2500K or 2600K

[groebuck]

I game mostly, do some mp3 encoding the occasional rip of dvd - should I get a 2500k and put the extra 100 towards a pair of 6970s or get the 2600k??

 

[Porter_]

I'd get the 2500K (as I did). It's a question only you can answer though. Think you'll make use or the 2600K before you upgrade next?

 

[MacLeod]

For gaming, get the 2500K and put the extra money towards beefier GPU's. Thats whats gonna make the biggest difference.

 

[Hostile]

The resolution you game at will determine if you really need dual video cards.

 

[RadXge]

2500K + Pair of 6950 = FTW

 

[gunderwood]

I was lucky enough to grab the Micro Center special, so I got a 2500k and P8P67 Pro for $170 and $160 respectively. The HT is the primary reason to get the 2600k IMHO. The slight loss in stock clocks and 2MB of cache won't hurt the 2500k much except in very limited circumstances. The HT helps the 2600k a lot, but only on rendering, encoding, and compiling. Other than that, the HT sometimes hurts performance or doesn't help at all. For games, it doesn't matter and likely won't for the lifetime of this processor. Picking a 2500k up for nearly half the price of Neweggs 2600k price doesn't hurt either.

 

[ex0du5]

The resolution you game at will determine if you really need dual video cards.

Need is such a relative term.

I have a 1080P TV I use as a monitor...most people would say all you need is a GTX 460 for that. However, I'm running dual GTX 570. This ensures 60fps in 95% of games, and stellar performance in games like Crysis and Metro (maxed, and getting 45-50fps).

 

[groebuck]

yah i picked up the 2500k and msi P67A-GD65 will put it togehter this weekend,

 

[ShuttleLuv]

2600k