Intel i7-950 vs i5-2500K vs i7-2600K

I currently own main sig rig with an Intel i7 950 CPU. I'm planning on building a second gaming rig for the kids. Either a i5 2500K or i7 2600K.

I'm wondering should I switch the i7 950 for either of those two?

The i5 2500K seems to be as good i7 2600K for gaming but adds hyper threading for applications at $100 more. Is it really worth it?

Would the i5 2500K be better than the i7 950?

Would the i7 2600K be better than the i7 950?

I'm just not sure. Any suggestions or comments?
 
If you do heavily threaded processes (like video encoding or the like) then I'd say the 2600K is worth it to you. If you rarely do those types of things I'd say build with a 2500K and give the kids the 950. Also, make sure you get a decent aftermarket CPU cooler and once you have everything running stably give it a bit of an OC for a pleasant surprise - this is coming from someone who has been against overclocking for the last few years. I've been more interested in stability than anything else, but there's just no way these chips were not meant for this. Prior to getting a 2600K myself I was on an i7 930 and I really wasn't expecting a performance increase due to several of the things I had read from other people. Turns out there's no way any of these people have spent an extended amount of time with both and come to that conclusion. It's been a very pronounced performance gain after switching to the 2600K for me and I was already using some pretty solid GPUs.
 
Prior to getting a 2600K myself I was on an i7 930 and I really wasn't expecting a performance increase due to several of the things I had read from other people. Turns out there's no way any of these people have spent an extended amount of time with both and come to that conclusion. It's been a very pronounced performance gain after switching to the 2600K for me and I was already using some pretty solid GPUs.

Clock for clock though, I don't think there's much difference between the Bloomfield and Sandybridge processors. It might just be that your i7 2600K has a 600Mhz higher stock clock over the i7 930.

Back on topic, the 2600K would be a waste of money for gaming over the 2500K. Only if you were into hardcore video encoding should you get the 2600K.
 
So between the i7 2600K and i5 2500K there's not much difference unless your doing video encoding?

For graphic performance you think they run on par?

If so the extra $100 not worth it from what I'm hearing you say?

I'm thinking of putting it on an Asus Sabertooth P67 motherboard.

Thanks for the previous reply btw. :thumb:
 
You will notice zero difference betwen those processors when it comes to gaming. The only difference between them is that the 2600K has Hyperthreading but games don't use HT...

Your $100 is much better spent on the graphics card.
 
there is no big difference in gaming performance between i7 2600k and i5 2500, so save $100 for graphics card and go with i5 2500k
 
+1 for the 2500K!

i used the non-K version though, it cannot be overclocked and has worse intel gpu, cause i opt for h67 motherboard. compared to the i7, i feel $100 is better spent on SSD
 
if was given a choice i would go for 2600k. more cores is just better. games developers starting to utilize full potential power of pc. $100 gpu is crap. better to build a good cpu and good gpu.
 
if was given a choice i would go for 2600k. more cores is just better. games developers starting to utilize full potential power of pc. $100 gpu is crap. better to build a good cpu and good gpu.
For this situation, I tend to agree with the other posters.
 
To be honest, at this time, I would just wait for Ivy Bridge. You are looking at better everything for the same cost that Sandy Bridge is now. Since you have a 950, it isn't exactly a rush to update, is it?
 
How old is the kid? 17 or under I'd give him the 2500K. What are they gonna do with 8 cores anyway, you know what I mean? Unless you want to pay another $100 just so they can show off to their friends. He/she/they can always upgrade later.
 
I currently own main sig rig with an Intel i7 950 CPU. I'm planning on building a second gaming rig for the kids. Either a i5 2500K or i7 2600K.

I'm wondering should I switch the i7 950 for either of those two?

The i5 2500K seems to be as good i7 2600K for gaming but adds hyper threading for applications at $100 more. Is it really worth it?

Would the i5 2500K be better than the i7 950?

Would the i7 2600K be better than the i7 950?

I'm just not sure. Any suggestions or comments?

i7 2600k > i5 2500k > i7 950
 
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