Intel Core i5-2500K and required Chipsets-confusing!

[Kreelor]

Here's the blurb about the Intel Core i5-2500K (which I copied from Newegg).

"Fully Unlocked Flexibility and Freedom
With its fully unlocked multiplier, the Intel Core i5-2500K processor allows full control over the processor core/turbo and DDR3 ratios as well as power and current limits for the best possible overclocking results. It also allows for processor graphics overclocking for improved 3D performance. Intel’s cutting-edge 32nm micro-architecture with 2nd gen Hi-K+ metal gate process delivers the 2nd generation Intel Core processors with higher performance at lower power, thus better overclocking capability. (Intel P67 Express Chipset required for core and memory overclocking, and Intel H67 Express Chipset required for graphics overclocking.)"

I have underlined the part that is confusing to me (above). Obviously, I want those 'Chipsets," but I have no idea if they are options to a different version of the I5"K" CPU, or if they are related to motherboards. In other words, how do I know I either have them, or... get them?

Will someone please explain this to me (since the author of that article just "tossed that comment in, without explanation"? Most of you will understand it, but I do not.

 

[EDVINASM]

Here's the blurb about the Intel Core i5-2500K (which I copied from Newegg).

"Fully Unlocked Flexibility and Freedom
With its fully unlocked multiplier, the Intel Core i5-2500K processor allows full control over the processor core/turbo and DDR3 ratios as well as power and current limits for the best possible overclocking results. It also allows for processor graphics overclocking for improved 3D performance. Intel’s cutting-edge 32nm micro-architecture with 2nd gen Hi-K+ metal gate process delivers the 2nd generation Intel Core processors with higher performance at lower power, thus better overclocking capability. (Intel P67 Express Chipset required for core and memory overclocking, and Intel H67 Express Chipset required for graphics overclocking.)"

I have underlined the part that is confusing to me (above). Obviously, I want those 'Chipsets," but I have no idea if they are options to a different version of the I5"K" CPU, or if they are related to motherboards. In other words, how do I know I either have them, or... get them?

Will someone please explain this to me (since the author of that article just "tossed that comment in, without explanation"? Most of you will understand it, but I do not.

That's just an old sentence from a year or so back. Now that the Z68 is released it will solve any of your issues since it is P67 and H61 combined. Basically it has all you might need to use 2500k. SmartResponse, Memory OC, GPU OC, CPU OC, onboard Intel GPU etc. Just make sure you have a decent mobo such as ASUS P8Z68 V-Pro.

 

[EDVINASM]

Apologies for the mistake, it's P67 and H67 combined. Z68 is what it should've been all along. H67 was released for onboard GPU but no OC and P67 was with OC capabilities etc. but no onboard GPU. Z68 have both plus LucidVirtu for switching and other extras.

 

[Toxxyc]

The chipset in question here refers to the chipset on the motherboard you're going to be installing the i5-2500K on. This is easily visible when looking at the motherboards - you get either H, P or Z class chipsets, all with different focuses and applications. You get all kinds, and it doesn't have to be confusing at all when you take apart the name of the motherboard. Let me demonstrate:

This motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138338 is called the BIOSTAR H61MHB. It means nothing to you, until you take it apart. The "H61" part indicates it sport the Intel H61 chipset (H-series, basic model). Furthermore, the "M" may indicate it's form factor, which is Micro-ATX. HB will be a code to identify the specific features and add-ons the motherboard may feature. Let's do another one:

This one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131771 is the Asus P8P67 Pro motherboard. "P8" indicates the Asus series number, the next ones released will probably be "P9" or something. "P67" indicates the chipset, which is the Intel P-series flagship, the P67. "Pro" indicates the features the motherboard has, which is quite a lot. Coincidentally, this is one of the most recommended motherboards for the Intel Core i5-2500K currently on the market. One more:

This monster: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128506 is the Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3P. "GA" indicates Gigabyte's motherboards. "Z68" indicates the chipset, Z-series flagship (awesome chipset). The rest, "XP-UD3P" indicates features, add-ons and extras. This motherboard is a beast.

I hope this helps a bit in identifying the chipset on the motherboard you're looking at. Take note that this only covers the LGA1155 motherboards, not the older ones, but the same rules apply to all!

