Should I spend $30 more to get the "K"

[Ratman6161]

I've been away from this forum for a long time as I haven't built a new system since spring 2008. At that time I built my current system with my core 2 quad q6600 which can do 3.6 Ghz but I've been running happily at 3.2Ghz ever since it was new.

So today I just pulled the trigger on a NewEgg order for the Asrock z68 motherboard for $119 and some DDR3 Memory. I'm going to by my CPU separately since I have a Microcenter close enough and they are cheaper on the CPU's.

All along I've been assuming I'd get the i7 2600K. But today I got to thinking that even without overclocking, a new i7 is going to totally blow away the Q6600 I'm using now and a 2600 is $249 compared to the 2600K for $279. Either one is a steal really. Interestingly, I just pulled up my NewEgg order history and see that in March of 2008 I paid $239.99 for the Q6600 so the identical price to a 2600 today.

I do a lot of work with virtual machines and often have several open and doing things at the same time. I figure that the 8 threads on the 2600 will be great for that and I'm giving it 8GB of RAM - but I'm thinking clock speed isn't all that important to me? Of course if I had the "K" I could run it stock for a year or so and then when I get the itch again, I could just crank up the multiplier.

Some one please give me an excuse!

 

[chihlidog]

Youre already spending a bit of money, why not shell out the extra 30 if its something you'll use? A 2600k will last a long, long time I think. Especially overclocked. I think it's worth it in the long run. Like you said, it runs great at stock, but if you ever feel like you need more speed they overclock like crazy..

I think its a very wise investment.

 

[tweakboy]

HELL YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the K version will allow to overclock. non K no OC.

I would spend 100 more to get the K so 30 bucks is amazing deal.

 

[Plimogz]

I'm with tweakboy on this.

30 bucks (12% extra) for the unlocked multiplier, which will enable you to easily overclock by an equal 12% margin -- in fact 4.2Ghz is as close to a sure thing with little or no extra voltage as makes no odds -- Plus you get double the graphics execution units (HD3000), which given that you're going for a Z68 board with actual video outs (*mutters to self*: stupid Gigabyte; WTF...) could very well come in handy if ever you don't need a discrete graphics board, or if ever your VGA suddenly dies on you or whatever.

Oh and the unlocked K processor will retain a bit more resale value anyway, so you'll quite probably be able to recuperate most if not all of that piddling 30$ if ever you sell the CPU a couple of years down the line.

 

[Idontcare]

HELL YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the K version will allow to overclock. non K no OC.

I would spend 100 more to get the K so 30 bucks is amazing deal.

+1

 

[exar333]

I'm with tweakboy on this.

30 bucks (12% extra) for the unlocked multiplier, which will enable you to easily overclock by an equal 12% margin -- in fact 4.2Ghz is as close to a sure thing with little or no extra voltage as makes no odds -- Plus you get double the graphics execution units (HD3000), which given that you're going for a Z68 board with actual video outs (*mutters to self*: stupid Gigabyte; WTF...) could very well come in handy if ever you don't need a discrete graphics board, or if ever your VGA suddenly dies on you or whatever.

Oh and the unlocked K processor will retain a bit more resale value anyway, so you'll quite probably be able to recuperate most if not all of that piddling 30$ if ever you sell the CPU a couple of years down the line.

This.

 

[Nemesis 1]

Do you want the K if so buy it . I was away for 3 days. When I got back yesterday . I went to the computer room . I noticed 1 PC missing . I asked wife what happened she says she gave it to our grandson . Well I love the child but this was a very expensive watercooled PC . The case to fab costed better than 1200. The rest of it was good intel stuff also . She said my SB stuff had all arrived and she could use that until her new stuff gets here.
So I says , Your not taking another one of the Custom cases . She says no I am not . So I says what ya using .

She ordered a Lian Li PC X2000FB $485 plus a $79 Radiotor grill for 140 mm Rad. and fans .

So now I am getting a little worried about what she upto . we compete against each other .

Well I went out to the shop this mourning and found out what it was all about . Bob brought MAMA a gift .

So if you haven't bought SB yet . wait for BD . or better yet wait for SB-E

 

[Nemesis 1]

Youre already spending a bit of money, why not shell out the extra 30 if its something you'll use? A 2600k will last a long, long time I think. Especially overclocked. I think it's worth it in the long run. Like you said, it runs great at stock, but if you ever feel like you need more speed they overclock like crazy..

I think its a very wise investment.

So I was meaning to ask about the o/cing. We had a thread here about what is safe V to the core. I was over at XS and as I understand it . Intel says 1.52 V are safe . Its really nice that Intel M/B pricies have fallen to AMD levels . Its about time . They pretty much had to or get creamed in class action law case. 80% market share Vs. 20% . Ya they new they would lose because intel has more sales . Now the ship is riding the waves correctly.

 

[eternalone]

Actually depends on your thinking . Saving those $30 dollars maybe important in some way especially if your not into overclocking. Also those $30 dollars could go into a SSD drive instead of the Cavier Black you currently have. Really it depends on your economic situation and what you do with your computer. Im still running a phenom 2 , and it does everything I need, so that 2500 will in no way be slow.

 

[OCGuy]

I absolutely would.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Doesn't even seem like OCing really. More like the K versions just offer a cheap performance boost to those with a capable mobo. It brings a 2500K past stock 2600's in most benchmarks. And brings the 2600K into beating the stock 990X at virtually everything.

Or something like that, you get the idea.
Do it...

 

[Gillbot]

Without reading everything posted above, my vote is a simple yes. For a mere $30, you open up much more opportunity with the CPU so IMHO it's a no brainer.

