I5 3570k or 2500k(special needs)

[CaptainAngel13]

Hi,
I'm here with what seems to be everyone's favourite question lately.

SUMMARY IF YOU CAN'T BE BOTHERED TO READ IT ALL:

Maximum overclock: 4.4Ghz
Cooler: Zalman 9700(air)
Environment temperature: I live in Greece and it's already warm and can go up to 40C during summertime which gives me high temperatures(the special needs I was talking about).
General PC airflow: Average
Reasons to go Ivy Bridge: Slightly better performance, latest technology, nice extra features.
Concerns: Ivy Bridge running too hot overclocked, overclocking seems more complicated(+ risky?) with Ivy than it was with Sandy, not willing to keep it stock.
Old System: Core2Quad Q8400, DDR2 4gb Ram, DDR2 old Asus Mobo.
New System: i5 K series (I.B or S.B) DDR3 8gb ram combo, Gigabyte Z77X-D3H mobo, 60GB SSD
Staying the same: Corsair 550W PSU, Sapphire 6950 GFX, 2x 230GB WD HDDs(will be used in Raid on the new Mobo)

PC Usage: Gaming at FULL HD resolution, Gaming Video Recording(Fraps), Video Editing, Web Surfing, Watching Movies.

DETAILED VERSION:


BACKROUND INFO:
I'm looking to upgrade from a core2quad Q8400 and an old ddr2 asus p5(don't remember the full name) to a more descent system which I'll also combine with a 60gb SSD. The ram I'll be using is a Corsair DDR3 8gb combo and the mobo will be a Gigabyte Z77X-D3H. The PSU is a 550W Corsair(already using that) and I'll have my 2 identical older HDDs running on raid.

Enough with the backround info though, since I'll probably not change any of those parts.
I'll be using a Zalman 9700 to air cool the cpu and I'm looking to overclock to about 4 to 4.4 Ghz tops.
The airflow on my pc is quite average and I leave in Greece where the temperature is already quite close to 30C and tends to climb to even 40C during summertime which typically drives the pc temperatures up the roof(the special needs I was talking about). I know that Ivy Bridge gets hot temperatures when overclocked and I really don't wanna fry anything or run on very hot temperatures all the time.
The whole concept of a newer chipset though and the nice extras it comes with, plus the slight performance increase over the S.B. i5 make the 3570k look like a great choise. Temperature is an issue that I can't overlook though and I don't plan on keeping the cpu stock or going to more serious cooling methods(simply can't afford to do so) so the 2500k might be a better choise strictly temperature wise. Also I'm not really experienced with overclocking(even though I do understand the basic principles) so I really do care about an easy, risk free overclock so I'd rather not be messing around with advanced stuff to make it happen, and I get the impression that overclocking the 2500k is generally easier so that's another advantage of it. Finally I don't mind saving the extra cash and going for the 2500k if the Ivy Bridge one turns out to be a worse option.



So what do you think? Thanks in advance for your help I've spent like days searching around on forums trying to make up my mind.

 

[Realee]

I think...
If people can't read all of that and need a TL;DR they have a short attention span =)

I'm limited on what I know about the Ivy Bridge but the general recommendation has been the 2600K if you need more cores (Video Editing, Photo Editing etc..) or the 2500K for just games.

Given that - the equivalent Ivy Bridge would best suit. Sorry I can't offer more than that I don't know enough about Ivy yet.

 

[66racer]

I say you go with the 3570k. But to be clear, frapps, you mean just recording your fps meter or actual gameplay recording?

But back to the SB vs IB and temp. For your temps if you were going for MAX 4.8+ghz 24/7 then sandy might be a better chance with temps. I have no experience with that cooler though but ivy seems to do good in the area you mentioned 4-4.4Ghz, seems like it gets hot over 4.5Ghz which you dont really care to go that high so with your cooler you might be ok.

The thing with ivy is that ivy at 4.2ghz would be like sandy at 4.4-4.5ghz so another reason why im recommended ivy for you. You would have the performance of a higher clocked sandy within the range your willing to oc.

BUT if your planning to record your gameplay and game at max settings, you might need an i7 sb/ib instead. My 2500k at 4.8ghz when trying to record bf3 1080p ultra does stutter sometimes in crazy areas. Its barely enough, really to do it seamlessly you would want an i7. If all you want is to record the min/max values dont worry about it.

Sorry If I rambled a bit I didnt have too much extra time to write it

 

[djscrew]

I say you go with the 3570k. But to be clear, frapps, you mean just recording your fps meter or actual gameplay recording?

