i3 to i5

[Spar916]

Hi everyone. I currently have an i3-3220 installed in my PC. It's not a bad CPU but I'd like something a bit faster with more cores. I'm thinking about buying either an i5-2500k or an i5-3570. I'm not sure which one of these I should get, as a friend of mine said that the difference wouldn't be big since I could just overlock the 2500k. Price difference isn't huge but I'd prefer to save the money.

I may as well mention that the new CPU will be paired with a GTX760.

Thanks for help!

Little edit: My motherboard is an Asus P8B75, does it support overlocking?

 

[captaincharisma]

there would be little difference between the 2 but the 2500K may may have the edge if the 3570 isn't the K version .i had the 3570K in an old build which has great performance until the motherboard died.. just make sure you have the latest BIOS installed on your motherboard before upgrading the CPU

 

[Lucky_SLS]

to overclock that 2600k u need a z series mobo. if ur mobo is z series go for 2600k otherwise go for 3570

 

[mason-the-deathbat]

I'd recommend a locked i7 over an unlocked i5 if you play modern CPU demanding titles, even locked the i7 may be able to overtake the i5.

 

[LucoTF]

I would go straight for an i7 2600 or 3770 and get the maximum life extension for that old motherboard

 

[faalin]

You cant overclock on that motherboard so getting a K series cpu is pointless. Like lucoTF said get a i7 3770 to get the most out of the board.

Also make sure you have the latest bios for the board before moving from a gen2 to gen3 cpu.

Edit..... only get a K series if it is actually cheaper then a non k.

 

[Spar916]

You cant overclock on that motherboard so getting a K series cpu is pointless. Like lucoTF said get a i7 3770 to get the most out of the board.

Also make sure you have the latest bios for the board before moving from a gen2 to gen3 cpu.

Edit..... only get a K series if it is actually cheaper then a non k.

3770 is a bit out of my price range. But also as luco said would an i7 2600 be good enough?

 

[mason-the-deathbat]

You cant overclock on that motherboard so getting a K series cpu is pointless. Like lucoTF said get a i7 3770 to get the most out of the board.

Also make sure you have the latest bios for the board before moving from a gen2 to gen3 cpu.

Edit..... only get a K series if it is actually cheaper then a non k.

3770 is a bit out of my price range. But also as luco said would an i7 2600 be good enough?

It would be just fine. the diff is only about 10% anyway

 

[Tom Tancredi]

Hi everyone. I currently have an i3-3220 installed in my PC. It's not a bad CPU but I'd like something a bit faster with more cores. I'm thinking about buying either an i5-2500k or an i5-3570. I'm not sure which one of these I should get, as a friend of mine said that the difference wouldn't be big since I could just overlock the 2500k. Price difference isn't huge but I'd prefer to save the money.

I may as well mention that the new CPU will be paired with a GTX760.

Thanks for help!

Little edit: My motherboard is an Asus P8B75, does it support overlocking?

Replace just CPU:
You should also note THREE IMPORTANT issues;
1) Does the PSU contain enough power to deliver for a heavier demand the new CPU will do?
2) Do you have the proper cooling (CPU Fan, etc.) for the heavier amount of heat being created from a higher end processor?
3) >> MOST IMPORTANT << - Is this a OEM (Dell, HP, etc.) PC your upgrading? If so Windows will no longer work, will not reinstall, repair, etc. Because the copy of Windows you have is for THAT CPU/Mobo model computer ONLY, and you would violate the OEM License. You would have to buy a 'from the store' copy of Windows, then WIPE your drive, and do a clean reinstall of Windows and everything else.

 

[Spar916]

Hi everyone. I currently have an i3-3220 installed in my PC. It's not a bad CPU but I'd like something a bit faster with more cores. I'm thinking about buying either an i5-2500k or an i5-3570. I'm not sure which one of these I should get, as a friend of mine said that the difference wouldn't be big since I could just overlock the 2500k. Price difference isn't huge but I'd prefer to save the money.

I may as well mention that the new CPU will be paired with a GTX760.

Thanks for help!

