I5 2500k Ivy Bridge Equivalent?

[epsilon97]

Hello,

I was all set to purchase an i5 2500k Sandy Bridge CPU. Now Ivy Bridge chips have been released, and I am confused. Should I still buy the i5 2500k Sandy Bridge CPU or should I buy a new Ivy Bridge chip? If you suggest an Ivy Bridge chip, which one do you recommend and why? Could you please provide a Newegg link to the one you recommend so that I can make sure I am purchasing the right chip.

Thanks,
Fred

 

[ilysaml]

From the review of Ivy Bridge

The bottom line for enthusiasts is that Ivy Bridge’s IPC-oriented improvements alone are not compelling enough to warrant an upgrade from Sandy Bridge chips running at similar frequencies.

Means whether you go i5 2500K or i5 3570K you won't notice a performance gain, unless you want to use the integrated GPU in the IVY BRIDGE.

 

[epsilon97]

But, is there any reason not to buy an Ivy Bridge CPU now since it is already out?

 

[welshmousepk]

If you are willing to overclock, i would still go with sandy.

in most benches, ivy chips just dont have the same overclocking headroom. hitting 5ghz on air is usually fairly easy on a 2500k. a 3570k would certainly have real trouble getting to that sort of freq.

if you are just going stock though, and can get a 3570 for only a little extra, i see no reason not to buy. personally though, i would only get a 3570l if it were the same or less than a 2500k.

 

[daweinah]

I read that the new AMD Trinity is going to allow CrossFire with their onboard video paired with a matching video card, do Ivy Bridge have that functionality?

 

[amuffin]

Right now apu's already let you do that. However, they can only crossfire with very low end cards! Point is, ivybridge or sandybridge doesn't have to do that in order to outperform every amd APU.

 

[rdzona]

But, is there any reason not to buy an Ivy Bridge CPU now since it is already out?

Any reason? Price comparison is pretty much it. Like others have said, Ivy and Sandy are pretty much same architecture, just die shrink and more die space for integrated graphics. IPC's are extremely similar but the edge goes to Ivy. And OCing is pretty similar but the edge goes to sandy. So a 2500K at 4.7ghz will be equivalent to a 3570K at 4.5ghz. So indeed you can oc a sandy "better" but you will have to to be even. Although you should realize that all this is like cutting hairs, I doubt you'll even notice the difference unless you're really into benchmarks and studying performance numbers. So if price is comparable, which I heard it is, and you're not upgrading from sandy I would get the ivy chip.
Cheers

 

[amuffin]

Ivy runs like a hotcake! There really is no difference in performance, though I really think sandybridge is a better choice here. Only place ivybridge really benefited was in the mobile processors.

 

[mfarlow]

It depends on your needs. Sandybridge will overclock higher on air, but if you're not planning on overclocking, IvyBridge has lower power consumption, PCIe 3.0, SSD caching (intel rapid response) and from what I can tell they are priced marginally higher than their Sandybridge counter parts.

It really all comes down to what you intend to do with it.

Some people will warn that Ivybridge is a new technology, and you may want to wait a few months for them to work out any issues with it.

I think for the average PC buyer, Ivybridge with it's lower power requirements at stock is the way to go. As an enthusiast builder, it's a tougher decision.

Personally I'm waiting to see if there are any price drops on SB in the coming weeks before making a decision.

Ivybridge: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504
SandyBridge: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072