I72600 versus i7960 ????

[cainejo]

Hello,which is better. our family home recently got broken into and our computers were stolen. the insurance company wants to replace them with whatever has the same specs as the old stolen ones. SO MUCH FOR THE TERM NEW FOR OLD. So i wish to build myself a new desktop with the limited money that the insurance company will provide. Pls can someone tell me which i7 is the better one out of the 2600 vrs the 960. Thanks to anyone who can help. Extra info:
ddr3 12gig, 2 sli nvidia cards(1gig each), cooling system??? asus motherboard. cheers

 

[SchizTech]

The 2600 is faster, hands down. It's a second generation i7 while the 960 is a first generation i7, it has a slightly higher clock speed but it's faster at the same clock speed also. You'll need a Socket 1155 motherboard.

 

[SchizTech]

Though if the RAM is 6 sticks of 2 gig you won't be able to use it all with a 2600 since it has a dual-channel memory controller, not triple-channel like the 960 (the board will only have four slots)

 

[DoomsWord89]

I would go with the i7 2600K.

 

[chesteracorgi]

Definitely the i7 2600K, is the better choice. More bang for the buck as well.

This form will help you get better advice:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

The difference between the Intel® Core™ i5-2500 and then Intel Core i7-2600 come down to 2 things. Intel Core i7-2600:
-Hyper-Threading (support for 8 threads)
-100MHz
Intel Core i5-2500:
$100 less
The non-K processors have TXT (Trusted Execution Technology) and VT-d (directed I/O for virtualization). Now if you change to pick up an Intel Core “K” processor like the Intel Core i7-2600K and the Intel Core i5-2500K they are just like the non-k model except for the above listed features and the K processors have Intel HD 3000 graphics and have an unlocked multiplier making it very easy to overclock these processors to well above 4GHz.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

 

[Cory23]

2600 is already stocked faster than the 960. Also it has a more widely range of overclocking if you get the "k" version for about $30 more than the 960 does. So there for the 2600k is the way to go

 

[cainejo]

thank you all for your answers. I was lucky enough to come across an intel s1366 asus rampage iii extreme on the net for quite a good price so opted for that instead. the 2600k after your advice was what i did intend to purchase. thanks again!