 

[inanition02]

+1, good explanation.

The idea behind the whole thing was that if you were likely to OC the proc, you probably didn't want the onboard GPU (since you'd likely have a card) - so they made P67 chipsets for those people. P67 could OC unlocked k-series chips, but had no onboard graphics. For those that wanted onboard graphics, they made the H67 chipset, which was aimed at the mainstream non-gamers. Because of that, it had no ability to overclock.

But the onboard GPU is the key to using QuickSync to quickly transcode videos - so the enthusiast crowd wanted that too. So they put them together in Z68 - overclocking and onboard GPU.

 

[Kreelor]

That's just an old sentence from a year or so back. Now that the Z68 is released it will solve any of your issues since it is P67 and H61 combined. Basically it has all you might need to use 2500k. SmartResponse, Memory OC, GPU OC, CPU OC, onboard Intel GPU etc. Just make sure you have a decent mobo such as ASUS P8Z68 V-Pro.

Thanks for replying! So, (in reference to your comment about "Z68"), are you referring to something on a motherboard (like a socket-type)? If so, then almost any motherboard I choose, should have that; it will then work fine with the CPU I'm considering. Right? If I'm wrong, then please explain further, if you don't mind. Thanks again!

 

[jaguarskx]

If you are buying the i5-2500k then you want either the P67 chipset or the Z68 chipset. Both will give you the ability to overclock the CPU because those two chipsets allows you to change the core multiplier. The H67 chipset is not meant to overclock the CPU. While it may allow you to overclock the integrated graphics core (Intel HD 3000), most people who buy an i5-2500k also buy a graphics card.

The P67 does not give you the option to use the Intel HD 3000 graphics core at all. Those motherboards do not come with any DVI, HDMI or VGA ports which is why you must install your own video card. But like I said, it gives you better options to overclock which is what you want.

The Z68 chipset is sort of like a combination of the H67 and P67 chipsets. It does allow you to use the Intel HD 3000 graphics core if you choose to and it has options to overclock the i5-2500k. If you install a video card and it dies later on then you can at least switch the Intel HD 3000 to at least watch a movie or surf the net to order a new video card. Naturally the Z68 comes with the appropriate DVI, HDMI, and VGA ports (similar to the H67) so you can connect it to the monitor.

Features that the Z68 has which the P67 doesn't:

1. You can use the Intel HD 3000 graphics core as explained above.

2. Quick Sync - This is a feature most people will likely not use. This is for video encoding purposes and it do video encoding extremely fast. It uses features in the Intel HD 3000 graphics core to decrease the time it takes to encode video. From some benchmarks I have seen the decrease in time is pretty impressive. But, the video quality is only mediocre. This is a feature I would not bother using (I encode movies from time to time).

3. SSD Caching - This feature requires that you have a SSD (solid state) drive. It turns your SSD drive into an intermediary between the RAM and the HDD. It takes data chunks of the most often used programs and stores them on the SSD, to be referenced by the system – this drastically reduces loading times of often used programs. In essence, this gives you the loading performance of having programs installed on an SSD, without the need to purchase a much larger SSD to accomplish this.

 

[jaguarskx]

The Intel HD 3000 is only as powerful as a Radeon HD 5450 so it isn't really meant for playing games. But it should handle some old games from 2005 or before pretty well.

 

[EDVINASM]

Thanks for replying! So, (in reference to your comment about "Z68"), are you referring to something on a motherboard (like a socket-type)? If so, then almost any motherboard I choose, should have that; it will then work fine with the CPU I'm considering. Right? If I'm wrong, then please explain further, if you don't mind. Thanks again!

Yes, if you go with the Z68 chipset, all motherboards with this chipset will accept your 2500k CPU (it's LGA1155 socket technically). Just don't go for very low end motherboards (price wise visible, cheap is cheap) as you might not be able to overclock by much and your future expansion would be limited. Some motherboards have this "Gen 3" sticker, go for it. This means future LGA1155 CPUs will be supported. In case you decide to change your 2500k for something faster (I wouldn't worry too much though).

