Best Value i7

[Macphisto]

which of these 2 is the better value

i7 2600k @ £233 or i7 2700k @ £250

is it worth an extra £17 for a gaming rig. which ever i get it will be overclocked to 4.5GHz

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

which of these 2 is the better value

i7 2600k @ £233 or i7 2700k @ £250

is it worth an extra £17 for a gaming rig. which ever i get it will be overclocked to 4.5GHz

Get a Core i5 2500K. Put the money saved towards a better graphics card or towards future graphics card upgrades.

[Fraz]

I agree with CAT. That guy knows his ****.

[Macphisto]

Get a Core i5 2500K. Put the money saved towards a better graphics card or towards future graphics card upgrades.

what sort of overclocking can you get from an i5 24/7

[shaithis]

The same as every CPU gets....an unknown quantity
Perfect example is a freinds G0 Q6600 which hit the heady heights on 2.8Ghz......it was just a poor chip. There are absolutely zero guarantees with overclocking......even factory overclocked gfx cards are failing in BF3 and I have seen numerous "pre overclocked systems" with issues that I fully expect to be overclocks that are not 100% stable.

You have no idea how far a cpu can overclock until you try. CATs suggestion is perfect because what the i7 gives you, you will not use in a gaming rig.

Also, what game needs a 4.5GHz quad to run?

[Macphisto]

Also, what game needs a 4.5GHz quad to run?

So if i overclock i5 or i7 it wont improve gaming performance?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

So if i overclock i5 or i7 it wont improve gaming performance?

Its more a point if you actually notice it in actual gaming and not in benchmarking. A Core i5 2500K is faster than even previous generation £250 Core i7 CPUs in most games even at stock clockspeeds. Most people don't overclock too so basically compared to most gaming PCs in the world you will have a decent CPU. On top of this most gamers worldwide probably won't be spending more than £150 on a CPU too and most companies know that. They are hardly going to make games really need a £150 to £200 CPU unless they want to have 90% less sales.

I have a Q6600 and a Core i3 2100 and I have been GPU limited in most of the games I have played so far AFAIK. Metro2033,Crysis and Crysis 2 taxed my GPUs massively. The only games which really come to close to taxing CPUs are real time strategy and flight simulator games. However,remember that Civilization V and Starcraft II are very popular RTS games and many people play them fine even on older computers.

Also,although newer game engines are becoming more threaded, many games are still based on the last iterations of older game engines and barely use two to four threads ATM. Even games based on newer engines will show a maximum performance increase moving from two to four threads. After this performance increases are less.

[Macphisto]

Thanks for all your help CAT what you have saved me on the CPU i can splash of upgrading from a GTX570 to a GTX580.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It depends on how much you intend to spend on a GTX580. Remember early next year Nvidia Kepler and AMD GCN based cards are being released.

You can get decent GTX570 cards for around £250 to £260. I would be more inclined to get one of these and in another year sell your GTX570 and then get another card(the GTX580 costs around £100 more). This way you will be having decent performance each year. Even one of the better GTX560TI or HD6950 2GB cards for around £170 to £200 should be fine.

I assume you are gaming at 1920X1080??

[ZaidSaleh]

before 2600k now the 2700k

[MiiCK90]

Agree with cat.
Definitely 2600k over 2700k as you won't ever notice the difference, but you won't notice a difference between 2500k and 2600k, so save cash and give us £20 each for helping you! lol.