Want a 2500K. How Long Will It Last?

[WuMyster]

Im in need of a new upgrade so I want to get the infamous i5 2500K.
With *minor OCing how long do you reckon it'll last with games for?

 

[N4g4rok]

Hard to say other than "quite a while."

The odds of games becoming heavily threaded in the next few years aren't great, so the 2500k will still be able to hold out being a formidable quad core. If anything, you'll run into GPU bottlenecks first. Clock for clock however, the 3570k has shown to edge out the 2500k by a respectable margin. I think you would be better off to consider ivy bridge over sandy bridge as of now.

 

[WuMyster]

Hard to say other than "quite a while."

The odds of games becoming heavily threaded in the next few years aren't great, so the 2500k will still be able to hold out being a formidable quad core. If anything, you'll run into GPU bottlenecks first. Clock for clock however, the 3570k has shown to edge out the 2500k by a respectable margin. I think you would be better off to consider ivy bridge over sandy bridge as of now.

Thanks for that. GPUs wont be a problem because I will always upgrade it soon but with CPUs i worry about new sockets coming out.

 

[N4g4rok]

A quick google search shows that Haswell will be looking at an 1150 socket, which won't be compatible with 1155. As long as you'll be happy beyond Haswell's 2013 release, it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[WuMyster]

Yeah, ive looked into Haswell. Im pretty sure Ill be happy with the 2500K or even the 3750K for about 3 years.

 

[ibex333]

Without going into any technical stuff, realistically, it should last for quite a long time depending on your needs. At least 2-3 years or so and possibly a lot more.

I remember how about 2-3 years ago people were telling me how I am bottlenecked by my e6300 Conroe, which was overclocked to 2.3GHz. I gave in to all the BS talk and got a 5200 Wolfdale (which was quickly OCd to 3 GHz), and very soon after, a 2500k. I gave the old c2d setup to my dad.

Well guess what. I wasted my money. I recently had to use my fathers computer for some things, and for general gaming and productivity applications, I noticed VERY LITTLE performance difference. Windows, Office, Photoshop, all that stuff was working well and loading reasonably fast. Is it worth spending $190 more to have this stuff load 10-20sec faster? You be the judge. But does it all work just as well once it's loaded? you betcha.

Now the most important stuff. Games...

Again, the dual core e5200 performed wonderfully, and played many resent games very well. (with a good video card off course) And yes, I admit that if it wasn't overclocked it would probably make some games lag, but OCing that chip is so easy, your granma can do it!

So very often the question of buying a new CPU comes down to a great question.

Do you NEED the new CPU or do you WANT one? Are you getting it because you can or because you need to? I bet for at least 70% of people out there, it's "Because they can".

I already keep seeing all the scary news on the internets about how Intel is moving to a new CPU Socket already, and how the newer CPUs integrate better, faster graphics in their chips and all that. supposedly making my 2500K obsolete already. Obsolete for what exactly?

Before getting a new CPU, always run some benchmarks, see if the chip still does what it needs to for your needs, and only if it cannot do that anymore, get a new one.

 

[Smoblikat]

Hard to say other than "quite a while."

The odds of games becoming heavily threaded in the next few years aren't great, so the 2500k will still be able to hold out being a formidable quad core. If anything, you'll run into GPU bottlenecks first. Clock for clock however, the 3570k has shown to edge out the 2500k by a respectable margin. I think you would be better off to consider ivy bridge over sandy bridge as of now.

If by respectable you mean no more than 5% then yes, it also has less OC headroom due to it being molten lava.

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

I agree with the others unless there is some major changes to the software and the way it is designed the Intel® Core™ i5-2500K would most likely provide around 3 years of performance for a gaming system.

 

[lehtv]

Where are you buying from? What's your graphics card? Gaming resolution? Current CPU? Do you even plan to overclock?

 

[Puppies04]

Do you even plan to overclock?

*minor OCing how long do you reckon it'll last with games for?

Yes he does.

 

[lehtv]

Right...

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

+1 on the E5200. I still have one @ 4GHz as a Hackintosh + backup office rig.
Runs a lot of stuff just fine with 8GB RAM, 6950 and a 120GB Vertex 2.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

+1 on the E5200. I still have one @ 4GHz as a Hackintosh + backup office rig.
Runs a lot of stuff just fine with 8GB RAM, 6950 and a 120GB Vertex 2.

I've got an E8600 E0 stepping which runs VCORE at 1.34V idle and maybe 50 millivolts lower under load @ 4.2 Ghz.

