I5 2500k or i5 3570k?

[ladcrooks]

IMHO the main advantage of IvyBridge is the iGPU which is considerably improved over Sandybridge, and PCIE 3.0 for dedicated GPUs. Definitely the chip I'd get if I didn't already have a 2500K which is a beast of a CPU, but today's buyer should go Ivybridge for futureproofing/upgradability and/or better resale value.

I agree, even though I'm still stuck on my i7920. I often think what would happen if my graphic card went down. Its comforting to know you have a built in backup! - IvyBridge's iGPU

[Aleks]

I would go for i5 3570k!

[GeorgeStorm]

What would people suggest between a 2600k and 3570k, both the same price?

[Samwood]

What would people suggest between a 2600k and 3570k, both the same price?

Depends on usage. 2600k is hyperthreaded to 8 logical processors, so theoretically has quite a lot more processing power than the 3570k. However, this will only be the case for highly multi-threaded applications.
Both processors will reach roughly the same overclock speeds, but the 3570k has better clock-for-clock performance. So with games and general, day-to-day, usage the 3570k will actually provide more speed. Plus the 3570k has native PCI-E 3.0 support and lower TDP (power).

So it basically boils down to: with the programs you will be using, will they create more than 4 'demanding' threads. Current games use 2/3 threads max (most use 1 or 2), but with the way things are going I (personally) think this will change.

Why do i think games developers will expand the number of threads games use? Well, firstly Intel & AMD have made it perfectly clear that there are major dis-economies of scale for single core speeds and have heavily indicated that more cores & more logical processors (i.e. 6-12) will increasingly become the norm. Secondly, it is heavily rumored that the next-gen Xbox & Playstation consoles will use 8-core processors, but will only be housing something like a HD 6670. Sadly its a fact that the majority of game sales will be for these consoles. So this (I believe) will force game developers to utilize the powerful multi-core CPUs, as they will quickly become limited by the performance of the 6670. Plus its likely that Sony & Microsoft may push 3D gaming more heavily with these consoles (each generation of consoles needs a USP, and I dont see any other that they can use), and a lot of the processing for this could be off-loaded to the CPU.
Current console-ports like GTA4 have already proven that developers can shift a lot of the work onto the processor (though I think in this example it was more down to poor coding).

I may be wrong, this is all speculative, but this is why I went with a 3770k rather than a 3570k. I'm effectively 'betting' about £80 (the price difference) that this is the way games will go. I could have spent that money on a better graphics card, and delayed my GPU upgrade by about or so 6 months. But if i'm right, I will probably delay my CPU upgrade by a year or 2, if not more.

[kevinc6784]

3570k It will give you a fair amount more performance should you decide to overclock in the future.

[cerebral744]

Decided to go with the 3575k as well due to Scan have some damn nice bundle offers on at the moment.

did you get the one with the d3h?

[losertheone]

Go for the 3570K if you can afford it, it's currently one of the best CPUs for overclocking. However, I wouldn't advise it if you don't plan on abusing your processing power/playing graphic intensive games.

[Dottorrent]

Could we please stop resurrecting dead threads?