 

[LoneNinja]

You already overclocked your Q6600, you feel the need to replace it now with something more powerful. Sooner or later if you choose to run at stock speeds on the I7 2600, your going to desire more performance again. When this happens, you can either replace your I7 2600, or you can overclock the I7 2600K, I think it's well worth the $30.

Personally I feel the need to overclock all my systems, than because they don't need the performance I turn around and underclock them, only clocking them back up when I need the performance.

 

[nyker96]

+1000!

 

[mazeroth]

Dude, spend the money. If you didn't have a MC close to you, you would end up spending more. Don't think of it as $30 tacked onto $250, think of it as $30 more tacked onto the total system price of say, $500. Plus, having the ability to overclock will likely buy you an additional 6-12 months of usage and when it comes time to sell you'll likely recoup the added cost.

Don't think any more. Buy the K. I'll see you at Microcenter tomorrow morning, if you're in Columbus, Ohio.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

If resale is a consideration, the 2600K has 407 reviews on Newegg. The 2600 has 53.

 

[nenforcer]

I do a lot of work with virtual machines and often have several open and doing things at the same time. I figure that the 8 threads on the 2600 will be great for that and I'm giving it 8GB of RAM - but I'm thinking clock speed isn't all that important to me?

Of course if I had the "K" I could run it stock for a year or so and then when I get the itch again, I could just crank up the multiplier.

Some one please give me an excuse!

If you are serious about virtualization then you will want to skip the 2600K and just get a regular non "K" 2600.

The non "K" versions have better support for hardware virtualization (VT-D, TXT) and all you give up is the unlocked multiplier for overclocking which I wouldn't consider a deal braker for a business class server.

 

[lopri]

If he's that serious about virtualization he probably wouldn't be looking at 2600/2600K. 2600K supports CPU virtualization (VT-x) which is all there is to it on desktop. I/O virtualization (VT-d) isn't supported by these K series CPUs. I do think it is silly Intel is trying to differentiate the products this way but VT-d is by and large of no significance on desktop. (No Windows client support it)

And what does TXT have to do with desktop virtualization?

 

[xixou]

go for the K

 

[evilspoons]

Heh, I've never invested the time to get good at overclocking computers. I know what's going on for the most part but I don't have the "finesse" to get everything running smoothly.

That being said, I managed to get my 2600k to 4.3 GHz on air in like 10 minutes. And it idles at the same temperature as before. I'm going for more later, but I have to sort out some weird (unrelated) motherboard bug first.

There is virtually NO reason to not overclock these things. Do it!

 

[Ratman6161]

If he's that serious about virtualization he probably wouldn't be looking at 2600/2600K. 2600K supports CPU virtualization (VT-x) which is all there is to it on desktop. I/O virtualization (VT-d) isn't supported by these K series CPUs. I do think it is silly Intel is trying to differentiate the products this way but VT-d is by and large of no significance on desktop. (No Windows client support it)

And what does TXT have to do with desktop virtualization?

All,

Thanks for the advice. I went to Microcenter and bought the 2600K.
A couple of you pointed out some things I didn't know (and should have known) about the K having a different feature set than the non-K. I decided to go with the K anyway because my virtualization needs are not all that stringent. It's all on the desktop using VMWare Workstation and running a couple of Desktop VM's concurrently. I also sometimes build VM's on the desktop to be transferred to an ESX 4.1 server later.

Anyway, my trusty old Q6600 is really still adequate to my needs and I'm really just upgrading because it's been more than three years and sometimes I just get the itch. So even without all the virtualization features of the non-K it's still going to feel really, really fast compared to the Q6600. Now if I was going to load ESXi on it and run servers with it - the lack of VT-d might matter...but probably not for me.

I went with the K because I figure in 6 months or a year when I get the itch to play with it again, I can just crank up the multiplier. Now I'm just waiting for my motherboard and RAM to arrive from NewEgg - hopefully tomorrow.

I am a little perplexed as to why Intel chose to go the way they did with the feature sets though. I thought the 2600K would be identical to the 2600 - just with the multiplier unlocked - but now I know otherwise.

Also, what's up with the stock heat sink and fan that comes with the 2600K? It seems like crap to me though I haven't attempted to install it (no motherboard yet). The fan seems to be actually making contact with the aluminum fins when I spin the fan. I'd probably take it back except I wasn't planning to use it anyway. I have a CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus I'm going to use instead. This is the first Intel HSF I've seen since my Q6600 is an OEM CPU that didn't come with one. But boy it looks like crap! Since the unlocked multiplier is obviously aimed at overclockers, I would think Intel would either include something decent - or better yet don't include one at all and lower the price a few bucks. I figure most people buying a K chip probably aren't going to use the HSF that came with it.

 

[Ratman6161]

...
So I says , Your not taking another one of the Custom cases . She says no I am not . So I says what ya using .

She ordered a Lian Li PC X2000FB $485 plus a $79 Radiotor grill for 140 mm Rad. and fans .

So now I am getting a little worried about what she upto . we compete against each other .

Well I went out to the shop this mourning and found out what it was all about . Bob brought MAMA a gift .

So if you haven't bought SB yet . wait for BD . or better yet wait for SB-E

You have a wife that knows what Sandy Bridge is! You lucky bastard. While I was at Microcenter buying my 2600K CPU, my wife was out shopping for shoes! You've got it made dude!

 

[tweakboy]

I would put min at 5Ghz ,, the CPU I will never have that is LOL

 

[Soundmanred]

I would put min at 5Ghz ,, the CPU I will never have that is LOL

I read this backwards and it made just as much sense.