Who's still running i5-2500K?

Still use 2500K since 2011, I just need new GPU in few month, I have old dog GTX 560 but still works.
 
2500k overclocked to 4.4 since 2011. Works great with recent GPU upgrade to a 970. Added an SSD a few years ago, wworld of difference. Plays everything I want it to at 1440p with modest settings.

No urge to CPU upgrade. Used to upgrade all the time in the 90's/2000's, always thought I'd be going totally nuts once I got a real job
 
Still running from 2011 2500k @4.4ghz and 4x4 gb Gskill ripjaws 1600mhz, think i'm running the cpu near intel max safety voltage or at the max. Also got my overclock running using offset voltages, my mobo is a P8P67 PRO with the chipset fix. Got a GTX 970 running at 1500 core and 1.8 ghz mem

I've read that faster ram is a good upgrade for example 2133mhz speed mem, is it worth swapping my memory over or trying to OC my existing memory, i'm assuming 4 sticks will put a lot of stress on mem controller with oc?

I think will upgrade when 6 core intel is mainstream, I upgraded from a e7200 CPU to this one ,so upgrading to the latest i5 isn't going to producer much of a wow factor.
 
I would be, if it hadn't died on me a couple years ago! Then I got an FX6300 cos I needed something cheap to get going. Now I'm waiting to decide if I get a Zen or a Kaby Lake CPU+mobo. Can't wait for new info!
 
I have had two 2 2600k machines that I have given away and they are now on a few years since then and still running fine. Gaming fine even. I also sold a 2600k on ebay and it sold instantly. That is one beloved chip
 
Went from a 2500k @ 4.2 to a 2700k got the OC to 4.5 on a P67. Then got a Z77 and up to 4.7 now including some FSB OC. Its not much more per say but. You can tell. Much more responsive especially since I went to the Z77! :D
 
My 2500k system died, not sure if chip or motherboard. The i7-920 system is still working though.
 
I've got a 2500k in my brothers rig. At 4.2ghz. When i was running it I had it at 4.5ghz. Good temps, good performance. No issues. Toned it down for my brothers use just in case. On an Asus Maximus Gene V with a GTX 670. He has no problems with games at 1080p, being able to max most still, bar from some triple A titles here and there. I've even got a spare M-ATX Z77 board I got from my old work as a 'spare part' RMA that was never used/never picked up, just in case the board dies before the chip XD. No reason to upgrade!
 
My parents PC is still chugging along using my old 2600k, my buddy is still rocking his 2600k in his daily driver while his girlfriend is using a 2500k. Those Sandy Bridge chips will probably go down as one of the all time great chips ever made. It's got a place on my rack beside my Athlon Thunderbird, Mendocino Celeron, Athlon Barton, and Pentium Northwood. All absolute classics.
 
Yep, I'm still rocking a 2500K @ stock clocks (got it up to 4.5 without much more voltage but at one point I set it back to stock and it's still been fast enough for all the games I play). I don't plan on upgrading in the near future, and probably won't until 8 core chips become more mainstream. Hopefully Zen performs well so Intel has to bring out 8 core chips for under $300.
 
schlitzbull said:
Hows that working as your server? Have any issues with 2-3 1080p sterams? Ive been looking at grabbing at 2600/2700k for cheap and building a plex server with the 2500k
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You can pick up SFF i5 systems on ebay with 4G ram and 300-500G disk on ebay for $120 or so. Should make a great plex server.
 
Still on my 2600k @ 4.6Ghz. I am probably going to upgrade to Kaby if the reviews are favorable to overclocking (I like overclocking since the times when Celerons were hitting over 1Ghz back in the early 2000s... those were the days).
 
