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What's a good processor for a mini-itx build?

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Patyrn

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 11, 2010
Messages
109
I've been out of the CPU loop for quite a while now. Is the i7 still king of the hill as far as power? Is there a specific chip right now that's just a great value for speed\efficiency\price? I'm by no means a fanboy of either intel or amd, so either brand is welcome.

PS: Gaming build
 
i5-2500K if you're aiming for gaming.

with the i7-2600k you'd hardly notice a difference, unless you're encoding a lot of video, running a lot of virtual machines, compiling a lot of code, et cetera :)
 
mitx=2500. AFAIK there aren't any P67 mitx boards meaning you are stuck with an H67 and thus limited overclocking.

matx=2500k. You can leverage the unlocked multiplier to overclock with a P67 based motherboard.
 
I agree with everyone else. 2500k if your mobo will OC and 2500 if you dont plan to OC. The 2600k is for more like Chrondog explained or if you just have gobs of money and/or want the best without discussion.
 
in mITX form factor, intel is the better choice because of performance per watt ratio. and of the intel chips, the second gen i3, i5, or i7 will be good. whichever one of those you choose will be highly dependent on what you run on your mITX system
 
Sounds like I want a 2500k i5, assuming someone releases a nice z68 board. Thanks for the help.
 
I'd say an i3 2100 would be a better option for a gaming ITX.

Dual core with H/T
65w TDP, doesn't put out much heat
And you don't need the extra processing power since you only have one GPU. Big CPU's really matter with multi-GPU set-ups.
and much cheaper.
 
adjas said:
I'd say an i3 2100 would be a better option for a gaming ITX.

Dual core with H/T
65w TDP, doesn't put out much heat
And you don't need the extra processing power since you only have one GPU. Big CPU's really matter with multi-GPU set-ups.
and much cheaper.
Click to expand...

I think there is a flaw in that logic. He may only need a dual for for what he is doing, but stating that you only need a quad for multi-GPU? That really depends on what you are doing software wise. If the software can utilize a more powerful CPU, thats where a difference is made. And I have NEVER seen a review stating you need big processor power for multi GPU setups. I have seen plenty discussing the CPU bottlenecking, but that could be true for a single GPU.
 
true, I was thinking gaming.
On that note, check out this graph to see what I'm saying.

35041.png


plus read more of the review here:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/20
 
Pray tell me, how would you overclock a 2500k chip in an ITX form factor.
Read the OP

plus cooling 95w is more difficult than 65w in a SFF.
 
I also do code compilation so quad core should definetly not go to waste.
 
makes sense, depending on your case and how much airflow it's got you could consider the 2400S, since it's got a 65w TDP. A cool running CPU with 4 cores, though a bit pricey, and won't unlock.
 
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