I5 2500k OC pre built advice

[maxhollins]

Hi

I’m looking at purchasing a new computer after my Q9300 / 2 GB ddr2 800 MHz / 9800gtx system has decided to start going noisy, slow and unresponsive. I’ve decided to purchase a new system rather than upgrade or self build as the price building seems to be worth it for the warranty. I mainly use my PC for casual gaming, web browsing and web development.

At first I was stuck between the i2500k, Phenom x6 1100t, x4 980 or the new FX (bulldozer) range. But after researching the 2500k seems to be the way to go.

after searching many sites (pc specialist, ebay, cyberpower systems etc) the best system i can find for my price range of around £700 MAX is this from dinopc:

dinopc.com/shop/pc/-b-NEW-b-Alioramus-2500K-OC-4-5Ghz-94p1110.htm

Hoping you guys can help clarify some questions I have though seen as the guy I spoke to at dinopc didn’t have a clue (!!!)

The cpu has been OC to 4.5ghz, how does this effect the turbo mode? Will it still drop down to a lower speed when not needed? If the pc is idle downloading etc it seems a bit pointless to have it burning away at 4.5 GHz?

It costs an extra £10 to upgrade the memory to 1600 from 1333; is this worth it and will it actually work? I’ve read some articles saying the 2500k only works with 1333?

I like the sound of these SSD drives, is it worth the extra money compared to ordinary SATA 2/3 HDD?

And finally is this a good system for the money? Or would i be better of going for one of the amd X6, x4 or FX processors and trying to save some money? Or is there an i5 system else where cheaper any one knows of etc?

Any help appreciated

Thanks Max

 

[rozz]

Now, most of the answers you're gonna get are going to be bias just because of person preference and what people own.. that's just an FYI.

Personally, yes, the extra speed for the little extra price of the 2500K is worth it. It's easy to OC (with after market cooling) and the performance beats many of the i7's.

For 10 extra bucks.. yeah go with the 1333.. thats easy.

I have a 128GB SSD with a 1TB HDD. It is a very nice enhancement of speed and loading having a SSD. Whether it's worth the extra money... thats up to you. I will say though, having a 25second bootup from push button is very niice..

If price is a little tight, look into hybrid drives (half ssd, half hdd) a little cheaper but can get you much more space while delivering good speed still (after a few reboots)

OCing is a very common technique to get the max out of processors.. While usually isnt safe with stock heatsinks, it can be better to OC a processor than to buy a faster processor at more cost. Now, When a CPU is OC'd.. its not going to "burn away" 4.5 Ghz when not in use, it just going to .. well sit there...

You can imaging a CPU being OC'd is like a water hose under pressure.. When the nozzle is open, water is flowing.. Let say we "overclock" our hose, now the hose is shooting 50% more water out the hose at the expense of heat.. but when we arent using the hose, and we shut the nozzle off.. the hose still just sits there.. we arent wasting any water when we arent using it...

Hope this helps

 

[crewton]

The cpu has been OC to 4.5ghz, how does this effect the turbo mode? Will it still drop down to a lower speed when not needed? If the pc is idle downloading etc it seems a bit pointless to have it burning away at 4.5 GHz?

Depends on how they overclock it. If they adjust the base modifier to 45 then it will run at 4.5Ghz the whole time. If they change the turbo modifier to 45 then it will idle at 1.6Ghz and switch to 4.5Ghz when in use.

It costs an extra £10 to upgrade the memory to 1600 from 1333; is this worth it and will it actually work? I’ve read some articles saying the 2500k only works with 1333?

1600 works fine with i5 2500k. Does it also state timings? i.e. I'd probably go with the 1333 if it's cas7 and the 1600 is cas9 but if the 1600 is cas8 then it's the better choice.

I like the sound of these SSD drives, is it worth the extra money compared to ordinary SATA 2/3 HDD?

yes

And finally is this a good system for the money? Or would i be better of going for one of the amd X6, x4 or FX processors and trying to save some money? Or is there an i5 system else where cheaper any one knows of etc?

I'd stick with the 2500k. It's a great CPU and well worth it. You can always save money buy building it yourself but for a prebuilt it's a nice buy.

 

[maxhollins]

Thanks for the fast reply Rozz.

Sorry but do you mean save 10 and go with 1333 or spend 10 and get the 1600? Reads a little confusing.

Ok so it only uses the 4.5ghz that it has been OC'd when required? It still just runs normal but it can go to 4.5 rarther than the stock 3+ghz? Sorry just never really over clocked before

 

[rozz]

i apologize.. yes.. spend the extra 10 and go with the 1600

 

[rozz]

crewton had a better quote than me with:

"Depends on how they overclock it. If they adjust the base modifier to 45 then it will run at 4.5Ghz the whole time. If they change the turbo modifier to 45 then it will idle at 1.6Ghz and switch to 4.5Ghz when in use."

 

[maxhollins]

I better drop them an email and ask them about the base / turbo modifier, thanks for the help on that guys.

Yeah i thought about building it my self but for the little extra it costs for a company to build it i get like a 2 year parts warranty and 3 years labour.

How much would you estimate that type of system to cost building it your self?

 

[crewton]

I'd say £550 to £600 for the parts, but that is basing it off American prices and converting it to pounds but it should still be fairly close.

 

[maxhollins]

Hi guys, this was the response i got regarding the way its overclocked:

The Smart Bundles have the speedstep feature enabled, so as to reduce the clock speed when in idle environments or low processing such as web browsing, facebook, IM etc.

The turbo modifier has been disabled and we clock using higher voltages and higher multipliers than the stock settings.

Is this a safe / good way to do it?

Another question just to clarify something regarding the SSD, if its an 80gb drive i create 2 partitions (20gb + 60gb). The 20gb is for the intel smart response and the 60gb is where i install windows 7 and games etc?

 

[crewton]

I don't think you need to create a seperate partition for your SSD. It will utilize a portion of your SSD for what it needs up to a set amount of memory that you allow it to use.

As for the overclock they are keeping the safety features enabled and using the base clock to overclock your system. I prefer to overclock by disabling the safety functions and overclocking the turbo. Both ways work. I'd ask to see what your vcore is set to. Every chip is different and some take more voltage at 4.5Ghz than others. As long as you are under 1.4V its considered safe.