I bought this as an upgrade for a stalwart Intel q6600 Core 2 Quad system I have been using for the past two years. My previous q6600 system was over-clocked (3.0ghz) and coupled with high performance parts to maximize efficacy. I figured this chip would be a MILD improvement over my aforementioned unit. Delightfully, I was WRONG.
The 2500k:
Saying this chip is a good "bang for the buck" is somewhat inaccurate. It's a sonic boom for the buck. It over-clocks to 4.5Ghz on air with moderate temperatures with a basic ($30) after-market air cooler and runs completly stable. I decided to run this chip on a daily basis at 4.0Ghz to preserve the longevity of its operation. This chip is excellent for use in programs like Photoshop, Adobe Creative Suite, and of course gaming. Providing you have an adequate video card this CPU simply WILL NOT let you down in intense graphic CPU-based games (Star Craft 2) or taxing programs (CS4+).
CONCLUSION:
This is an excellent chip with stellar price to performance ratio.
PRO's:
-Fantastic Value
-Runs Cool
-"K" edition is unlocked and easily overclocked
-Amazon's current pricing is in-line with the web's best.
-Loves to be overclocked with relatively low voltage.
CON's:
-No hyper threading (have to go to the i7 sandy bridge for HT)
-Does not make chocolate chip cookies or sing "Soft Kitty" to cheer you up when you are sick.
Bottom line:
Click the order button and make this baby yours. Unless you want the i7 for the hyper-threading capability (recommended for intense video editing, taxing multi-tasking and encoding). Kudos to Intel- this is a great architecture and worthy successor to their previous lines.
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A Note About the Meaning of the Intel i5 Core 2500K Model Number:
Intel: The Brand
i5: The Modifier
500: The Chip Series SKU
k: Unlocked Cores (for overclocking)
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My Sandy Bridge System Specs:
CPU: Sandy Bridge Core i5 2500k, Overclocked to 4.4ghz, Antec Kuhler 620 H2O CPU cooler.
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth P67
GPU: (2x SLI) MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
MEMORY: G-Skillz 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (overclocked)
PSU: Antec Truepower 23754 TP-750 BLUE LED 750-Watt PSU NVIDIA SLI Certified 80 Plus Bronze Advanced Hybrid Cable Management Power Supply
CASE: Silverstone Raven-02EW
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If you have any questions feel free to ask I will try to respond ASAP. Intel Core i5-2500K Processor 3.3GHz 6 MB Cache Socket LGA1155
I have it running at 4.9 GHz with liquid cooling, and no stability issues. It was able to be overclocked up to 4.0 GHz with stock cooling.
If you're building a computer with this CPU, make sure that your motherboard is compatible. Only a motherboard with LGA 1155 will work with 2nd-generation Intel processors (e.g. this one). There are three types of motherboards with LGA 1155: H67, P67, and Z68. Motherboards with H67 don't allow you to overclock. P67 motherboards allow you to overclock, but don't allow you to use the CPU's built-in graphics card (so you will have to buy a separate graphics card). Z68 motherboards don't have any restrictions. Personally, I chose to buy a P67 motherboard because it was slightly cheaper than Z68, and I didn't need the built-in graphics. But it's really up to you.
I got the i5 2500k at launch (1/9/2011) and I'm blown away by the performance. I'm upgrading from a core 2 duo 2.66. This gets a 7.5 in the Windows Experience Index (not over-clocked).
This thing runs cool with the stock fan and my standard $80 case with 3 fans. I have an ASUS mobo and used the OC wizard to get the turbo boost to 4.43ghz. Ran prime95 for 10 minutes with no issues, the cores got up to 50c on the hottest core. Even at that temp, I could barely hear the stock cpu fan at 2,000 rpm. The case fans run at 800 rpm.
My advice: save your money and buy this instead of i7 2600k. Use that money to get an SSD. Even a cheap kingston value series ssd will blow away your 7200rpm disk.
This chip (Intel's Sandy Bridge) is a significant step from the prior Intel i5/i7 model (Nehalem) in that it runs real cool, and is simple to overclock, and is fast. I have it comfortably OC'd at 4.5Ghz (from 3.3Ghz) with a $30 air cooled heatsink. Video encoding that used to take 90 minutes on my old 2.4Ghz dual core PC takes me 10 minutes on my new PC with this CPU. I NEVER OC'd before in my life, but this chip is simple to work with if you have a half decent motherboard. I just went into my bios and bumped the CPU multiplier from 33 to 45 and rebooted. Runs fast and cool at 1/4th the cost of the best Nehalm (in my opinion)! I tried it at higher multiples and it worked fine, but didnt see a significant improvement in encoding speeds, so I dropped it back down to 4.5Ghz to reduce unnecessary heat in my case. My CPU doesnt run hotter than 55 degrees at 100% load with a cool master hyper 212+ heatsink.
If you want or need hyperthreading, you can go with the i5-2500k's big brother, the i7-2600k. I read on the web that side by side tests suggested that the i7's hyperthreading didnt really make a significant impact in encoding speed versus this cpu, which is a main benefit of hyperthreading, so I decided to save the $80 and stick with the i5...
If you want a fast computer, its actually cheaper to replace your current mobo and get a new mobo and this CPU (all in maybe $400) than it is to go and buy a top of the line CPU that fits a 775 or 1156 chipset. Actually, I recommend doing that now that the Sandy Bridge SATA recall is over. For $150-$200 you can get a new mobo that not only supports this awesome chip, but also USB 3.0 and SATA 3 (6Gbps). Think about it! - Computer - Cpu - Sandy Bridge - I5'
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