Little edit: My motherboard is an Asus P8B75, does it support overlocking?

Replace just CPU:
You should also note THREE IMPORTANT issues;
1) Does the PSU contain enough power to deliver for a heavier demand the new CPU will do?
2) Do you have the proper cooling (CPU Fan, etc.) for the heavier amount of heat being created from a higher end processor?
3) >> MOST IMPORTANT << - Is this a OEM (Dell, HP, etc.) PC your upgrading? If so Windows will no longer work, will not reinstall, repair, etc. Because the copy of Windows you have is for THAT CPU/Mobo model computer ONLY, and you would violate the OEM License. You would have to buy a 'from the store' copy of Windows, then WIPE your drive, and do a clean reinstall of Windows and everything else.

1. I have a 600W PSU, think that's enough, not sure though.
2. I don't, but the guy I'm buying from promised me one.
3. It is not. I built it piece by piece, only replacing graphic cards as years passed. Also I got Windows 10, got it by upgrading for free from Windows 7.

 

[LucoTF]

600w is plenty, new cooler sounds promising

 

[Spar916]

600w is plenty, new cooler sounds promising

I just called the guy and he said he won't be able to provide the cooler at all. Sucks, so I wonder, is there a cooler you could recommend?

 

[captaincharisma]

600w is plenty, new cooler sounds promising

I just called the guy and he said he won't be able to provide the cooler at all. Sucks, so I wonder, is there a cooler you could recommend?

i assume your using the stock cooler already on your 3rd gen I3 right now and if you are that should be fine especially if you downgrade from a 3rd to 2nd gen CPU

 

[Solandri]

Hi everyone. I currently have an i3-3220 installed in my PC. It's not a bad CPU but I'd like something a bit faster with more cores. I'm thinking about buying either an i5-2500k or an i5-3570. I'm not sure which one of these I should get, as a friend of mine said that the difference wouldn't be big since I could just overlock the 2500k. Price difference isn't huge but I'd prefer to save the money.

The 2500k is Sandy Bridge. The 3570 is Ivy Bridge. There is practically no performance difference between these two generations. Ivy Bridge is just Sandy Bridge shrunk down from 32nm lithography to 22nm. So the biggest differences are Ivy Bridge uses less power (95W TDP vs 77W TDP for the two CPUs you've listed), and it has a better integrated GPU (which was completely redesigned). Since you're using a discrete GPU, the integrated GPU is irrelevant. There are a smattering of small things they changed as well (e.g. better random number generator).

So it pretty much boils down to price and your system's power consumption. If you can get the i5-2xxx or i7-2xxx for significantly cheaper than the i5 or i7 -3xxx, and your'e ok with the extra power consumption and heat it'll generate, then just get the Sandy Bridge. (Be careful to compare turbo clock speed, not base clock speed. Ivy Bridge's lower power consumption gave it more room to turbo boost. So the i5-2500k with a base 3.3 GHz would turbo by 100, 200, 300, 400 MHz on 4, 3, 2, or 1 core. But the i5-3570 with a base 3.4 Ghz would turbo to 200, 300, 400, 400 MHz on 4, 3, 2, or 1 core. So on multiple cores the 3570 actually has about a 6% clock speed advantage, not 3% as its base clock speed implies. The i5-3470 is actually more comparable to the i5-2500k.)

*** Please note that if you use the computer a lot (say, 4-8 hrs/day), the cost of the extra electricity you burn with Sandy Bridge can easily add up to $10-$40 over 3-5 years. So the more expensive Ivy Bridge may be cheaper in the long run. ***

As for i5 vs i7, the hyperthreading in the i7 makes a significant difference only in a video rendering, data compression, and a handful of games. So unless the price difference is very small, I wouldn't bother with an i7. Save the money for your next complete system upgrade. One caveat is that in these generations, Intel only gave the i5 6MB of L3 cache, while it gave the i7 8MB of L3 cache. So even with hyperthreading disabled, the i7 will slightly outperform an i5 at the same clock speed. So you should probably add about 5%-10% to the i7's clock speed to account for this when comparing prices.

