i5 CPU choice : 3570S or 2500K

[stefanels]

Hello... I have a quick question about 2 i5 CPU's, i recently got an ASRock Z68 Fatality Gen3 mobo and i want to pair it with a new CPU and i have to choose between a 3570S (non-K) and a 2500K ???

 

[Bo$$]

If you got the 2500k would you overclock? because that'd make it the faster of the two options

 

[stefanels]

i think i will... so what OC potential has the 2500K ?

 

[Aquinus]

If you want to OC, get the 2500k. If you want features, more power savings, but minimal ability to overclock, get the 3570S.

http://ark.intel.com/compare/65701,52210

 

[stefanels]

but overall, in games and cpu related programs which is better (excluding OC)...

 

[Aquinus]

but overall, in games and cpu related programs which is better (excluding OC)...

The 3570S is a great CPU out of the two if you completely rule overclocking out. Overclocking is the only thing going for the 2500k over the 3570S to be honest. The 2500k does have an HD 3000 in it whereas the 3570S has a HD 2500, but I don't think that matters for your purposes.

 

[TC-man]

Since you already have an OC motherboard, it's perhaps better to get the Core i5 2500K which is more future-proof if you are going to overclock it. Overclocking a Core i5 2500K processor is a rather easy thing to do with your Z68 Fatality Gen3 motherboard. And if you do more things than gaming alone, e.g. video encoding (x264/x265 etc.) or autocad and so on, then an overclocked 2500K would help a lot. Average overclock results of a Core i5 2500K are between 4.3-4.5 GHz (depending on cooling, power supply, motherboard etc. etc.). On water you could even get better results.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

Since you already have an OC motherboard, it's perhaps better to get the Core i5 2500K which is more future-proof if you are going to overclock it. Overclocking a Core i5 2500K processor is a rather easy thing to do with your Z68 Fatality Gen3 motherboard. And if you do more things than gaming alone, e.g. video encoding (x264/x265 etc.) or autocad and so on, then an overclocked 2500K would help a lot. Average overclock results of a Core i5 2500K are between 4.3-4.5 GHz (depending on cooling, power supply, motherboard etc. etc.). On water you could even get better results.

I've never heard of a 2500k NOT being able to be OC'ed to 4.5GHz. The 2600k I had is still capable of running at 5GHz, which is what @T-Bob is running it at after buying it from me. Personally, I wouldn't consider the 3570S over a 2500k if you have a Z68 motherboard. Keep the ability to OC, your system will last longer.

 

[Aquinus]

I've never heard of a 2500k NOT being able to be OC'ed to 4.5GHz. The 2600k I had is still capable of running at 5GHz, which is what @T-Bob is running it at after buying it from me. Personally, I wouldn't consider the 3570S over a 2500k if you have a Z68 motherboard. Keep the ability to OC, your system will last longer.

Can't you bump the turbo multi on non-K chips by at least 4 bins over stock? That's the case with my 3820 (sans bclk straps). That might just be for models without letters (3570 versus 3570S or T). I don't know as I don't have that kind of hardware handy.

I think I would rather take a 3570S at 4.2Ghz than a 2500K at 4.5Ghz to be completely honest if the 3570S can take 4 bins on the turbo. Plus, then you still get all the features of an S CPU plus lower power consumption across the board. That also still doesn't preclude the possibility of running the BCLK at 105Mhz either, which theoretically (assuming this is all true) would get you 4.4 as an upper limit assuming the CPU can do it.

It's not that non-K CPUs can't overclock, it's that they're not conducive to doing it and won't go as far as a K series CPU with an unlocked turbo multi.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

Can't you bump the turbo multi on non-K chips by at least 4 bins over stock? That's the case with my 3820 (sans bclk straps). That might just be for models without letters (3570 versus 3570S or T). I don't know as I don't have that kind of hardware handy.

I think I would rather take a 3570S at 4.2Ghz than a 2500K at 4.5Ghz to be completely honest if the 3570S can take 4 bins on the turbo. Plus, then you still get all the features of an S CPU plus lower power consumption across the board. That also still doesn't preclude the possibility of running the BCLK at 105Mhz either, which theoretically (assuming this is all true) would get you 4.4 as an upper limit assuming the CPU can do it.

