Skylake or Haswell-E at this point?

[xaephod]

With some benchmarks showing up, for a mainly gaming machine with some encoding, which path is best to take for a machine that should last 3-5 years. My 2500K is getting long in the tooth. (Or should I just keep the 2500K)

Thanks!

 

[MultiCofy]

Honestly, you wouldn't see that much of an improvement with a Skylake CPU over your 2500K, so I suggest sticking with the one you currently have
I recommend checking this video out - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ63w5_vXbg&feature=youtu.be&t=363

 

[InvalidError]

I would go with Skylake mainly for the updated platform if you cannot resist the itch to dump your 2500k. Otherwise, I'd stick with the 2500k for one more year - let the price of DDR4 drop some more before going Skylake/Cannonlake.

 

[TechyInAZ]

(Skylate and Haswell-E are completely different platforms designed for different users. So they don't really compete against each other.)

I would say upgrade to the latest 6600K or 6700K just for the better features. It's worth it in pure features that's for sure.

 

[xaephod]

If I got a used 2600K, any reason to do that? Extra threads?

 

[TechyInAZ]

If I got a used 2600K, any reason to do that? Extra threads?

You could, however I still think it's better to buy skylate.

 

[InvalidError]

If I got a used 2600K, any reason to do that? Extra threads?

That would help with encoding and probably not much else for the foreseeable future.

If your motherboard supports Ivy Bridge CPUs, then you might want to consider the i7-3770k instead.