I7 or i5 for gaming

[dansgas1000]

i7 2600k + GTX 670 (3x windforce) OR i5 2500k + GTX 680 (MSI or PALIT or PNY)

I will overclock to 4.5GHz the 2500k and the same with 2600k

I will keep CPU for at least 2.5-3Yrs.

I use google sketchup but too often.

 

[yehia7000]

i5 2500k + GTX 680 is better than the i7 deal ,you wont see any difference in gaming yhe difference between i5 and i7 is multitasking performance and rendering performance , if you use multitasking i7 is better deal than i5 . check out this : http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/287?vs=288 ,
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/555?vs=598

 

[antonisrsx]

i7 and i5 will perform the same in gaming. gtx 680 is a little bit better than gtx 670 but if the price difference between the GPUS is 100dollars i suggest you to save the 100 dollars and get a cooler for your cpu or get an ssd or get a good quality PSU. my vote is i5 2500k+gtx 670

 

[merandos]

Go for the i5+680 no doubt.....you really don't need an i7 for gaming, and the 'K' Version of the i5 lets you overclock it whenever you feel you need more....just as simple as it is........

 

[yehia7000]

merandos is right

 

[geofelt]

Few games use more than 2 or 3 cores. The extra hyperthreads of the 2600K will go largely unused. That is why the 2500K, or 3570K at $100 less is the better option for gamers. Either cpu will OC to about the same level as the non HT versions.

The GTX670 sems to be a much better buy today than the GTX68o which costs $100 more.

How high you can OC is determined by your particular chip sample, and the quality of your cpu cooler.
A 2500K @4.5 is not unreasonable, but it is not certain.
Similarly a 3570K @4.3 is also reasonable. Why buy the 3570K? It is because the ivy bridge architecture makes it about 5% faster, clock for clock.

For gaming, once you get past 4.0 you can run anything well, and the graphics card will be your limiting factor.

My suggestion is to save $100 and gat a 3570K.
Save another $100 and get a EVGA GTX670FTW.
Use the $200 saved on a SSD for the os and some games.

 

[dansgas1000]

Thanks to everyone and also geofelt

 

[bobbybamf12]

Everyone is pretty much correct and geofelt was very spot on. Just to add i read this on an article that the 3570k doesn't overclock as high as the 2500k but like geofelt stated that the ipc is better on the ivy bridge cpu so over the ivy bridge may still be the faster cpu either way.

 

[nna2]

Everyone is pretty much correct and geofelt was very spot on. Just to add i read this on an article that the 3570k doesn't overclock as high as the 2500k but like geofelt stated that the ipc is better on the ivy bridge cpu so over the ivy bridge may still be the faster cpu either way.

i saw an article on here stating that they could be overclocked to the same levels as eachother though

 

[amuffin]

IB chips can be overclocked higher, they have a higher multiplier.

However, they run much hotter.

 

[FlintIronStagg]

IB chips can be overclocked higher, they have a higher multiplier.

However, they run much hotter.

+1
Although you may see a 4.5 overclock on ivy as well as sandy, sandy will do so with a 60c max as opposed to mid 70c range.
Imo 2500k and dont look back

 

[bobbybamf12]

i saw an article on here stating that they could be overclocked to the same levels as eachother though

Yeah i may be wrong. I read it during the release so it may of just been a bad article I can't even remember the site i just google the i5 3570k overclock ability and just read the first article but people has pointed out that the new i5 does run hotter so i may has misread the article but even if its run hotter a good cooler will make up the difference.

so i5 3570k it is then!