It's not that non-K CPUs can't overclock, it's that they're not conducive to doing it and won't go very far.

You are correct about 4 bins over stock. I just gave a i5 2400 CPU to @hat that would do 3.6GHz in a Z68 motherboard. It would not do it in the H61 board I gave him though.

No offence, you definitely have a large amount of knowledge about hardware, but really? A chip that will not do more than 4.2GHz compared to a chip that should be capable of at least 4.8GHz that is only around 5% slower clock for clock. The 2500k (with OC'ing) is the faster of the two CPUs. Plus the Sandy Bridge CPUs generally ran cooler than Ivy Bridge, though this may not be the case with the "S" CPU. As for BLK OC'ing with SB or IB CPUs, IIRC, the information I've gotten here on TPU about the subject is that the CPU's don't like BLK OC'ing, and it normally leads to memory errors.

 

[Schmuckley]

2500K. Overclocking> not-overclocking.

 

[stefanels]

Thanks for the answers... i just received a good news from a friend and he can give me an i7 4770 (non-K) for a very reasonable price (a little more than the 2500K or 3570S) but i need to swap the Z68 with another board... What chipset will be more useful with this 4770 cpu ? The ASUS Z87-A/K ot the MSI Z97 PC MATE...

The other components for the build are : 2x4Gb Kingston HyperX 1600Mhz Cl9 , ASUS R9 280X Matrix Platinum , Corsair TX750M , 2Tb SSHD & 120Gb SSD HyperX 3K...

 

[happita]

Congrats.

I would say to get a Z97 board. Depending on what features you need and how much your willing to spend, they can range anywhere from $100 - $300 some more, some less. No reason to spend a fortune on a MB honestly, I'd say stay below $150, there are a lot of good overclockable boards out there that are on the value side of the spectrum.

 

[stefanels]

My budget for the mobo is limited and i need to choose between the ASUS Z87-A/K or the MSI Z97 PC MATE, but i also would choose the Z97 over the Z87...

 

[happita]

The reason I'm leaning towards the Z97 is because you have the option to upgrade to a Broadwell CPU when it gets released around summer. If upgrading is a non-issue, then I'd say go for the Z87 by all means. It will be a little cheaper, but not by much.

 

[Aquinus]

You are correct about 4 bins over stock. I just gave a i5 2400 CPU to @hat that would do 3.6GHz in a Z68 motherboard. It would not do it in the H61 board I gave him though.

No offence, you definitely have a large amount of knowledge about hardware, but really? A chip that will not do more than 4.2GHz compared to a chip that should be capable of at least 4.8GHz that is only around 5% slower clock for clock. The 2500k (with OC'ing) is the faster of the two CPUs. Plus the Sandy Bridge CPUs generally ran cooler than Ivy Bridge, though this may not be the case with the "S" CPU. As for BLK OC'ing with SB or IB CPUs, IIRC, the information I've gotten here on TPU about the subject is that the CPU's don't like BLK OC'ing, and it normally leads to memory errors.

It depends on how much he needs to squeeze out of the CPU. About 95% (conservative measure) of the time, my 3820 at stock is more than enough. I agree that if he cares about every hertz, sure, go with the 2500k, but realistically if you don't really care about pushing your CPU to it's max or don't need that kind of CPU power, a lower TDP CPU might do the same job just as well. It depends on what you plan on doing with it, but just going with the fastest option doesn't mean it's the best option for what the person will be using it for.

As for the BCLK, the issue is that it's tied directly to the PCI-E clock gen, as a result pushing it too high will cause issues with devices attached to PCI-E but only if you push it too high. My board starts flaking out at over 8Mhz over the bclk strap and I've seen a lot of 1155 machines do 105Mhz without an issue which is why I mentioned it. You're right though, pushing it too hard or on the wrong kind of board won't be stable, but I suspect a Z67 board will handle it okay.