 

[13thmonkey]

2. Quick Sync - This is a feature most people will likely not use. This is for video encoding purposes and it do video encoding extremely fast. It uses features in the Intel HD 3000 graphics core to decrease the time it takes to encode video. From some benchmarks I have seen the decrease in time is pretty impressive. But, the video quality is only mediocre. This is a feature I would not bother using (I encode movies from time to time).

I think that toms did a compression/recoding comparison, of cpu, quicksync and gpu coding. CPU and Quicksync visually were identical, whilst the gpu coding carried an image quality penalty.

 

[jaguarskx]

I think that toms did a compression/recoding comparison, of cpu, quicksync and gpu coding. CPU and Quicksync visually were identical, whilst the gpu coding carried an image quality penalty.

I don't believe the video quality was identical. Not sure if I read THG's review of it, but based on reading various reviews Quick Sync's output is not a good as using a program like Handbrake to encode video. Perhaps for the average person the difference in video quality is small especially in light of the decrease in encoding time, but it is something I personally would not bother using since I like my encoded videos to be high quality.

It doesn't make a difference for me anyway since I am not planning on upgrading my Q9450 until Haswell comes out. But perhaps the Intel graphics core in Haswell CPUs will address the video quality issue.

 

[13thmonkey]

Apparently it also depends on the software being used not just the method, and you are right I think, generally cpu > quicksync > gpu

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/video-transcoding-amd-app-nvidia-cuda-intel-quicksync,review-32110-9.html
yay toms search function worked

 

[Kreelor]

If you are buying the i5-2500k then you want either the P67 chipset or the Z68 chipset. Both will give you the ability to overclock the CPU because those two chipsets allows you to change the core multiplier. The H67 chipset is not meant to overclock the CPU. While it may allow you to overclock the integrated graphics core (Intel HD 3000), most people who buy an i5-2500k also buy a graphics card.

The P67 does not give you the option to use the Intel HD 3000 graphics core at all. Those motherboards do not come with any DVI, HDMI or VGA ports which is why you must install your own video card. But like I said, it gives you better options to overclock which is what you want.

The Z68 chipset is sort of like a combination of the H67 and P67 chipsets. It does allow you to use the Intel HD 3000 graphics core if you choose to and it has options to overclock the i5-2500k. If you install a video card and it dies later on then you can at least switch the Intel HD 3000 to at least watch a movie or surf the net to order a new video card. Naturally the Z68 comes with the appropriate DVI, HDMI, and VGA ports (similar to the H67) so you can connect it to the monitor.

Features that the Z68 has which the P67 doesn't:

1. You can use the Intel HD 3000 graphics core as explained above.

2. Quick Sync - This is a feature most people will likely not use. This is for video encoding purposes and it do video encoding extremely fast. It uses features in the Intel HD 3000 graphics core to decrease the time it takes to encode video. From some benchmarks I have seen the decrease in time is pretty impressive. But, the video quality is only mediocre. This is a feature I would not bother using (I encode movies from time to time).

3. SSD Caching - This feature requires that you have a SSD (solid state) drive. It turns your SSD drive into an intermediary between the RAM and the HDD. It takes data chunks of the most often used programs and stores them on the SSD, to be referenced by the system – this drastically reduces loading times of often used programs. In essence, this gives you the loading performance of having programs installed on an SSD, without the need to purchase a much larger SSD to accomplish this.

Everyone has given great, informative answers. It will be very difficult to pick a 'best answer!'

Jaguarskx, although this was not included in my original topic, you said something that is very important to me.

The Z68 chipset is sort of like a combination of the H67 and P67 chipsets. It does allow you to use the Intel HD 3000 graphics core if you choose to and it has options to overclock the i5-2500k. If you install a video card and it dies later on then you can at least switch the Intel HD 3000 to at least watch a movie or surf the net to order a new video card. Naturally the Z68 comes with the appropriate DVI, HDMI, and VGA ports (similar to the H67) so you can connect it to the monitor.

I really like the idea of having video output, even if my external video cards goes "Poof!" - At least, I could then get online to order a new one, or even troubleshoot my system. I have a HDMI/DVI monitor, so that's important to me.

