I've looked through other posts and have found some helpful info but I wanted to create a new post just to get the specific info I need, so I can be totaly sure.
I'm trying to choose between an i7 2700k, i7 2600k and an i5 2500k. I've been told that an i5 will provide more than enough performance for gaming, while being able to run at cool temperatures even when over clocked. However I'm still reluctant to go for an i5 because GTA 4, which I'll be playing a lot, is apparently a very CPU intensive game. Also, nearly every youtube video of this game shows, in the description, that an i7 CPU is being used.
I'll want to over clock to about 4.5ghz, and currently plan on getting a corsair H80 CPU cooler. Would those i7s I mentioned be able to run at relatively cool temps? if so, would it be worth buying one of them, or should I just go for the i5?
Just go with the 2500k. Most of the time you won't be needing HT (which the i7 has), as they don't have any advantages in gaming. Plus, they're still the best overclocking CPUs currently.
i would go for the i7, but why dont go for the 3770K, here in norway ( which has really pricy parts ) its only like 200 KR more / 30$. Then you get the best of the best for the most money, because when your so close to the price of a 3770K why not just buy that straight away?
The 3770k was going to be my first choice but i've heard that ivy bridge CPUs don't overclock very well, and get much hotter than sandy bridges. So money aside, sandy bridge might actually be the better option
Ivy bridge is better than Sandy though. The only problem with Ivy is that the thermal compound in the Internal Heatsink is crap. If you replace that yourself, your looking a lot better off. Take about an hour to replace the thermal compound if you do it slowly and avoid the traces completely. Makes the temps virtually the same as Sandy Bridge but with better capabilities. Just my 2 cents on the situation...
But at the same time, there is no game thats ever going to need a 4.5 GHz. unless ur running 2 or 3 at the same time. And if its GTA 4 thats ur fear, that should be no problema, my 3.0 Quad core AMD Athlon has no problem running it at max. about 60% load. i think, if ur afraid of GTA 4, just get some really good RAM. and u'll me key
it all depends on benchmarking, and other tasks that you will be using your pc for, i quote 'games don't really take advantage of all 6 cores at the moment'
i have the i5 3570k i know its the newer one but deal with it. when i play GTA the big limiting factor in mine is my graphics card (560ti overclocked) even though i say its limiting i still get 40-60FPS on Full settings apart from render distance, which is slightly lower.
You will find that the i5 will not hold you back in modern games, but if you want to future proof yourself you could go for the i7, as it cant be long untill game devs make games run on more that 2 cores which is the most common at the moment.
Also the i7 will be allot more expensive and you could spend that money on other computer components, or pizza your choice
i5, difference in gaming is next to none. And if you overclock an i7 you'll more than likely have to disable HT to keep temps down and keep it stable on set voltage. Therefore you have an i5 with an extra 2mb of L3 cache which just won't make a difference in games.
It's not the that games won't take advantage of HT, they just don't take advantage of anymore than the most common denominator being 4 "Threads" (Key word).
i3's are dual core HT, games will use those 4 threads which make them a viable low end gaming solution.
We sometimes have a tendency to go for the newest, biggest, and so call best available when less is actually more. I currently run an i5 2500K with 0 problems. Years ago I took a course in university called computer applications in business. Just because you can purchase bigger, is there really a need for your current application? By the time games catch up to needing a 6 core your machine will probably need to be replaced anyway. Like all ways, just my thoughts.
It all depends on what you are going to doin when you're not gaming, if your soley going to be gaming then a i5 2500k it perfect, but of you are doing other stuff like photshop, autocad,and intense stuff the the i7 would be better.
i5 seriously like hyperthreading just means one core can multitask (so i suppose you could say every core behaves like 2 cores) but games these days only use a maximum of 4 cores anyway, and also im fairly certain hyperthreading makes no difference for gaming and only helps when doing serious multitasking or when you need bucketfulls of processing power (rendering video's for example) save money buy an i5.
also people say the ivy cores dont overclock very well, ive got mine clocked to 4.2 Ghz and it runs at 40 degrees C maximum so no worries on it running hot
When it comes to this decision, there are a couple of things you have to think about. The i7 is going to be around $100 more than the i5. If you can use that $100 elsewhere (to get a better video card or something like that) then get the i5. If you have an ulimited budget or if getting an i7 won't force you to compromise on something else in your build, then get the i7.
i7 will be faster for rendering because of the hyper threading, gaming does not really benefit from hyper threading. If you want to render videos I would go for the i7, if you are just gaming then I would go with an i5
Simple as this, Purely gaming computer w/ little to none other activity = I5
gaming but w/ multimedia activity (video edit/rendering/processing/photo) = I7
overclocked 2500k should be able to run GTA 4 just fine
If you have the money for it and want a more added peace of mind, then just get the I7. If you have a job, the price difference really isnt that bad. Or just buy cheap beer for a month =P
Well if you're rendering a lot then the i7 would show more benefit. i5 is more of a gaming CPU because of the stronger strength of each individual core.