Top Best bang for the buck Intel processors right now ?

An i5 2500K is just at the point of no reason to upgrade for gaming. Just wait. Either the 7700K will deliver a reason for a gaming upgrade, or ebay prices on older CPUs will be lower.
No one said it, but IMO the "best bang" on Intel is still a couple of Xeons X56xx inside an EVGA SR-2 mobo: 12c/24t at 4.4GHz OC.
I think a much better bang for the buck is a dual LGA2011. The e5-2660/2665/2670's are under $100 now and the e5-2680 is just over. 2 gives you 16 cores, 32 threads 9sandy bridge) with room to upgrade to ivy when they get cheap. You can then move to 12 core/24 thread PER CPU down the road....
 
I think a much better bang for the buck is a dual LGA2011. The e5-2660/2665/2670's are under $100 now and the e5-2680 is just over. 2 gives you 16 cores, 32 threads 9sandy bridge) with room to upgrade to ivy when they get cheap. You can then move to 12 core/24 thread PER CPU down the road....
depends on what your doing...but yea its a real work horse cpu wise for cheap!
 
The e5-2680 is a 2.70 GHz CPU with max 3.1GHz all cores turbo. Even in highly optimized apps the higher thread count does not deliver more bang than Dual Xeons X56xx inside an EVGA SR2, because 32*3.1 = 99,2 and 24*4.4=105,6. Even lowering the overclock to 4Ghz, which is something done practically at stock voltages still make the Dual Xeon 1366 the faster PC.

Now show a dual E5-2687w V2 which costs less than mine SR2 and would grant it a better bang for some uses, but gaming.
 
No OC 6500. ($180ish)
OC? 6600k. ($220ish)

It's not too bad for bftb.

Don't know why people are recommending i7 or x99 systems.
 
The e5-2680 is a 2.70 GHz CPU with max 3.1GHz all cores turbo. Even in highly optimized apps the higher thread count does not deliver more bang than Dual Xeons X56xx inside an EVGA SR2, because 32*3.1 = 99,2 and 24*4.4=105,6. Even lowering the overclock to 4Ghz, which is something done practically at stock voltages still make the Dual Xeon 1366 the faster PC.

Now show a dual E5-2687w V2 which costs less than mine SR2 and would grant it a better bang for some uses, but gaming.

Gaming isn't typically CPU limited these days in many cases. The E5's have waaay more functionality, better memory bandwidth, better virtualization extensions, etc etc. If you want clock you can always go E5-1620 or E5-1650. Even E5-1650v2 is only $200'ish... You can also do 12 core @ 1.8 on e5-2551 ($200'ish) 10 cores ~ 2.8 @ e5-2560v2 ($200-$250), or 8 cores for ~ E5-2650-2680. If you want faster clocks you can do E5-1650 (6 core 12/thread -- basically 4930k). the v2's also support ddr3-1866 I think in most cases. So many options.

Also: Where is your cheap source for SR2 motherboards? I see $350+ on ebay. Which is more than I paid for my entire E5 based machine.

If OP is going to pay $350 for motherboard alone, why not get a 6700k & cheap board?
 
I never said "bang for the buck", i said bang. As the SR2 was the last dual CPU mobo with meaningful overclock its 12c/24t at 4.4GHz still offer an amazing bang, unsurpassed by any single or dual CPU mobo for home use. As my signature says, PM me when it becomes obsolete.
 
I never said "bang for the buck", i said bang. As the SR2 was the last dual CPU mobo with meaningful overclock its 12c/24t at 4.4GHz still offer an amazing bang, unsurpassed by any single or dual CPU mobo for home use. As my signature says, PM me when it becomes obsolete.
With do respect its "sorta" is obsolete already....Think people already rocking fairly strong 2 cpu sandy xeon setups....can they over clock? might be somewhat even in some test? as far as over clocking those sr2s might be the last ones
 
With do respect its "sorta" is obsolete already....Think people already rocking fairly strong 2 cpu sandy xeon setups....can they over clock? might be somewhat even in some test? as far as over clocking those sr2s might be the last ones

LGA 2011 does not overclock, that was the reason why the SR2 sucessor, the SR-X , was a failure.
Expect ~1% overclock with selected mobos when using Xeons E5.
There are no Xeons E5 26xx v1 builds that can touch a SR2 when gaming.
So in the end, it is incorrect to say that a "fairly strong 2 cpu sandy xeon" makes the SR2 obsolete, as Sandy Xeons are v1. For multi threads optimized apps, Ivy Bridge has one CPU that can be considered for a home user, the E5 2687w v2, whose complete system would be twice the cost of the SR2, but still slower for gaming.
 