I'm still running an i7-2600 @ 3.4 but i'm seeing low minimum FPS in my games,

Don't know if it's a memory speed issue or processor speed issue, but will probably upgrade to Kaby Lake.
 
dopefishz said:
I'm still running an i7-2600 @ 3.4 but i'm seeing low minimum FPS in my games,

Don't know if it's a memory speed issue or processor speed issue, but will probably upgrade to Kaby Lake.
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processor speed issue, for modern gaming 4.5ghz is the minimum recommended to ensure stable high minimum FPS.
 
dopefishz said:
I'm still running an i7-2600 @ 3.4 but i'm seeing low minimum FPS in my games,

Don't know if it's a memory speed issue or processor speed issue, but will probably upgrade to Kaby Lake.
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yup Araxie is right! if you don't have an aftermarket cooler, get one and OC. that will breathe some new life to that cpu!
 
I still run my 2500K @ 4.7 on water. Anywhere above that and I have issues with it reliably waking up from sleep, though I've never been able to figure out why. I'd love to push it further since I've been reliably able to get it to boot at 5 GHz. I'm still using my old ASRock z68 Extreme 4 mobo. I upgraded the RAM for the first time to 16 GB@ 2133Mhz coming from 8G@1600 Mhz two months ago. The number of HDDs/SSDs/GPU upgrades that this system has seen is unbelievable. I have never held onto a CPU\Mobo combo anywhere near this long and I've been a PC gamer since the late 90s.
 
Edit: I put the pic in the spoiler as it's kind of large

A8rOpKz.jpg

This thread seems to have answered my problem. Running a 2500K @4.6GHZ since 2011. Started off with a Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 board, but it died and I moved to an MSI Z77A-G45. Now I am now getting these red dots all over the place and just a few months out of warranty on the MSI (see pic in spoiler). Swapped out video cards, tried all combos of RAM (2X 4gb & 2x8gk Kingston HyperX Savage 1600mhz), even trying them one at a time. Reinstalled OS onto 3 different drives - SSD and Hard drive. Plugged and unplugged everything from the motherboard, even took the whole motherboard out and reinstalled it. Pretty sure it's the motherboard.

Can't really turn off the computer as it may or may not restart. Most of the time it turns right back on but sometimes I have to try 50 times. It always powers on, but sometimes I get stuck at a letter/number in the bottom right (A3 or something), sometimes just a black screen. Both of these issues never reach POST. Doesn't appear to be a heat issue with the CPU as the cooler is always at around room temperature to the touch - not hot at all.

Anyways, since this thread, I think I am gonna chance it and get a new or refurbished motherboard from Newegg. Kinda worried that it may be the PSU (ENERMAX ELT720AWT Liberty ECO 720W) or even the CPU. Y'all think this is the right course of action? Should I make a thread about this?

Was considering building a whole new system but spending $700 - $1000 on a new system, doesn't seem like a good price/performance upgrade to the 2500K. Others seem to think it's a wise call to wait. I definitely want to upgrade to more cores at some point since I do Photoshop and After Effects a few times a week.
 
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waveriderhawaii said:
This thread seems to have answered my problem. Running a 2500K @4.6GHZ since 2011. Started off with a Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 board, but it died and I moved to an MSI Z77A-G45. Now I am now getting these red dots all over the place and just a few months out of warranty on the MSI (see pic). Swapped out video cards, tried all combos of RAM (2X 4gb & 2x8gk Kingston HyperX Savage 1600mhz), even trying them one at a time. Reinstalled OS onto 3 different drives - SSD and Hard drive. Plugged and unplugged everything from the motherboard, even took the whole motherboard out and reinstalled it. Pretty sure it's the motherboard.

Can't really turn off the computer as it may or may not restart. Most of the time it turns right back on but sometimes I have to try 50 times. It always powers on, but sometimes I get stuck at a letter/number in the bottom right (A3 or something), sometimes just a black screen. Both of these issues never reach POST. Doesn't appear to be a heat issue with the CPU as the cooler is always at around room temperature to the touch - not hot at all.

