i5 2500K and i7 2600K for CoD

[Oldschool61]

Originally Posted by akodonnell

I'm going to build a computer for this game soon, but I have a dilemma.

I could buy an i7-950 right now for $200

or

I could wait until late April once the Sandy Bridge problems are fixed and pay who knows how much for the new processor/mobo.

Is getting the newest i7 with the highest price worth it for this game, or will an i7-950 be sufficient?

How much is in your budget and what parts you have now, video card ram amount and type HDD etc..

[akodonnell]

I wanted to spend around $1200, but I need everything, including a monitor. Micro Center has a deal on the i7-950 right now for $200 ($80 cheaper than Newegg) and it won't be around much longer, which is prompting me to ask and see if it's worth it to drive to the store now and just buy it.

[T}{OR]

Sounds like a reasonable discount. On stock 950 should perform much like 2500k, albeit marginally worse. When OC-ed, 2500k leaves 950 way behind. So, if you don't plan on OC-ing your system, and you can get it for a better price - it should be a good choice to go with 950. Plus, then you can go with triple channel RAM which translates into 6GB which are cheaper than 8GB if you want to have more than 4GB of RAM which I would recommend.

[akodonnell]

I guess the basic question is:

i7-950 (1366 socket) - $200

i5 2500k (1155 socket) - $180 (could overclock up to ~5Ghz)

i7 2600k (1155 socket) - $280

What makes the newer i7s (and the new 1155 socket mobos) worth all the extra money? Is COD really going to take advantage of the hyperthreading in the i7s? I think I might as well save the money and get more RAM or a better monitor or GPU. Am I wrong?

[akodonnell]

After looking at Micro Center's prices on the other two processors, I may get the 2500k and just OC

[Biggs]

so would these two be a good combo?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128475

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072

[T}{OR]

Originally Posted by akodonnell

I guess the basic question is:

i7-950 (1366 socket) - $200

i5 2500k (1155 socket) - $180 (could overclock up to ~5Ghz)

i7 2600k (1155 socket) - $280

What makes the newer i7s (and the new 1155 socket mobos) worth all the extra money? Is COD really going to take advantage of the hyperthreading in the i7s? I think I might as well save the money and get more RAM or a better monitor or GPU. Am I wrong?

For this price - go with 2500k and don't think a second of it. 2500k is far better "bang for the buck" if these are the prices in your area / at your local retailer.

HT will only be useful if you do a lot of programming or work in software that uses and can utilize more threads (e.g. video editing). There is absolutely no sense in purchasing a HT CPU that apart from HT has the same performance as the i5 counterpart, in this case 2500k. If those were real cores, than maybe - but the very marginal increase in performance (questionable in games) makes it a pointless purchase.

Originally Posted by Biggs

so would these two be a good combo?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128475

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072

Would work. But I would go with a P67 chipset, in order to fully utilize 2500k's OC potential. I doubt that you will be able to with H67. If you're going with an H67 then save some money and get an ordinary 2500 with a locked multiplier that can't be OC-ed.

[akodonnell]

Thanks for the help guys, I'm probably going to get a P67 mobo anyways, but I'm going to go get the 2500K tonight, the sale ends next week. If anyone in the US lives near a Micro Center, take advantage of this NOW.

My brother built a computer in Dec, and he's got the 950. Don't think any of those virtual cores really do anything but idle on his computer. He makes IL2 maps, so maybe for that, but otherwise no.

[ghodan]

As far as i know no game currenly has support / use HyperT.
So Icore7 is only extra cost for gamers.

Go for the Icore5 2500K clock it to 4GHZ or even 5GHZ on air.

In my opinion the i5 2500K is the best CPU cost/performance and overlocking potential wise for gamers.

[kendo65]

Two weeks ago I decided to order the components for a new build based on the i5-2500K. I read as many reviews as i could find and all agreed that the i7-2600K offered only very marginal improvements in games (a few fps in most cases) - not worth the extra cost in my opinion.

The new B3 boards are now available at retailers. I have ordered an Asus P67 board from Scan.co.uk and expect it to arrive today. (I would really recommend Scan very strongly for UK-based readers - very keen prices, great service and speedy delivery).

Also, with the temporary unavailability of Sandy Bridge motherboards I noticed a price reduction on the 1155 processors - in UK on the Scan site the i5-2500K dropped from around 190 pounds down to 162 - it has since went up to 174, but I expect prices will go up again as the motherboard supply situation is sorted and people start buying components.

I'd also recommend a Sandy Bridge processor over an i7-950 - both for performance reasons, bang per buck and future upgradability.