3570K + 2500K. Gaming CPU?

[sk-jb93]

Hi All,

From what ive read, the 3570K and the 2500K are the pretty much the best CPU's out there for gaming.

And I will be doing a new build soon purely for gaming and I was wondering if this correct and if not, what is the best CPU for gaming which isnt much more than the price of either of the CPU's mentioned.

Thanks

 

[jaguarskx]

Generally speaking the 2500k can OC higher than the 3750k. I believe the typical max OC for the 2500k is about 4.8GHz but there have been some people who pushed it to 5.0GHz or slightly higher. The 3750K typically maxes out at 4.5GHz; however, given the same clock speed the 3750k is about 4% more processing power than the 2500k. In some apps the gain is almost a high as 10%.

The biggest difference is that when using a 2500k in a H77, Q77 or Z77 chipset motherboard any PCI-3.0 card will operate as a PCI-2.0 card. No big deal right now since there isn't a PCI-e 3.0 card that can max out a PCI-e 2.0 slot. In 2 or 3 years it will likely be different. Even then it will only be the very high performance cards that will max out a PCI-e 2.0 slot.

 

[sk-jb93]

I agree with everything there but I've also read that the 3570K also has a lower power consumption (when it isnt overclocked, not sure while its overclocked) and becuase theres a high chance that i WONT be overclocking, Ive kinda gone towards the 3570K. do you think that its a wise decision?

 

[Orlean]

Pick up a 3570k, you won't be disappointed.

 

[jaguarskx]

I think the 3570k uses around 10w - 15w less than the 2500k.

If you are not going to overclock, then there's no reason to buy a "k" i5 CPU. You might as well consider the i5-3550 which is only 100MHz slower than the 3570K (not very significant) and costs $30 less.

 

[evan1715]

if ur not going to overclock than u should probably get something cheaper that will do the same thing.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116506
the 3450 is only $200.

 

[blazorthon]

If there is a chance that you might overclock, the 3570K might seem like something that you want, just in case. However, don't be discouraged by the cheaper i5s. They can still be overclocked by 20% to 35% or so through Turbo Core manipulation, so if you ever want to overclock, even those cheap Ivy i5s can get you a moderate overclock. Go for the 3450 or 3550.

EDIT: I had a typo where I said 435%, it should have said 35% and I've fixed it now.