Budget build, what's better than the i5 2500k?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
S

Shawn Dunmire

Honorable
Sep 25, 2013
155
0
10,690
Hi guys, been looking for a CPU under $200 that's better than the i5 2500k.

Building a budget PC that can play Dark Souls 3, Overwatch, League, Diablo 3.

I often have 40-60 tabs open, but other than that, not a power user.

Any suggestions for me? thanks!
 
Solution
synphul
I think you'd have more options moving forward so long as cpu performance would be so similar. This would be a somewhat budget build going forward with a 6600k. It's around $50 over budget, but thought I'd throw it out there. If just a bit more saving can get you a system a bit better up front it may be worth it if you plan to keep the build for several years with minimal upgrades.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($233.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.95)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($116.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX...
Sort by date Sort by votes
C

CapyWarrior

Commendable
May 23, 2016
158
0
1,760
With a 200 usd budget you have lots of options. I pulled up a quick basic benchmark of some of the faster cpus in your price range and compared them to your current one. Keep in mind that that fx processor can be overclocked at least 0.5ghz if you are so inclined.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

Shawn Dunmire

Honorable
Sep 25, 2013
155
0
10,690


I don't currently have that CPU but I've had it recently in a build I had to get rid of.
The under $200 price point would be just for the CPU. (i'm looking for a total tower build of under $700)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

Shawn Dunmire

Honorable
Sep 25, 2013
155
0
10,690

What did you find :)?

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
J

joex444

Distinguished
Feb 16, 2006
1,279
1
19,960
If you're open to used parts, there are tons of old Xeon CPUs being dumped on eBay from server farms that have been upgraded. Trouble is they're LGA1366 / X59 parts and those boards are now worth a huge premium because of the supply vs demand. If you happened to have an X59, now's the time to either pair it with a cheap Xeon 8-core (16-thread) CPU *or* sell the board for, likely, a profit.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
S

Shawn Dunmire

Honorable
Sep 25, 2013
155
0
10,690


Would picking something cheaper Skylake like the 6400 be better than something a tad faster like the 2500k but has old tech?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Quixit

Quixit

Reputable
Dec 22, 2014
1,359
0
5,960
Picking up a i7-2700K or i7-2600K would be a bit faster and you could use the same board. The best solution for you might just be to keep the 2500k and overclock it. Any half decent cooler should be able to extract a very nice overclock out of a 2500K. I ran one overclocked to 4.4Ghz at stock voltage for years.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
InvalidError

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
May 18, 2007
23,815
5,265
108,890

You get the updated platform, updated architecture, a handful of new instructions, DDR4, PCIe 3.0 lanes on the chipset, native USB3, NVMe, etc.

I think the massively updated platform is well worth "stepping down" from i5-2500k to i5-6600 if you do not already own the i5-2500k. The i5-6400 might be a little too big of a step down when the i5-6500 is only ~$10 more for 500MHz higher base clock and 300MHz higher boost.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

CapyWarrior

Commendable
May 23, 2016
158
0
1,760


Ever write an email and forget the attachment? Here you are: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare.php?cmp%5B%5D=804&cmp%5B%5D=2347&cmp%5B%5D=2234
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
synphul

synphul

Champion
Mar 11, 2011
9,477
7
54,965
I think you'd have more options moving forward so long as cpu performance would be so similar. This would be a somewhat budget build going forward with a 6600k. It's around $50 over budget, but thought I'd throw it out there. If just a bit more saving can get you a system a bit better up front it may be worth it if you plan to keep the build for several years with minimal upgrades.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($233.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.95)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($116.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($178.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Zalman Z3 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case ($42.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($53.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $749.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-27 10:50 EDT-0400

If $700 is a hard budget then $50 could easily be shaved off by moving to an i5 6500, ditching the aftermarket cooler and using the stock cooler (6600k's don't have a stock cooler so aftermarket is necessary) and going with a slightly less expensive h170 board. A skylake i5 based tower is well within your price range.

I wouldn't bother with outdated 8c/16t xeons, the rest of the system can be a bit expensive, core speed tends to be a bit on the low side and 8c/16t is overkill for all but maybe 1 or 2 games (not the norm). Old servers aren't really optimal for gaming, you'd be better off with a newer quad core on a mainstream board.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom