Does this CPU fit in the AsRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3

yes it will

though if you are only gaming the 2500k would be more suitable --and cheaper

if you need the hyperthreading then the 2600k is fine

yes

So if its mainly for gaming, would an i5 2500k be a better choice? Would I notice any drop in performance compared with an i7?

This is the i5 I'm looking at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Sandybridge-i5-2500-Quad-...

If you want to overclock get the K version so 2500k.

For games the 2500k should work as well as the 2600k.

This is because games are not taking advantage of the hyper-threading. Many media programs and 3d rendering programs will, but games, not so much.

if for mainly gaming get the 2500k and a decent aftermarket cooler like a hyper 212--cheap but effective

with the k version and a decent cooler a 4.5ghz overclock will be straightforward

The only 2500k I found was this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Sandybridge-i5-2500K-Quad...

However its only i5. Will there be much difference from the i7 and this i5 in terms of performance for gaming? Also I'm not sure what it means by "unlocked"

Also I have a cooler/heat sink, however I'm not sure what it is as I got it with the pre built Alienware Aurora many years ago and I'm unsure whether it will fit in my case or not.

unlocked means you can overclock it to run much faster with a suitable motherboard

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/Inte...

the old cooler wont fit the motherboard

the link i gave includes the stock heatsink/cooler

Ok, so you mean to say the heatsink/cooler that comes with the i5 core you linked will be good enough and I should use that? As all I see in that link is the cpu

it says retail

that means you get the stock heatsink

if it says oem you dont get the heatsink

the stock heatsink is good for about 4ghz-4.2ghz

the 2500k will do 4.5ghz plus

a decent aftermarket heatsink is needed to go over 4.2ghz really--like this one

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/Other+products/Cool...

ok thanks a lot. Not sure if paying for a better heat sink is worth the hassel if that much extra overclock would affect my performance in any drastic measure.

I hope my PSU of 550 watts will be enough for my build:
Asus nvidia GTX 560 Ti
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz
AsRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 Motherboard
Corsair 8GB of DDR3 RAM 1600 MHz
Corsair 128GB SSD
450 GB HDD

550w is fine for that build

just get a decent psu maker like corsair,seasonic etc

and check your ram is 1.5v not 1.65v

good graphics card no problems there

This is the ram I was going to order:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004CRSM4I/ref=ox_sc...

Can't find any details on if its a 1.5v or 1.65v though. Also the PSU is Antec which I brought from a local PC shop.

says 1.5v on corsairs website

http://www.corsair.com/vengeance-8gb-dual-channel-ddr3-...

if you already have the psu might as well use it--dont think antec are too bad

Ok thank you. My old PC used an i7 Core 2.60GHz and I'm hoping this i5 3.30GHz, 6MB Cache will give either unnoticeable difference in performance while gaming or better.

should be a bit better depending if the game is cpu heavy

i went from the old i7-920 overclocked to 4ghz to the 2600k overclocked to 5ghz

so the newer cpu runs cooler,overclocks more and is faster at stock speed

Thanks for your help. Not tried over clocking but definitely going to try when I get it all set up  

Unlocked and unleashed means you got the ability to overclock the CPU. Squezzing more power out of the CPU. From stock speed of 3.3 GHZ-3.7 GHZ, you can increase up to 5.0 GHZ depending on the Vcore and the cpu cooler(air/liquid). Z68 chipset MB supports Intel SRT(SSD caching), Virtu Lucid(utilizing the iGPU and discrete GPU). When the new Ivy Bridge CPU will come, it is still be compatible with this MB, all you need to do is a BIOS update. Combine it with a decent GPU(nVidia or AMD Radeon), you got a solid and blazing fast PC that will last for at least 2-4 years.

no problem  


just stick to an overclock round the 4.2ghz mark if sticking with the stock heatsink

The extreme3gen3 had holes for LGA775 and LGA1155 heat sinks, so if you have an old high end CPU cooler it will fit this board.