Think Again If You Plan To Build (Gaming Rig)?

[Alyus]

I am new to computer technology and would like to hear your opinions if gamers should wait for the i5 3750k (April), the equivalent of a i5 2500k.

"Currently, the champion for building gaming pc’s is Intel’s i5-2500k. There is little advantage to the i7-2600k over the i5-2500k due to the lack of support in video games for more than 4 CPU threads. The Ivy Bridge equivalent to the i5-2500k looks to be the i5-3750K (ref) -

4 core CPU with no hyper-threading, running at 3.4 GHZ Turbo of 3.8 GHZ, 6 MB L3 Cache at 77W for $225.

This compares to the i5-2500k:

4 core CPU with no hyper-threading, running at 3.3 GHZ Turbo at 3.7 GHZ, 6MB L3 Cache at 95W for $215.

So the immediate advantages we can see are a slight improvement in GHZ, and less power consumption (which typically translates into greater OC capability). We don’t yet know if the improvements of Ivy Bridge over Sandy Bridge make it worth the jump from an i5-2500k to an i5-3750k – that assessment will come following benchmarking tests around release. We do know that Intel has claimed the Ivy Bridge CPUs internal GPU support has been boosted by 70% over the Sandy Bridge – what we don’t know is exactly how this translates into noticeable game performance." -buildagamingpc.org

 

[diellur]

If you're looking to do a CPU upgrade in the next few months then yes, by all means, wait. However, you're not going to lose out by going with a Sandybridge system now. You can quite easily overclock the i5-2500K to 4.5GHz off the bat, which is excessively fast to run any game currently on the market. If an equivalent Ivybridge CPU could go to 5.0GHz, for argument's sake, then apart from the '5.0GHz pwns' factor, it's probably not going to make a hugely discernible difference when you're gaming away.

 

[Alyus]

If you're looking to do a CPU upgrade in the next few months then yes, by all means, wait. However, you're not going to lose out by going with a Sandybridge system now. You can quite easily overclock the i5-2500K to 4.5GHz off the bat, which is excessively fast to run any game currently on the market. If an equivalent Ivybridge CPU could go to 5.0GHz, for argument's sake, then apart from the '5.0GHz pwns' factor, it's probably not going to make a hugely discernible difference when you're gaming away.

Well, the power consumption will be reduced by 18W, meaning better OC ability, and the prices should be, if I researched it right, the same. The i5 3750k should cost around $229.

 

[rage33]

you'll be completely satisfied with the i5 2500k, the differences between the two IMO will only be noticed through synthetic benchmarks. And as diellur stated the i5 2500K can overclock very well and will give you all the gaming performance you will need for years to come.

 

[Youngmind]

You'll want to upgrade with the next generation since it is the "tock" of the roadmap.

 

[Alyus]

you'll be completely satisfied with the i5 2500k, the differences between the two IMO will only be noticed through synthetic benchmarks. And as diellur stated the i5 2500K can overclock very well and will give you all the gaming performance you will need for years to come.

I've decided to wait up to three months. HD 7970s may be cheaper and who knows how much i5 2500k prices will drop when IB is released so they can be compared hands on.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

the problem with CPU's at the moment is that prices have been stagnant for many many months. I have been expecting that they would drop, but with AMD's poor performance, Intel has no need to drop prices in the upper end, let alone release a new CPU. If you can wait for IB, then wait, but dont expect price drops of the i5 2500k.

 

[Alyus]

Best answer selected by Alyus.