Z68), will the extra 4 threads in the i7-875k offset just the reg. 4 threads in the 2500k?

 

[Accord99]

so.. what would change if i went from i7-875k to i5-2500k?

Based on http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=107

2500K will use close to 50W less, be around 25-33% faster on x264 pass 1 and slightly slower on pass 2.