Anyways, since this thread, I think I am gonna chance it and get a new or refurbished motherboard from Newegg. Kinda worried that it may be the PSU (ENERMAX ELT720AWT Liberty ECO 720W) or even the CPU. Y'all think this is the right course of action? Should I make a thread about this?

Was considering building a whole new system but spending $700 - $1000 on a new system, doesn't seem like a good price/performance upgrade to the 2500K. Others seem to think it's a wise call to wait. I definitely want to upgrade to more cores at some point since I do Photoshop and After Effects a few times a week.
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While the 2500K/Sandybridge isn't a bad platform, I don't know if it would be worth spending anything more than ~$50 just to keep it running. Anything more would be better spent new motherboard & CPU that you'll be able to squeeze another 4-6 years out of.
 
TheSmJ said:
While the 2500K/Sandybridge isn't a bad platform, I don't know if it would be worth spending anything more than ~$50 just to keep it running. Anything more would be better spent new motherboard & CPU that you'll be able to squeeze another 4-6 years out of.
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Which motherboard & CPU would I be able able to squeeze another 4-6 years out of? If I buy something more new and modern I will also have to buy RAM as I am running DDR3 now... and probably a new cooler. Current one is Zalman CNPS10X Performa.
 
waveriderhawaii said:
Which motherboard & CPU would I be able able to squeeze another 4-6 years out of? If I buy something more new and modern I will also have to buy RAM as I am running DDR3 now... and probably a new cooler. Current one is Zalman CNPS10X Performa.
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The only other thing you could consider is buying into an older platform.. Z97 with 4790k would be a nice bump over the 2500k realistically. You could re use your cooler and RAM. This would keep costs down. But you'd be limited upgrade wise.

Otherwise 6700k Z170 and DDR4 with perhaps a new cooler would do. The Zalman will work on Z97 and Z170 still (same socket size/type, just different pins), though. But if doing a rebuild might as well go all out? XD
 
ReaperX22 said:
The only other thing you could consider is buying into an older platform.. Z97 with 4790k would be a nice bump over the 2500k realistically. You could re use your cooler and RAM. This would keep costs down. But you'd be limited upgrade wise.

Otherwise 6700k Z170 and DDR4 with perhaps a new cooler would do. The Zalman will work on Z97 and Z170 still (same socket size/type, just different pins), though. But if doing a rebuild might as well go all out? XD
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Those are good options. Thanks ReaperX22. I can (and probably will) get a refurbed ASUS P8P67 mobo for $59.99. An older chipset, but an overclocking champ. Can add a 2 yr warranty for $14 w/ in 30 days if it works out. I have $60 to burn so it's not an issue if it doesn't. The options you mentioned seem to be $450-500 although going from memory the 4690K should yield similar performance for like $120 less. That money isn't an issue if that's what needs to be done, but as you pointed out I may as well go all out and get more modern stuff. Seems like such a cruddy time to be upgrading though. :-(

Is that 6700k/Z170 the fastest price/performance/overclock stuff available now?
 
waveriderhawaii said:
Those are good options. Thanks ReaperX22. I can (and probably will) get a refurbed ASUS P8P67 mobo for $59.99. An older chipset, but an overclocking champ. Can add a 2 yr warranty for $14 w/ in 30 days if it works out. I have $60 to burn so it's not an issue if it doesn't. The options you mentioned seem to be $450-500 although going from memory the 4690K should yield similar performance for like $120 less. That money isn't an issue if that's what needs to be done, but as you pointed out I may as well go all out and get more modern stuff. Seems like such a cruddy time to be upgrading though. :-(

Is that 6700k/Z170 the fastest price/performance/overclock stuff available now?
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I don't think the 4690k will give you enough of a boost. Some specific games just don't like i5s. I forget who, but some youtuber did a test for a newer i5 vs an older 2600k and one specific game performed WORSE on the i5 due to lack of hyperthreading.. I think if you were to upgrade, consider the i7. That said for 95% of games it'll be a reasonable bump, but i7's on the mainstream appear to be the way of the future if upgrading and especially as you're wanting 4+ years out of it.