 

[LucoTF]

Any cheap cooler would do, like the coolermaster hyper tx3, raijintek aidos, or even just a cheap zalman or arctic

 

[Spar916]

Hi everyone. I currently have an i3-3220 installed in my PC. It's not a bad CPU but I'd like something a bit faster with more cores. I'm thinking about buying either an i5-2500k or an i5-3570. I'm not sure which one of these I should get, as a friend of mine said that the difference wouldn't be big since I could just overlock the 2500k. Price difference isn't huge but I'd prefer to save the money.

The 2500k is Sandy Bridge. The 3570 is Ivy Bridge. There is practically no performance difference between these two generations. Ivy Bridge is just Sandy Bridge shrunk down from 32nm lithography to 22nm. So the biggest differences are Ivy Bridge uses less power (95W TDP vs 77W TDP for the two CPUs you've listed), and it has a better integrated GPU (which was completely redesigned). Since you're using a discrete GPU, the integrated GPU is irrelevant. There are a smattering of small things they changed as well (e.g. better random number generator).

So it pretty much boils down to price and your system's power consumption. If you can get the i5-2xxx or i7-2xxx for significantly cheaper than the i5 or i7 -3xxx, and your'e ok with the extra power consumption and heat it'll generate, then just get the Sandy Bridge. (Be careful to compare turbo clock speed, not base clock speed. Ivy Bridge's lower power consumption gave it more room to turbo boost. So the i5-2500k with a base 3.3 GHz would turbo by 100, 200, 300, 400 MHz on 4, 3, 2, or 1 core. But the i5-3570 with a base 3.4 Ghz would turbo to 200, 300, 400, 400 MHz on 4, 3, 2, or 1 core. So on multiple cores the 3570 actually has about a 6% clock speed advantage, not 3% as its base clock speed implies. The i5-3470 is actually more comparable to the i5-2500k.)

*** Please note that if you use the computer a lot (say, 4-8 hrs/day), the cost of the extra electricity you burn with Sandy Bridge can easily add up to $10-$40 over 3-5 years. So the more expensive Ivy Bridge may be cheaper in the long run. ***

As for i5 vs i7, the hyperthreading in the i7 makes a significant difference only in a video rendering, data compression, and a handful of games. So unless the price difference is very small, I wouldn't bother with an i7. Save the money for your next complete system upgrade. One caveat is that in these generations, Intel only gave the i5 6MB of L3 cache, while it gave the i7 8MB of L3 cache. So even with hyperthreading disabled, the i7 will slightly outperform an i5 at the same clock speed. So you should probably add about 5%-10% to the i7's clock speed to account for this when comparing prices.

Thanks for your advice, appreciate it. As I see it, I might just stick with the 2500k, or even the 3570 if there's not a huge difference in performance, because getting an i7 2600 would be slightly more expensive than the two i5's.

 

[mason-the-deathbat]

I would get the i7, unless you don't play games like Deus Ex lol

 

[Spar916]

I would get the i7, unless you don't play games like Deus Ex lol

Not really. I mainly play csgo, gta 5 here and there and some other games like witcher 3.

 

[mason-the-deathbat]

I would get the i7, unless you don't play games like Deus Ex lol

Not really. I mainly play csgo, gta 5 here and there and some other games like witcher 3.

yeah, GTA V seems to have an issue with i5s tho

 

[Spar916]

I would get the i7, unless you don't play games like Deus Ex lol

Not really. I mainly play csgo, gta 5 here and there and some other games like witcher 3.

yeah, GTA V seems to have an issue with i5s tho

You mean it runs poorly on i5's or is there an actual issue?

 

[mason-the-deathbat]

I would get the i7, unless you don't play games like Deus Ex lol

Not really. I mainly play csgo, gta 5 here and there and some other games like witcher 3.

yeah, GTA V seems to have an issue with i5s tho

You mean it runs poorly on i5's or is there an actual issue?

An issue with the game engine, it'll start stuttering after hitting a certain max framerate. Just seems to be going lower and lower and lower, I've found myself locking to 45 and it solving some of my issue whereas the rest was related to a memory leak the game has.