LGA 2011 does not overclock, that was the reason why the SR2 sucessor, the SR-X , was a failure.
Expect ~1% overclock with selected mobos when using Xeons E5.
There are no Xeons E5 26xx v1 builds that can touch a SR2 when gaming.
So in the end, it is incorrect to say that a "fairly strong 2 cpu sandy xeon" makes the SR2 obsolete, as Sandy Xeons are v1. For multi threads optimized apps, Ivy Bridge has one CPU that can be considered for a home user, the E5 2687w v2, whose complete system would be twice the cost of the SR2, but still slower for gaming.
yea i guess power usage would be the primary advantage looking at it that way
 
I have to say, dollar for dollar bang for the buck right now.
On ebay there are LGA1366 E5645 hexcore CPU 29$ OBO and E5649 hexcore 42$ They should overclock to 3.8 or 4ghz I would think.
I am going to order a couple to upgrade my dual socket e5620 server. I'll slap it in my Rampage3 and test one out first. At this price, why not..
 
I've been eyeing this
But at this moment in time I'm better off with more / thread performance.
 
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The e5-2680 is a 2.70 GHz CPU with max 3.1GHz all cores turbo. Even in highly optimized apps the higher thread count does not deliver more bang than Dual Xeons X56xx inside an EVGA SR2, because 32*3.1 = 99,2 and 24*4.4=105,6. Even lowering the overclock to 4Ghz, which is something done practically at stock voltages still make the Dual Xeon 1366 the faster PC.

Now show a dual E5-2687w V2 which costs less than mine SR2 and would grant it a better bang for some uses, but gaming.
The architectural differences, and newer platform easily makes up the difference in clock speed. The X5 xeons were great a few years ago, but I'd not consider them anything more than relics by now. The X56xx even at 4GHZ will still be about 20% slower than the 2670 at stock clock. And if you push it to 4.4Ghz you'll close the gap to 10%, but you'll still be stuck on an old ageing platform with its specific limitations.

Granted in single thread the OC-ed X56 is faster by about 10%, but there are hardly any single threaded games left. And for the old ones that 10% difference is quite irrelevant.
 
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The architectural differences, and newer platform easily makes up the difference in clock speed. The X5 xeons were great a few years ago, but I'd not consider them anything more than relics by now. The X56xx even at 4GHZ will still be about 20% slower than the 2670 at stock clock. And if you push it to 4.4Ghz you'll close the gap to 10%, but you'll still be stuck on an old ageing platform with its specific limitations.

Granted in single thread the OC-ed X56 is faster by about 10%, but there are hardly any single threaded games left. And for the old ones that 10% difference is quite irrelevant.

That is not what the benchmarks told. That article is very relevant because it has numbers for Xeons X56** at stock and overclock.
The E5 2670 v1 lost to the SR2 at 4.3GHz in all but 1 benchmark, and in most benchs lost even to stock X5680.

Another interesting idea is to compare the 3930k numbers from the previous link with the later review of the 5960X.

This idea that Sandy Brigde has IPC gains that compensate for the loss of raw clock is not supported by the benchmarks made when sandy bridge launched.
There is no such thing as a "fairly strong 2 cpu sandy xeon".

Single socket the X58 mobos can make the Xeons X56** a value solution. Among dual socket builds the SR2 is in realm of its own, competing neck to neck with workstation class Ivy bridges for the gamer that wants more threads. We need the price of the E5 2687w v2 to drop below $200 before we can say that the SR2 is overpriced at the current $350-400 range.
 
Overclocking non-K I7 Skylake's are relatively easy. Had I5 6500 running at 4.5ghz with memory around 2800mhz stable. Did not like the constant fixed speed and heat but is very much doable if one wants max gaming potential for the cheapest price. For me the extra $40-$60 for an I7 6600K or in my case $130 more for an I7 6700K seemed a better deal. Each their own. So best bang per buck if you OC maybe the I5 6500 or I5 6400.
 
That is not what the benchmarks told. That article is very relevant because it has numbers for Xeons X56** at stock and overclock.
The E5 2670 v1 lost to the SR2 at 4.3GHz in all but 1 benchmark, and in most benchs lost even to stock X5680.

Another interesting idea is to compare the 3930k numbers from the previous link with the later review of the 5960X.

This idea that Sandy Brigde has IPC gains that compensate for the loss of raw clock is not supported by the benchmarks made when sandy bridge launched.
There is no such thing as a "fairly strong 2 cpu sandy xeon".

Single socket the X58 mobos can make the Xeons X56** a value solution. Among dual socket builds the SR2 is in realm of its own, competing neck to neck with workstation class Ivy bridges for the gamer that wants more threads. We need the price of the E5 2687w v2 to drop below $200 before we can say that the SR2 is overpriced at the current $350-400 range.
From your benchmarks link:

Performance Analysis
Our media benchmarks, in this case the video encoding and multi-tasking tests, don't usually make full use of the many extra cores, physical or logical, that CPUs such as the E5-2670 provide. As such, the results here were a bit lacklustre, with the benchmarks favouring the overclocked Core i7-3930K - clearly fewer, faster cores are what are needed to come top in this area of the benchmarks, but that's not what the Intel Xeon E5-2670 is about - we thought we'd include them anyway though."