Mainstream wise, yes 6700k is best price/performance. X99 is more expensive but you get extra cores, but the IPC (Instructions per clock) is still lower than current gen Skylake, per core. So for gaming IMO the 6700k is currently king.
 
Got a 2500k on my htpc and it runs fine. I only game at 720p on my TV though so it's not exactly taxed just yet. My 760 will need to be upgraded first.
 
Have a 2500k and updated the video card a while back to a gtx970 and added SSD drives it peeped it up a lot but I have been getting the urge to upgrade lately.
The ones I am looking at are a z170 board and a 6500k or a 6700k and just moving my drives over getting a 1060 card and new ram and giving my old box to the wife.
Been out of the building game so long not really sure how much of an upgrade these really are but on my video card I am missing out because my board doesn't fully support all its features my PCIe slot is older and the card doesn't fully have all the contacts in it don't even remember what it makes me loose but slows something down on it.

Its funny I remembering having to upgrade every two years to keep up with the games just seems like the technology has hit a wall until some new fabrication techniques come out just cant build electronics any smaller and faster at this point.
 
Sigh... I was playing a game today, and all was fine and dandy with my Asus P8p67 w/ the good ol i7 2600k...

Then all power dies to the system. Doesn't power on. If I disconnect the power, and wait for the green LED on the mobo to go off, I can reconnect, hit the power button, and see the red LED next to DRAM_LED blink for an 1/8 of a second or so. Swapped out parts with a i5 2500k, and an AsRock p67, and neither combo worked, although the AsRock with the i7 2600k at least powered on, and gave an 00 code (which means CPU problem, or clear CMOS). I did... and no change.

I put the i5 in the Asus, and it did the same thing as with the i7... I think both of them burned out at the same time, but no way to really know... I want my i7 back!!!
 
RooK said:
Sigh... I was playing a game today, and all was fine and dandy with my Asus P8p67 w/ the good ol i7 2600k...

Then all power dies to the system. Doesn't power on. If I disconnect the power, and wait for the green LED on the mobo to go off, I can reconnect, hit the power button, and see the red LED next to DRAM_LED blink for an 1/8 of a second or so. Swapped out parts with a i5 2500k, and an AsRock p67, and neither combo worked, although the AsRock with the i7 2600k at least powered on, and gave an 00 code (which means CPU problem, or clear CMOS). I did... and no change.

I put the i5 in the Asus, and it did the same thing as with the i7... I think both of them burned out at the same time, but no way to really know... I want my i7 back!!!
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Did you test with a different PSU? Those are more likely to fail and can display the symptoms you're seeing depending on how the motherboard handles bad power detection.
 
I am still running an i7 2600k as many others in my primary gaming system. I have yet to see a real reason to upgrade.
 
Araxie said:
processor speed issue, for modern gaming 4.5ghz is the minimum recommended to ensure stable high minimum FPS.
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pendragon1 said:
yup Araxie is right! if you don't have an aftermarket cooler, get one and OC. that will breathe some new life to that cpu!
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Thank you to both of you. That confirms my suspicions.

Unfortunately my board has absolutely no overclocking options. Time to upgrade :)
 
I am running an AsRock Extreme6 and an i5 2500K @ 4.4ghz.

I WANT to upgrade (internet browsing and gaming PC). I'll take any real reason for gaming performance upgrades! hahaha

BF1 kinda pooped on my system... but it kinda seems like it's because of the GTX 680 i'm running.
 
