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

[Anomaly1964]

If you are talking about the tower fan that is NOT the oem heatsink/fan that comes with sandy bridge. That was sent out to review sites so they could get better overclocks and post reviews.
The smaller round one is the OEM heatsink.

Here is the OEM heatsink from the anandtech review...

Are you SURE? I am hearing the bigger fan comes with the 2600K?

 

[notty22]

That is the 2500k heat sink, other sites also confirm the heat pipe cooler comes with the 2600k retail box.
It looks like the 980x fan, but is not. Its a new slightly smaller design.
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/Intel_i7_2600K_i5_2500K/2.html

The heatsink that comes with the 2600K processor is very similar to that used with the high-end 980X. For the most part the design is the same, but this model uses one less heatpipe and of course has a new mounting system for the LGA-1155 socket. The entire cooler uses a tower design that has three copper heatpipes with a copper base and a large aluminum finned array. Like the 980X cooler, this heatsink has a fan control switch that allows it to be set to either a high performance or quiet setting and includes a blue LED on the fan.

​

The heatsink that comes with the 2500K is a very familiar sight at this point, as it uses the same low-profile design that Intel has used with various processors over the last few years. The installation bracket uses a push through method that has been slightly modified to fit the new LGA-1155 socket, and the fan use a 4-pin PWM controller.

 

[Vette73]

Are you SURE? I am hearing the bigger fan comes with the 2600K?

All the reviews I read said the small one is it. The large one was ONLY for review sites.

Again that is based on the reviews I have read. The large one also came with the 6core i7's if I remember someone in the forum correct as well.

So unless you see/hear other wise the small one is it. If you do please post as I am sure others would want to know.

 

[Anomaly1964]

All the reviews I read said the small one is it. The large one was ONLY for review sites.

Again that is based on the reviews I have read. The large one also came with the 6core i7's if I remember someone in the forum correct as well.

So unless you see/hear other wise the small one is it. If you do please post as I am sure others would want to know.

Well look at the post just above your most recent one?

 

[Avalon]

Whoa, the 2500k for a mere 180 bucks? That's a freaking steal.

Wow, no kidding. I wish there was a Microcenter in FL.

 

[Meghan54]

I am sure they are expecting a few people to get a montherboard from them that day as well. Maybe some overpriced misc. shit as well.

MicroCenter has very little that is horribly overpriced. Cases are usually within a few percent of Newegg incl. shipping.....same with motherboards, etc.

And the three I've shopped all pricematched Newegg's prices , most of Fry's prices, along with the usual suspects' prices....without a hassle.

Any idea if Fry's will price-match this deal?

Fry's has never pricematched any of Microcenter's cpu prices, at least the times I've tried in the two Fry's in Atlanta. Both stores refused stating the MC prices were "specials" and therefore Fry's wasn't obligated to PM Microcenter, or some such weasling bull. Fry's is not high on my list of brick and morter stores to shop, esp. when a MC is less than a mile down the road.

 

[Vette73]

Well look at the post just above your most recent one?

The 2600k that was sent for review did have that heatsink but here is what HardOCP said...

"The cooler that I got with the 2600K looked to be the same tower cooler that came with my last 980X. Looked to be way overkill, but I am not sure that will be in the retail box."

That has been said by others as well. So the test ones did have the big heatsink but no one has seen it in a retil pack yet and doubt it will be there.
Again, could be wrong but I would not assume it will be.

 

[RussianSensation]

$179.99 for the 2500K!!!!

I will be at MC before the doors open on Sunday!

$279.99 for the 2600k is making me think twice.

2500k is priced much in-line with what Core i5 750 debuted at during the 1st week of September 2009, but boy I got my Core i7 860 for $229.99 on launch date (MSRP $329.99) and that 2600k looks way too expensive by MC standards ($279.99 vs. $317 MSRP)!!! Given last time there was only a $50 price difference, I went with the 860, but with the current $100 price difference, hands down 2500k!

I have even seen Core i7 950 and Core i7 860 for $199.99 from time to time....So I am pretty sure that 2600k is going to come down in price at MC within a short period of time.

 

[Zargon]

yeah I was hoping for a slightly lower price on it, or a nice combo with a decent mobo.

might mean I go 2500K instead

 

[mclaren777]

I'm tempted to call my friend in Minnesota and have him buy it, then ship it to me here in Washington.

$280 for a 2600K (plus shipping) sounds like a great deal to me.

 

[Diogenes2]

Isn't it likely the 2500k will overclock as easily as the 2600K ?

 

[Vette73]

Isn't it likely the 2500k will overclock as easily as the 2600K ?

Overclock yes, but the 2600 has 2mb more cache and HT. I don;t think it is worth another 50% to the price for that but if you have the money or know you have a program that will put it to good use then go for it.