All in all, I'm saying what I would do given the choice but I'm also less interested in squeezing every hertz out of my CPU as I am with what the platform is capable of doing as a whole. I honestly think for most use cases, he won't notice a difference between the two.

 

[MT Alex]

I honestly think for most use cases, he won't notice a difference between the two.

Especially now, since he stated above that he will be getting a 4770

 

[Aquinus]

Especially now, since he stated above that he will be getting a 4770

That too, but I felt that Barb's reply demanded a response.

 

[Iceni]

Lot's of the 2500K users have not upgraded yet. That tells you a lot about those chips. At 4.5Ghz with a decent air cooler they work really well. The problem with them is they are older and you will be locked to 1155. Saying that the next big upgrade people are looking towards is Skylake. And Skylake will have a different LGA format to the current 1150 format. Skylake will be LGA 1151.

So armed with that information you have to make a decission that works for you. The 2500K will hold it's value over the 3570. Since people will always want 1155 K series CPU's. They will always be less demand for a non K series CPU, And they will depreciate like a regular CPU. The 2500K when overclocked is also not going to cause you any problems in terms of speed. All of the stock speed gains of the 3570 are lost as soon as you put the 2500K at 4Ghz. At 4.4Ghz the 2500K will beat it slightly.

You also have a better construction with the 2500K. The heat spreader is soldered rather than been held on with TIM.

You should be looking at Z67 or Z77 motherboards for both chips.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1155

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i5-3570-vs-Intel-Core-i5-2500K

 

[chinmi]

my i5 2500k can be overclocked easy to 4.5 ghz paired with my MSI z68a gd80 motherboard. and i still dont feel the need to upgrade to haswell until now... so i think buying the i5 2500k will be a good choice here.

 

[INSTG8R]

i think i will... so what OC potential has the 2500K ?

Easy to get 4Ghz+ without any effort. Sandy Bridge are fantastic overclockers

 

[micropage7]

http://ark.intel.com/compare/52210,65701
its close, but i prefer stock 3570
lower power consumption, higher memory support

 

[peche]

I would stick to i52500K, you already have the mobo right?
If yes, there is no need for the 4770k, also you would have to spend much more getting a mobo, I rather to get the i5 and also a Decent Air/Water cooler for Overclock…

 

[rtwjunkie]

I would stick with 2500k, since you have a perfectly good motherboard with tons of options, and the 2500k is perfectly good if overclocked, which nearly all will do fantastically.

 

[GhostRyder]

Hello... I have a quick question about 2 i5 CPU's, i recently got an ASRock Z68 Fatality Gen3 mobo and i want to pair it with a new CPU and i have to choose between a 3570S (non-K) and a 2500K ???

I would go with the 2500K as the major differences from Ivy-Sandy are not worth it if your looking at a unlocked vs locked CPU. The i5 2500K is an excellent overclocker and can easily hit well into the 4.5-5.0ghz realm with ease (Heck I clocked a friend of mine's 2500K up to 4.8ghz on an Antec Kuhler 920 AIO and temps are pretty low).

I would definitely get the 2500K!

Thanks for the answers... i just received a good news from a friend and he can give me an i7 4770 (non-K) for a very reasonable price (a little more than the 2500K or 3570S) but i need to swap the Z68 with another board... What chipset will be more useful with this 4770 cpu ? The ASUS Z87-A/K ot the MSI Z97 PC MATE...
The other components for the build are : 2x4Gb Kingston HyperX 1600Mhz Cl9 , ASUS R9 280X Matrix Platinum , Corsair TX750M , 2Tb SSHD & 120Gb SSD HyperX 3K...

Oh well then on that you can get a good Z97 board for pretty cheap that will satisfy your needs. I would stick with either Asrock or MSI in terms of a budget variant mostly because they seem to have very good budget entries on that platform even if you cannot take much advantage of the unlocked capabilities associated with a Z97 board.

How about one of these below:
MSI Z97 PC Mate
Asrock Z97 Pro3
Or if you want a small build with wifi (or have a case that supports ITX)
Asrock H97m-ITX