TheSmJ said:
Did you test with a different PSU? Those are more likely to fail and can display the symptoms you're seeing depending on how the motherboard handles bad power detection.
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Yup... that was the first thing I tried. PSU is fine. This is the first intel proc I've ever had fail on me... literally... and I've been building these dang things since the Pentium 2. The mounting design of the LGA 1155 is really infuriating... Such a poor design. You have to take the whole friggin mobo out to change the CPU? LAME!!! ANYWHO... I'm thinking about taking the possible faulty mobo and cpu to a computer repair shop and ask them if they can power it up... I doubt the proc failed... I mean, intel is the king when it comes to making procs that don't fail... But... the error code on the Asrock indicated a bad CPU.... BUT, the Asus exhibited the same behavior with the i5 or i7... This is probably the most frustrating repair I've had to mess with... Did I say Pentium 2? Ignore that... I promise I'm not an old, bitter, and cold fogey ;)
 
Delicieuxz said:
Shrooms were responsible?
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HAHA. It's pretty wild man. If you would like to take a look I made 2 videos at hi-res close to 2K. First one (17mb) shows the mushroom pic in Photoshop. You can see I am moving the hues from left to right (in the middle it is proper hue). I didn't record if but if I turn the image to grayscale, the problem goes away on the image only, although you can see that in the grayness of Photoshop. In the second one (30mb) is scrolling a web page from Madshrimps. It seems to be worse in the reddish colors.

Best viewed in HD @ full screen.



 
ReaperX22 said:
I don't think the 4690k will give you enough of a boost. Some specific games just don't like i5s. I forget who, but some youtuber did a test for a newer i5 vs an older 2600k and one specific game performed WORSE on the i5 due to lack of hyperthreading.. I think if you were to upgrade, consider the i7. That said for 95% of games it'll be a reasonable bump, but i7's on the mainstream appear to be the way of the future if upgrading and especially as you're wanting 4+ years out of it.

Mainstream wise, yes 6700k is best price/performance. X99 is more expensive but you get extra cores, but the IPC (Instructions per clock) is still lower than current gen Skylake, per core. So for gaming IMO the 6700k is currently king.
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Hey man thanks again. No matter where you are in this world you can be satisfied that you are making an impact on someone who is probably 1/4 to 1/2 way around the world from you. Keep up the good work brother. :)
 
Meh, i5-3570k here. Haven't even bothered to overclock it. :)

One day I'll build another system, lol
 
Well I finally updated my I2500k system. My system was built on a Gigabyte Z68 motherboard with 16gigs of DDR3 memory and a Coolermaster HF212 heatsink, the only upgrade was a recently installed ASUS 6gb 1060 Strix video card which I transfered to the new system. My new system was built with a I7-6700K and 16gb of DDR4 3000 G-skill memory installed on a Asus Z170-A motherboard and cooled with a Corsair HV100I-V2 AIO cooler. Here is my assessment. I play World or Warcraft at 1080p with all the setting maxed , surf the internet, edit photos in ACDSEE and edit 108P videos in Cyberlink 14. The new system loads slightly faster into Windows 10 but honestly the only real difference I can see without actual benchmarking is in video editing, The I6700K is about 30 percent or so faster. My point I guess is the I2500K is still a very valid package for real world performance needs for most users, I'm going to take my old I2500K and put in in a new case and find a use for it as it'll be good for most uses besideds high level gaming for years to come
 
I upgraded to a 2600k a couple months ago, but I'm giving the 2500k to my son. 6-year-old on Linux? Yep.
 
Terpfen said:
Higher minimum FPS.
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I have yet to notice any reason to need FPS higher than what I am currently getting in most games I play at High settings. Buying a new CPU just for a few FPS hardly seems to be worth it. However, I am likely to upgrade to a new platform soon if I decide to purchase a Titan Pascal.
 
NoOther said:
I have yet to notice any reason to need FPS higher than what I am currently getting in most games I play at High settings. Buying a new CPU just for a few FPS hardly seems to be worth it.
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I didn't say higher total FPS. I said higher minimum FPS. A newer CPU will raise your FPS floor and result in more stable FPS. OCed Sandy CPUs have more dramatic FPS spikes and lower FPS floors.

And it's not "a few". Stop making up your own counter-arguments.
 
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