Now, I suppose I'll have to begin (again!) looking for the best, affordable (under $200) Z68 motherboard, with quality capacitors, components, ports, etc. --- I do video editing, as well as playing games with demanding graphic requirements.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[EDVINASM]

Everyone has given great, informative answers. It will be very difficult to pick a 'best answer!'

Jaguarskx, although this was not included in my original topic, you said something that is very important to me.

The Z68 chipset is sort of like a combination of the H67 and P67 chipsets. It does allow you to use the Intel HD 3000 graphics core if you choose to and it has options to overclock the i5-2500k. If you install a video card and it dies later on then you can at least switch the Intel HD 3000 to at least watch a movie or surf the net to order a new video card. Naturally the Z68 comes with the appropriate DVI, HDMI, and VGA ports (similar to the H67) so you can connect it to the monitor.

I really like the idea of having video output, even if my external video cards goes "Poof!" - At least, I could then get online to order a new one, or even troubleshoot my system. I have a HDMI/DVI monitor, so that's important to me.

Now, I suppose I'll have to begin (again!) looking for the best, affordable (under $200) Z68 motherboard, with quality capacitors, components, ports, etc. --- I do video editing, as well as playing games with demanding graphic requirements.

Thanks for your reply!

You're wellcome. All the best in your build! You can always post your build here for a quick pre-purchase review and headsup.

 

[Kreelor]

The chipset in question here refers to the chipset on the motherboard you're going to be installing the i5-2500K on. This is easily visible when looking at the motherboards - you get either H, P or Z class chipsets, all with different focuses and applications. You get all kinds, and it doesn't have to be confusing at all when you take apart the name of the motherboard. Let me demonstrate:

This motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138338 is called the BIOSTAR H61MHB. It means nothing to you, until you take it apart. The "H61" part indicates it sport the Intel H61 chipset (H-series, basic model). Furthermore, the "M" may indicate it's form factor, which is Micro-ATX. HB will be a code to identify the specific features and add-ons the motherboard may feature. Let's do another one:

This one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131771 is the Asus P8P67 Pro motherboard. "P8" indicates the Asus series number, the next ones released will probably be "P9" or something. "P67" indicates the chipset, which is the Intel P-series flagship, the P67. "Pro" indicates the features the motherboard has, which is quite a lot. Coincidentally, this is one of the most recommended motherboards for the Intel Core i5-2500K currently on the market. One more:

This monster: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128506 is the Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3P. "GA" indicates Gigabyte's motherboards. "Z68" indicates the chipset, Z-series flagship (awesome chipset). The rest, "XP-UD3P" indicates features, add-ons and extras. This motherboard is a beast.

I hope this helps a bit in identifying the chipset on the motherboard you're looking at. Take note that this only covers the LGA1155 motherboards, not the older ones, but the same rules apply to all!

Toxxyc, I really like this reply from you. I like the information and the way you explained with examples. I have always preferred Asus motherboards. I don't know much about others, like Gigabyte, etc. So, let me ask you; does Asus offer a Z68 type of motherboard, or not? The Z68 seems to be the better choice for me, based upon other comments I've read here.

 

[EDVINASM]

Asus offers a range of Z68 depending on your needs. For your budget I would go for:
ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Gen3 (very capable motherboard, don't be thrown away by the looks alone; had one, superb)
ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z (would go for that if had budget; though it's micro ATX, you might like smt bigger)

 

[Kreelor]

Asus offers a range of Z68 depending on your needs. For your budget I would go for:
ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Gen3 (very capable motherboard, don't be thrown away by the looks alone; had one, superb)
ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z (would go for that if had budget; though it's micro ATX, you might like smt bigger)

Thanks! That's good to know!

I looked at both MB's on newegg. Actually, the "...Gene-Z" was cheaper than the "...Pro Gen3" board. But, I agree with you; I prefer not to get a micro-ATX board.

Nice of you to reply. Thanks!

 

[EDVINASM]

Thanks! That's good to know!

I looked at both MB's on newegg. Actually, the "...Gene-Z" was cheaper than the "...Pro Gen3" board. But, I agree with you; I prefer not to get a micro-ATX board.

Nice of you to reply. Thanks!

No probs. Both boards are very capable of delivering all you need from Z68.

Good luck!

 

[Kreelor]

Best answer selected by Kreelor.