i7 3820 or i7 2600k

D

DeathSmasher

Gawd
Joined
Apr 14, 2006
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As the title states what would you buy? This build will be for gaming

and web browsing. Also does the 3820 overclock? Thanks for

everyone's input.
 
I'd say 2500k over both, but if you absolutely must choose , go with the 2600k. The sb-e doesn't o'clock as well as either, and for gaming, there won't be any differences.
 
For gaming, a high end 2500K system with at least a mid range GPU would make the most sense price/performance..

This will show you how the 2500k stacks up against the big boys with some very doable overclocking. ( no 3820 )

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/03/intel-sandy-bridge-review/10

... While here is the 2500K vs 3820k stock ..

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/523?vs=288

A budget 3820 system is going to tax you more than a high end 2500k system..

You would do well to put the difference toward a higher end GPU .. (IMHO)
 
The 3820 does not over clock as easily, because it is semi-multiplier locked. You can up it by a few hundred MHz without having to adjust the base clock. (Frequency = base clock * multiplier). The 2600K however does give you better flexibility with the multiplier.

3820 does give you access to quad channel memory; depending on the board you choose, this might also allow 8 slots instead of the 4 on boards for the 2600K. However, the boards with 8 slots are a bit pricier overall.

The single biggest advantage to the 3820 would be the additional PCIE lanes. It supports up to 40 I think at 3.0 spec, which is enough for x16/x16. While it's true that PCIE3 is not important for gaming now, it may be more relevant in the future as cards start to take advantage of it. (There is modest improvement in GPU computing on it, though: see reviews of the 7000 series AMD cards).

I suppose then part of the question for you will be: how long do you want your system to last? Ivy Bridge is not far on the horizon, and might suit you better for just games and web stuff. The 3820 is an overall more robust platform, but at a cost. Also, is this a NOW kind of build, or a SOON one? If you don't need to build today, I'd seriously consider waiting for IB. If you need to build now, make the decision on budget grounds: the 2600K + board will probably be less than a 3820 + board. If your budget only calls for one graphics card, the 2600 would be more than fine; if you're more interested in GPU computing or possibly having multiple cards, I personally would go with the 3820.

I just finished a SBE build; I did consider the 3820 but went with a 6-core since I use my machine for more than just games. (I'm a mathematician).

I hope that helps.
 
I'll add one more thing: the 2600K (or a 2500K as someone else suggested) does have an integrated graphics unit onboard the chip. This might be good for you, if things like transcoding video are frequent tasks. IB will also have onboard graphics...but the 3820 (and all SBE parts) do not have any graphics on board. For gaming you clearly need a good GPU card anyways, but having onboard graphics may be of interest too. I personally didn't want onboard graphics...and on the possible occasions when I need to do transcoding, the 6-cores will handle it just fine.
 
I would go with the Intel® Core™ i7-2600K and in most cases I would go with the Intel Core i5-2500K if this was to be a gaming system.
 
2500K

YOU DO NOT SEEM LIKE YOU CARE FOR ANYTHING BUT GAMING AND WEB SURFING THEREFORE I WOULD ASSUME A 2500K WOULD BE PERFECT. A 2600K IS A PREMIUM PRICE OVERKILL FOR SOMEONE LIKE YOU ! ! !

p.s. I respond in the choice of text format that was originally chosen.
 
3820 is more fun with adjustable bootclock straps 125 and 166:)

screenshot085u.jpg
 
Why is everyone yelling?

also 2600k you will see no benefit from 3820 in weberneting or gaming(some games might run slower due to funky memory controller).
 
the 2600k is unlocked and the 3820 isnt, and the mobos are much cheaper with the 1155
 
tangoseal said:
2500K

YOU DO NOT SEEM LIKE YOU CARE FOR ANYTHING BUT GAMING AND WEB SURFING THEREFORE I WOULD ASSUME A 2500K WOULD BE PERFECT. A 2600K IS A PREMIUM PRICE OVERKILL FOR SOMEONE LIKE YOU ! ! !

p.s. I respond in the choice of text format that was originally chosen.
Click to expand...

HAHA...be kind.
 
2600k easily. So many more 1155 systems produced. In a few years you will be able to resell to the 2100 buyers or even the 2500k people looking to add hyper thread capabilities. The 2600k may be as desirable in three years as the the Q6600 is for 775 board owners today.
 
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Those who say Sandy Bridge E doesnt overclock are misinformed. It overclocks fairly well, and it's a blast also. BUT Honestly I would never go for the 3820. If you go SnB-E, might as well bite the bullet and go 3930k, or just stick with a 2500/2600k.
 
¡pɐǝʇsuı ʞ0052 ǝɥʇ ɥʇıʍ ob
 
just get a used Q6600 setup with some mobo with integrated graphics .. don't waste your time playing silly video games .. go outside and ride your bicycle! :p
 
ThreeDee said:
just get a used Q6600 setup with some mobo with integrated graphics .. don't waste your time playing silly video games .. go outside and ride your bicycle! :p
Click to expand...

That's what i'll be telling my kids, hypocrisy at it's finest.
 
teletran8 said:
Bulldozer FTW!
Click to expand...

In that case just buy a refurbished 990fx board from compgeeks and a 960T?

Both together would cost about as much as just a 2500k by itself (and a lot less than a 2600k!). Spend some of the difference on some good cooling and RAM and unlock/overclock the crap out of it. You'll have tons of PCIe lanes and can easily be able to do dual 16x SLI/CrossFire.
 
ThreeDee said:
just get a used Q6600 setup with some mobo with integrated graphics .. don't waste your time playing silly video games .. go outside and ride your bicycle! :p
Click to expand...

Tell that to the people on a bike and on their smart phone (or pedestrians reading on their smart phone) :)
 
Since you are doing, just gaming and web browsing, I would say that you have no need for either of those cpu, if you must choose from either one of those cpu, then go for the 2600k, if you are open to other cpu options then go for the 2500k, you don't seem to be doing anything that justify's the $100 for hyper threading.
 
I think the 2600k is a waste of money since it offers only 2-4% difference at same speeds as 2500K and only in some apps. 2-4% diff in some apps is not worth 37% more money. As usual the higher end you go diminished returns really sets in.

Both can overclock same, YMMV.

Here is a clock for clock comparison.http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/x86-core-performance-comparison/benchmarks,128.html

The i7 3820 is a real waste which I wont even broach. 2500K or keep your money IMO.
 
I usually don't answer questions like these, but I can tell you that either one of them is a waste of money if you are only gaming and Web surfing. In fact, I currently do not recommend spending more than $225 for a CPU (the price of an i5-2500K) if all you do is game or surf the Web. The only worthwhile reason to spend $300 or more on a CPU (plus possibly hundreds of dollars more on an expensive motherboard) is you're doing substantial photo and video editing, encoding and conversion in addition to gaming and Web surfing.
 
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