After AMD released their Bulldozer processors and Intel came out with their Sandy Bridge-E, many people have been left wondering what processor should be on their consideration lists. For gamers this is still pretty much a no-brainer. When Intel released their Sandy Bridge micro-architecture they also came out with K-unlocked versions of their Intel Core i5 and Intel Core i7 processors. The best processor for gaming is still the Intel Core i5 2500K. The reasons for this are listed below:
- Performance
- Overclock potential
- Price
- Upgradeability
Performance
At 3.3GHz the Intel Core i5 2500K is more than fast enough to fulfill any game’s system requirements much less allow for maximum settings. Most of the time, maximum settings in a game are more dependent on the performance of your graphic card. However, a good solid performer like the 2500K lets your graphic card pull out all the performance it needs to deliver smooth gameplay. I will grant you that there are newer processors out there for both AMD and Intel. However, the AMD Bulldozers are not performing as expected nor are they pulling out the performance necessary for most gamers to get a satisfying gaming session. The recently released Sandy Bridge-E processors on the other hand are much too overpowered. This means that while they may run any game in existence on maximum settings, they won’t even break a sweat doing so, which will not only waste resources but will burn a blackhole like nothing you’ve seen before in your pocket.
Gaming Performance
I’ve generally found first person shooters to be one of the more hardware intensive games in the market. As such I’ve used the benchmark score from Anandtech.com for Far Cry 2 and Crysis: Warhead. As stated by Anandtech.com they used the Intel Core i5 2500K with an NVIDIA GTX 280 on 1680 x 1050 pixel resolutions compared against a field of other competitors using the same hardware and settings. The benchmarks are shown below:
As you can see from the graph, The Intel Core i5 2500K is only outperformed by the Intel Core i7 2600K and even then not by all that much.
In Crysis Warhead the Intel Core i5 2500K manages to trounce its higher-end Intel Core i7 2600K sibling. According to Anandtech.com, the processor was further stressed by setting the Physics setting on enthusiast level.
Overclock potential
Sure, the Intel Core i7 2600K has a higher core clock speed than the Intel Core i5 2500K’s 3.3GHz. However, the Intel Core i7 2600K can only reach a stable overclock on air cooling of just 4.5GHz, compared to the 2500K’s 4.8GHz to 5GHz. All you need is the right gaming motherboard that will allow you to pull out the latent overclocking potential hidden inside the 2500K and you can see a massive jump in performance for your next game. I personally found the 2500K to be very easy to overclock with most automatic overclocking functions pushing the processor to 3.9GHz or so and a little tweaking here and there can get you a very nice but stable overclock of 4.5GHz (matching speeds with the 2600K).
Price
While it can be overclocked to perform as high as it’s Core i7 sibling, the Intel Core i5 2500K is priced much lower than the Core i7. At its current price it is also much lower than any of the newer stuff, even the AMD Bulldozers. While its standard core clock performance may not allow it to match the same level as these newer processors, its overclock potential allows it to match speeds with ease. A quick look at Amazon reveals it to be priced at $233.04. The Intel Core i7 2600K is priced at $315.00 while the closest competitor processor within this price range is the previous generation AMD Phenom II X6 1090T at $222.99.
Upgradeability
It is an unfortunate fact that most gamers do not have much money. So buying a processor and motherboard along with all the other components would probably be as much as a gamer could do in building their new gaming rig. Thankfully, the 2500K comes with an integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics which should allow you to play World of Warcraft and other 3D MMORPGs on medium settings or Starcraft 2 on lower settings. While you save up the cash you can then opt for either a better motherboard or graphic card. My bet would be on the graphic card as even an entry-level NVIDIA graphic card these days can let you play the AAA games on medium to maximum settings. Once you have some more cash you can get a gamer’s motherboard and proceed to do some overclocking which will let you play practically all games on maximum with little to no extra cash required.
Comparing the Competition
Comparing the Intel Core i5 2500K with the Intel Core i7 2600K for gaming doesn’t make much sense here as the 2600K is only better if you want hyper threading for multiple core processing. Almost all games out there do not use hyper threading at all and to top it off, the 2600K is almost $100 more than the 2500K. A closer competitor would be the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T due to nearly the same price, but the 2500K beats this older processor hands down by offering better performance, integrated graphics and newer technology. While the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T does come in with 6 cores it operates at a TDP of 125W, which means that it gets hot very quickly and uses up a lot of energy. Since the 2500K only uses 95W it runs cooler and uses less electricity, while the newer technology allows it to do stuff like transcoding and processing many times faster than the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T.