So....lets test a reasonably fast high corecount (16 cores/32 threads) vs 6 cores/12 threads or 4 cores/8 threads in benchmarks that can't use more than 4 or 6 cores ....LOL. That benchmark is worthless.
 
From your benchmarks link:



So....lets test a reasonably fast high corecount (16 cores/32 threads) vs 6 cores/12 threads or 4 cores/8 threads in benchmarks that can't use more than 4 or 6 cores ....LOL. That benchmark is worthless.

I am not sure you understand each system spec. The Dual E5 2670 is 16c/32t and has all-cores turbo of 3.1. The SR2 is a 12c/24t sailing at 4.3GHz.
If there is one bench on the link that looks suspicious is the single one that the Sandy Bridge system won, because the raw computational power ( clock * cores) of the SR2 system is bigger.
LOL will not make you win any argument.
Search the web for a similar sandy bridge Xeon review to support your idea because this is not an election thread where opinions counts, give us [H}ard evidence.
 
I am not sure you understand each system spec. The Dual E5 2670 is 16c/32t and has all-cores turbo of 3.1. The SR2 is a 12c/24t sailing at 4.3GHz.
If there is one bench on the link that looks suspicious is the single one that the Sandy Bridge system won, because the raw computational power ( clock * cores) of the SR2 system is bigger.
LOL will not make you win any argument.
Search the web for a similar sandy bridge Xeon review to support your idea because this is not an election thread where opinions counts, give us [H}ard evidence.

Did you even read the quote I posted? If you are going to spend $400 for a 1366 motherboard, and then buy everything else, you can even buy a more expensive E5 setup...

Also: If you look at the gaming benchmarks there is basically no difference at all.

You don't even realize that "raw mhz...." doesn't even work for most benchmarks (eg: look at gaming). Architecture & feature set is more important these days.

I'm done arguing with you. When you want to learn how to comprehend what you are reading, let me know. In the meantime, bye!
 
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Just point us toward an E5 v1 setup that can beat a SR2 for similar total cost. I repeat: there is no such thing as a "fairly strong Xeon Sandy Bridge system".
 
I put together 3 systems, cost per system with no case .
dual E5-2670, board 200$ each, two E5-2670 CPUs 60$ each CPU, and 8x4gb samsung 35$ Server memory is dirt cheap on ebay.
Picked up some seasonic PSUs for 35-40$ 650w new server pulls being sold, only bronze rated and cables not sleeved, but that's ok

Not bad for under 300$, these systems crank out a lot of BOINC work units.
I also have a few dial X5650 lga1366. No doubt the sandy bridge are faster and produce more work.
Especially with primegrid where AVX is in play.
More and more programs are finally taking advantage of AVX.
 
Thank you for your input, but we are not discussing server X5650 mobos. We are discussing overclocked xeons on consumer X58 mobos /EVGA SR2. Also your sandy xeon build costed $395, so there is a typo on the "under $300" price.
 
An i5 2500K is just at the point of no reason to upgrade for gaming. Just wait. Either the 7700K will deliver a reason for a gaming upgrade, or ebay prices on older CPUs will be lower.
No one said it, but IMO the "best bang" on Intel is still a couple of Xeons X56xx inside an EVGA SR-2 mobo: 12c/24t at 4.4GHz OC.

Yep I did this. Xeon x5670 here. Was at 4.2gHz but back to 3.8 at more stable and not hitting any kind of bottlenecking. Mobo now 8 years old, CPU 6 years old, picked CPU pulled from server for AU$120.

Happily VR gaming since 3.8, playing Obduction which is CPU intensive. Also video editing is smooth and rendering times are low.

Probably upgrade to 7700k for new chipset, compatibility and speed boost but yeah. Can recommend X5670.

Sounds like for OP though, holding off for 3 months and waiting for a price drop on the 6700k would be the go.

Doesn't seem to be in a mad rush, so why not hold off 3 months..
 
150 or so price difference....but maybe 14nm is worth the extra money?...idk the thing is if you have the correct MB one could always upgrade the cpu down the road. I suspect if you overclock both to 4.4 any cpu bottle neck will be none to minimal

I'd personally go with the 5820k right now, $320 for a 6c/12t unlocked CPU and <$200 for a motherboard is a heck of a good deal. The 5820K is good for 4.4GHz with good cooling, and the 6800K not much more (what you gain from the smaller process you lose in less area to transfer heat)

That being said the OP sounds like he's looking to upgrade a primary gaming rig, so I'd probably go with a 7600K when they launch; performance isn't a big deal and hasn't been since Sandy Bridge, but some neat new platform features have rolled out since then (better USB3 implementations, M.2, etc)
 
If you need to buy everything new go the 6700K route, but the cheapest thing that you can do is simply overclocking your 2500K, it can easily do 4.3+ on air, which is pretty much the same (speed wise) to any of the newer CPUs you've been eyeballing.
 
From personal experience, there's no way I'd recommend a high core count xeon for gaming. My e5 2660v2 really holds back my 1070.
 
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