Intel i5-2500K vs Phenom II x4 965

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Dropshock

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Oct 10, 2011
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Hi, I'm having a little problem. I really like the Intel i5-2500K, but the Phenom is good too. Thing is, the i5 puts me over my budget.
How much of a performance difference would there be between aan overclocked Phenom II 965 to 4 GHz vs an i5? With a 6950? If I were to play Crysis 2, Battlefield 3, Black Ops, Crysis, etc., how much FPS difference will there be? Thanks for any help.
 
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I'm not a benchmark guru, but it's probably not much difference, if any, in the real world. I CAN tell you what I have, and I would expect better results.

Phenom II 945 - upp'd slightly to 3.3GHz
AMD 6870, recently made Crossfire.

In the BF3 Beta, I was just running one 6870. I was running 1080p, with most of the settings turned on, except AA, and maybe 2 or 4XAF. I was getting about 35-45 fps at the time. I would expect it to run a little better with Retail once they optimize the textures and what-not.

In BF:BC2, I have it maxed out, and was getting 40-50fps on a singe 6870, and now I'm getting 75-85 fps easy with Crossfire.

I would think either of those setups would be somewhere in between.
 
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In games that are CPU intensive the i5 will be worlds better then the P2. In games that are more GPU intensive it's much closer. Keep in mind the i5 has loads of overclocking potential.

That being said; I'm pretty sure my next rig will be Intel. My last Intel CPU was a 486 66MHz if that tells you anything 😉

I'd say if you can stretch your budget just a bit then go with the i5-2500K and a mobo ready for Ivy Bridge.
 
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Well if u have a tight budget u should consider an I3, it's strong, has a small power consumption, small temperature, good performance compared to Phenom II x4 965, and it's almost 40% cheaper than I5(at least it is in my country 😀).
 
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What's the price difference of the whole rig and what you want to do primarily?

If the difference for the cheaper PhII buys you a "next step" video card and you want to primarily game in it, I'd say go for the PhII. If the difference would only get you a better after market cooling solution at most, get the i5 to OC it.

All in all, for gaming, video cards are more important than CPU muscle power (when talking mid-upper range, off course).

Cheers!
 
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My budget is around 750. The i5-2500k brings me up to 850.

And yes, it's for a next-level video card. If I wanted to go down to a 6870 from an unlocked 6950 with the same clocks, speed, and shaders as a 6970, I could get a i5-2500k. But with the 6950, I can only get a Phenom.
 
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for performance and reliability go with I5-2500k, you have complete budget limit go with phenom but remember phenom 2 is very poor compare to I5 in all apps in gaming and windows apps. :ange:
 
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yep you are very lucky,in my town they don't refund at least a penny 🙁
 
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Lol all shops have to refund the difference if they increase the price in the next few weeks after u bought sumthing. If they don't have this policy then it must be some creepy neighborhood shop, and it's not recommended to buy from places like that.

Dropshock, u should go and get that I5 :d, forget about AMD if u want performance.
 
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To all the first posters on this thread:
I want to livestream and record games such as bf3 , gw2 and diablo 3 etc.

So, should i go with the 2500k (its the best cpu for gaming) or with the fx8120 (its 8 cores which is good when it comes to multitasking during gaming)

Also, the fx8120 is cheaper
 
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comparing a $130 chips to a $220 chip is not a good consideration. The i5 is over 3 years newer tech and the best price/performance sandy out with the rather underwhelming offerings in the i7 department.

The 965 BE is a good chip very capable across the board, if you are on a budget, it is certainly a good consideration for its price point.
 
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I would have to say go with the 965 and go with the higher graphics card. Graphics cards influence performance much more, except in the cases of games on the Intel Havock physics engine, such as Starcraft 2, Skyrim or Just Cause
 
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My opinion is that if an i5 puts you too far over your budget, you're better off with a Phenom II than an i3. Both of them perform about the same in gaming, but the Phenom II is going to excel is productivity type applications, ergo a better balanced PC.

Also, I would suggest when buying a Phenom II 965 to turn the multiplier to 18.5x, this effectively will give you the stock settings of the more expensive 980 model (3.7GHZ) at a lower cost, and you should not require an aftermarket heatsink to do so.

@Sean76
Also, I notice a lot of people saying that processor strength isn't as important as the graphic card you choose.......completely wrong. Nowadays your CPU just as important as the graphic card you choose.
Click to expand...

That depends on what you're doing on your computer. As far as games, not all games are CPU intensive, some are, some aren't. Multiplayer games in particularly are generally more CPU intensive than a single player game.

As far as the difference being night and day, sure the 2500k has astronomical overclocking potential, but I can say that since I own a system with an i5-2400 w/GTX 460 as well as the build in my sig, both of them can do the same things (gaming, browsing, productivity) with no noticeable difference.
 
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P2 is much budget oriented more than performance. Amd mobo is more cheaper than equal intel mobo....

Why u considering 100$ over budget? do u have the budget? If u have it, then better go to Blue one it considered the best one this moment. If u don't go with green one as long don't place the expectation skyhigh it will serve u well, (the value of time is priceless, there will always better one in the future. u won't get back the time u waste waiting)

Edit: Read it wrong, better go with green if it will cost u to drop the unlocked 6950
 
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