If it had an SATA-III controller that enabled ISRT with IRST, it would be "Lightspeed, Scotty" and "Beam me up, Captain. . . " Barring that, I'd have to buy the controller and get an SSD for it. Not worthwhile, since it's old LGA-775 . . .

Oh, yeah. And replace Vista 64 with Win-7-64. Absolutely. Positively. Yes!

I even mixed a set of G.SKILL Black-Pi DDR2-900's and a set of G.SKILL DDR2-1000's to run somewhere below 850 Mhz at 4-4-4-12. Absolutely a standup system -- STILL!! 8GB of RAM.

I didn't even replace it with my Z68 i7-2600K rig. The latter replaced a Q6600 780i system I passed along in the fam-damn-ily. . . .

 

[FalseChristian]

I got a i5 2500K and overclocked it to 4.5GHz on stock voltage and my 3DMark06 score doubled using the same GPUs which are 2 GTX 460 1GB in SLI. I think this'll be the last CPU I'll need ever again.

 

[Hatisherrif]

I got a i5 2500K and overclocked it to 4.5GHz on stock voltage and my 3DMark06 score doubled using the same GPUs which are 2 GTX 460 1GB in SLI. I think this'll be the last CPU I'll need ever again.

Only if you don't want to use a computer at all in 5 years.

 

[poohbear]

I got a i5 2500K and overclocked it to 4.5GHz on stock voltage and my 3DMark06 score doubled using the same GPUs which are 2 GTX 460 1GB in SLI. I think this'll be the last CPU I'll need ever again.

its stable on stock voltage @ 4.5? that's a really good chip then. most need a little extra voltage to reach 4.5 territory.

 

[tweakboy]

It would take you to 2020. the sandy 2600k OCed that is...

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Games aren't CPU heavy, they are GPU heavy so just buy a 2500k and forget it. My CPU is slower but I don't care because games run just fine on it. People like to recommend faster CPUs to justify their own upgrades.

 

[toyota]

Games aren't CPU heavy, they are GPU heavy so just buy a 2500k and forget it. My CPU is slower but I don't care because games run just fine on it. People like to recommend faster CPUs to justify their own upgrades.

well every game is different and games can be VERY dependent on the cpu. just because you feel that your games run fine does not change that.

most people recommend the overall best bang for buck cpus which is usually something like a 2500k. I do not recommend it because I bought it, I bought it because I was already recommending it.

 

[moonbogg]

That question is unanswerable OP. It all depends on wether or not your needs change. If you play the same games you do now, then your CPU will last 10 years. If you fall in love with a new game next year that needs 6 cores to run properly, then your CPU will last a year.

 

[bononos]

well every game is different and games can be VERY dependent on the cpu. just because you feel that your games run fine does not change that.

most people recommend the overall best bang for buck cpus which is usually something like a 2500k. I do not recommend it because I bought it, I bought it because I was already recommending it.

Overall bang/buck is the 2500k? The 2500k is only bang/buck in the high end category, because there is little tangible benefit from getting the 2600k for gaming.

 

[toyota]

Overall bang/buck is the 2500k? The 2500k is only bang/buck in the high end category, because there is little tangible benefit from getting the 2600k for gaming.

for gaming yes the 2500k was the best bang for buck cpu when all factors were considered. I guess that would go to the 3570k now or whatever took the 2500k's place.

 

[bononos]

for gaming yes the 2500k was the best bang for buck cpu when all factors were considered. I guess that would go to the 3570k now or whatever took the 2500k's place.

All factors? Like heat/power consumption/price? The best bang/buck cpu would probably be a hyperthreading i3 for gaming since it can keep up or surpass AMD's bulldozer and the i5 in nearly all games in normal gaming environments.

 

[toyota]

All factors? Like heat/power consumption/price? The best bang/buck cpu would probably be a hyperthreading i3 for gaming since it can keep up or surpass AMD's bulldozer and the i5 in nearly all games in normal gaming environments.

a 2500k has four real threads, more cache, is clocked faster and can OVERCLOCK. that means its faster NOW and will be faster LATER with gpu upgrades or sli/crossfire. the only way the i3 makes sense is if on a strict budget. if you want to get the most out of higher end setups especially for a longer time than the 2500k is worth it over the i3 if building a gaming pc from scratch.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

Looking at the Haswell thread, people are mentioning Haswell to be 10-15% better clock-for-clock versus SB. I'm not sure where that is coming from, but if true, I'll be holding my 2600K for an extremely long time... I can't believe I've already been on LGA 1155 for a year and half now. It still feels like brand new hardware.

And I also agree that for gaming, i5-2500K (or 3570K) is the way to go. Even if you're not a BF3 player, it is an indication of what should come in the future.