But back to the SB vs IB and temp. For your temps if you were going for MAX 4.8+ghz 24/7 then sandy might be a better chance with temps. I have no experience with that cooler though but ivy seems to do good in the area you mentioned 4-4.4Ghz, seems like it gets hot over 4.5Ghz which you dont really care to go that high so with your cooler you might be ok.

The thing with ivy is that ivy at 4.2ghz would be like sandy at 4.4-4.5ghz so another reason why im recommended ivy for you. You would have the performance of a higher clocked sandy within the range your willing to oc.

BUT if your planning to record your gameplay and game at max settings, you might need an i7 sb/ib instead. My 2500k at 4.8ghz when trying to record bf3 1080p ultra does stutter sometimes in crazy areas. Its barely enough, really to do it seamlessly you would want an i7. If all you want is to record the min/max values dont worry about it.

Sorry If I rambled a bit I didnt have too much extra time to write it

well said

For you and your moderate OC, I would agree with an IB chip.

Your iGPU can be used to assist your dGPU much more effectively with the IB and proper setup as well.

 

[Badbonji]

Is your room that hot also or do you have AC? What is important is ambient, if it is 40C then this will limit the overclocks. The Ivy bridge chip runs a lot hotter and will not likely overclock as well as the i5 2500k due to reaching high temperatures. In this case the 2500k might be faster due to a higher clock speed.

However, the Ivy bridge whilst being hotter - it uses less power. This will mean less heat is dumped into the room and so the room will be a bit cooler (although the difference is not substantial).

Personally I would probably choose the 2500k, but only because of your high temperatures.

 

[c00l3st]

IB vs SB as of now id stick to SB chips.

1. sb is more stable when it comes to temps
2. temperature = durability
3. you don't actually require to have 4cores with 4.5ghz running on it ON whatever applications you do. "unless you are rich and you wanna showoff"
3dmax , revit , cad2012 , corel , ads . never seen them consume more than 35% of my cpu load.

overclockers.com provided a review on ivy. IMO i don't really think ivy is gonna last longer than a SB chip. stock or oc'd theres a huge difference "this is as of now , we dont know yet what intel would do with the next batch of ivy"

 

[CaptainAngel13]

Alright. An i7 is barely an option now as I'd need to downgrade the mobo a bit to be able to afford it and from what I've seen hyperthreading is really not that useful for fraps recording and the hard drive speeds are more important(which will be an SSD so I should be ok speed wise). Also do you use "full size" recording? Because I'll only be doing half size which is usually enough(it translates to a 720p video clip) and uses less resources than full size at FULL HD res.
I can use A/C sometimes but not 24/7 and at summer time the temp is actually high almost 24/7 so realistically good temperatures during the hot days are important.
The crazy temperatures only last 2-3 months though, so would it really hurt the cpu?
To give you an example of the cooling, the temp here is 24C right now and the cpu is idleing at around 47C with the fan set to quiet mode. So what temperatures should I expect with an S.B/I.B overclocked to 4-4.4 ghz under load and with the fan set at max speed?
I would expect the temperatures of the 2500k o/ced to be quite similar to that of a 3570k o/ced to about 0.2ghz less(to achieve similar performance).
If that's the case I can really just keep it 0.2ghz less than I would keep the 2500k and still get the same performance +the extra features(like the internat gfx helping out the 6950 as djscrew mentioned). I too, have only seen people complaining about I.B temps above 4.5ghz anyway.
Thanks for helping me out

 

[c00l3st]

its more on the ambient temps actually. whatever cooler you purchase as long as your ambient temp is not good your cooler would not matter. i live in abu dhabi u.a.e during summer temps go above 50c most likely 60c and i hate it when the A/C breaks.

as much as possible place your rig on a higher ground. since all dust and debris goes down. just to avoid dust and some dirt. and to keep the rig clean.

 

[Badbonji]

When I used FRAPS, I could record at 120FPS with two mechanical drives in RAID 0. This was full size 1200P also, so a current gen SSD will work wonders - the only problem would be the smaller amount of space for a recording.

I would expect the IB to hit mid 80s at least during the hottest days under load, the i5 2500k might be a few degrees cooler (this is my guess! Also depends on voltages required to reach that overclock). The high temperatures will not kill the CPU - throttling will take place before this happens, I believe what kills it quicker is if the temperature fluctuates a lot causing expansion and contraction.

 

[irrykuxeh]

I would go with the i5-2500k. It's tried-and-true, cheaper, cooler, easy to overclock, and probably more than enough for your needs especially when properly overclocked.

 

[CaptainAngel13]

Will prolly go with the Ivy bridge or if my budget is lower than expected just get the 2500k thanks for the help.