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The Core i5 2500K Is an absolutely brilliant processor, it is so damn fast, and is a worthy upgrade from a Core i5 750 that I had before, it overclocks like a beast, in 5 minutes I went from the stock 3.3GHz to 4.5Ghz just by changing the multiplier and upping the Vcore voltage by a very tiny amount and then rebooting, it's so easy to overclock Sandy Bridge that it's just about a no brainer to do so.
I could easily hit 4.8GHz or even higher, but I have no need to go any higher than what I have already as it is so fast at 4.5GHz.
It blows away my i5 750 for anything, using Xvid4PSP version 5.0 the 2500K can encode a mp3 file from WAV or WMA at a peak speed of over 1000FPS, whereas my i5 750 could barely manage 600FPS tops, and in testing using Intel Burn Test my i5 750 peaked at about 58GFlops, whereas my i5 2500K reaches over 115GFlops and sometimes even higher.
I haven't had much chance to play games as I only have the HD3000 graphics atm but I can guarantee that if I put in my HD5750 it would be easily 20%+ faster than my old system despite using the same graphics card.
When using Skype with my old processor the usage was at around 25 to 35%, with the 2500K my processor usage sits at less than 10% and most of the time it's at 5% or less, and yet there's no loss in quality from either end of the video call and in fact I'd say the quality is even better.
It's the best processor when it comes to price to performance ratio and it can even keep up with the Sandy Bridge-E processors in some cases, and if that isn't testament to this processors amazing ability then nothing is.
The cpu cooler it comes with though is really really bad, so if you're buying this processor, then please buy something better to cool it with, I used the stock cooler at first cause I needed some new thermal paste for my H50, and the processor at stock was hitting over 90 degrees celcius at which point I had to end the stress test, cause it was just 8 degrees away from TJMax, once I got the H50 on it at stock speeds the processor sits at just 45 degrees at full load, and at 4.5GHz it reaches about 76 degrees, which is way better.
If you're not bothered about Ivy Bridge then Sandy Bridge is the mutts nuts, but with Ivy Bridge out it's better to go with that.
I would highly recommend this processor or it's newer brother the i5 3570K, which although it doesn't overclock as high, once overclocked to 4.3GHz Ivy Bridge will run rings around Sandy Bridge at 4.5GHz, and use less power as well.
The bottom line is that the Core i5 Sandy Bridge processors are extremely fast, amazing overclockers, unbelievably efficient and for the price are some of the very best processors Intel has ever released, I highly recommend it.
| Brand | Intel |
|---|---|
| Product Dimensions | 10.01 x 10.01 x 5.99 cm; 181.44 g |
| Item model number | BX80623I52500K |
| Manufacturer | Intel |
| Processor Brand | Intel |
| Processor Type | Core i5 |
| Processor Speed | 3.3, 3.4, 3.7 GHz |
| Processor Socket | LGA 1155 |
| Processor Count | 4 |
| Computer Memory Type | DDR3 SDRAM |
| Wattage | 95 |
| Are Batteries Included | No |
| Item Weight | 181 g |
| Guaranteed software updates until | unknown |