I still think the 2500k will sell out much faster and many will get the 2600k due to lack of 2500k's.

 

[notty22]

I think they will have exact same behavior.
Found this :
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1979&pageID=9990

Immediately we can see that our charts stopped at 48x multiplier. This is due to the fact that each processor has its limitation -- a wall -- that it won't go past. Though we were able to boot at 49X multiplier, the system would not be stable at all, even with high voltages. Here is an excerpt from an ASUS overclocking guide provided to us about the percentage of processors that overclock to a certain frequency from a total of 100 Sandy Bridge processors:
The results below are based on the range of the CPU turbo multiplier when overclocking.
Results are representative of 100 D2 CPUs that were binned and tested for stability under load; these results will most likely represent retail CPUs.
1. Approximately 50% of CPUs can go up to 4.4-4.5 GHz
2. Approximately 40% of CPUs can go up to 4.6-4.7 GHz
3. Approximately 10% of CPUs can go up to 4.8-5 GHz (50+ multipliers are about 2% of this group)

 

[bankster55]

geez, 2600K supposed to be $317
Now 4 days away from official release and its already in a store $37 less
Couple that with insane pices on vidcards and ram, and its the good ol days again

unfortunately in my state tax is almost 10% so that nullifies discount, so I'll just wait for an online no tax vendor.

 

[Hogan773]

Yeah in Illnois the tax is almost 11% so it eats the savings.

Maybe that's why MC sells it that way, to make sure they're competitive with Newegg on an all-in basis.

Any reason to believe these discounts will evaporate at MC, or are they likely to be available at these or better prices from now on......???? Anyone have memory of how pricing happened during the last major launches?

 

[Vette73]

Yeah in Illnois the tax is almost 11% so it eats the savings.

Maybe that's why MC sells it that way, to make sure they're competitive with Newegg on an all-in basis.

Any reason to believe these discounts will evaporate at MC, or are they likely to be available at these or better prices from now on......???? Anyone have memory of how pricing happened during the last major launches?

The sales like this come and go. It might be a couple months but they usually come back in some way. esp when new chips come out.

 

[namtran512]

Yeah in Illnois the tax is almost 11% so it eats the savings.

Maybe that's why MC sells it that way, to make sure they're competitive with Newegg on an all-in basis.

Any reason to believe these discounts will evaporate at MC, or are they likely to be available at these or better prices from now on......???? Anyone have memory of how pricing happened during the last major launches?

NewEgg will never ever sell newly released chips at these prices; I specifically remember NewEgg doing their price gouging shenanigans with the i5/i7 when they first came out.

 

[scrubman]

WOW...so for hard core gaming, are most of you going with the 2500k?

**EDIT

Based on this, http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2374890,00.asp , maybe the 2600K is worth it just for the fan?

I think the fan will be there since it's almost exactly the same as one that was previously sold with an Intel CPU. Plus, who is gonna buy Intel aftermarket CPU coolers?

So 8MB cache vs. 6MB cache and Hyperthreading and if the good cooler comes with it then it may just be worth the extra $100.

The Hyperthreading issue has me wondering if it may be really good insurance to get now. I could see one new really great game come out that uses it well and 4 cores (2500k) versus 8 Threads (2600k) might be very significant. How significant is the question but I kinda of expect to see the day when software will come out like this before I'm ready for another CPU upgrade.

 

[VirtualLarry]

HT is not new and if Apps can't take good advantage of it by now I doubt they ever will.

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

 

[Hogan773]

What are the chances that MC sells out right away on Sunday? I don't want to make a 30 min drive just to have some salesman tell me they are out of stock on the 50 units they had in......

maybe there are fewer people in the "real world" that even give a cr&p about SandyBridge?

 

[Zargon]

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

aaah.

really?

guess I never really knew what HT did

 

[Zargon]

Yeah in Illnois the tax is almost 11% so it eats the savings.

Maybe that's why MC sells it that way, to make sure they're competitive with Newegg on an all-in basis.

Any reason to believe these discounts will evaporate at MC, or are they likely to be available at these or better prices from now on......???? Anyone have memory of how pricing happened during the last major launches?

go to westmont instead of the one in crook county, that will drop a few% of the sales tax.

 

[nyker96]

damn MC's prices are insane! except ... the nearest MC (1.5-2 hour drive) ;[

 

[RavenSEAL]

Wow, that...is...crazy...

 

[BBMW]

Well, if you buy a cpu, your likely to buy a mobo, some memory, a videocard, a case, a powersupply, a hard drive, etc, etc, etc.

In point of fact, they're locked in mortal combat with web only retailers (Newegg, Amazon, the usual supects). Then need to get bodies in the stores. If they do, there's good chance to sell them other things, and they're ususally more expensive on everything else.

Wtf? How do they make money?