CPU upgrade needed which to upgrade to I5 2500K or I5 3570K?

[ZeVo]

Get the 3570k. Ivy runs a little bit warmer but don't let that stop you from buying it. A EVO 212 should get you to at least 4.2GHz no problem.

[Umeshwarnath]

as most people look at it (and it is a fact),the sandy bridge cpu stays cooler at higher voltages when compared to an ivy bridge. so if you plan on like overclocking your cpu to (in case of an i5 ) to over 5ghz yes it makes a difference...but if not and you would stick to say a 4.5ghz level..then the same can be easily achived on a 3570k at comparitively lower voltage ,meaning lesser power consumption!!

a 4.5ghz 3570k outperforms a 2500k 4.5ghz due to the IPC advantage on the 3570k!! also it has pcie 3.0 which could be of use if using multiple gpus!

[findecko]

3570k is a way better and faster :)

[Art Vandelay]

Unless you are willing to do a delidding, the 2500k is a better overclocker than the 3570k. When you overclock both of them, they are about equal in terms of performance.

[Salmiakbal]

motherboard- Asrock H77 pro-4 CPU- I5 2300 GPU- ASUS 7770 RAM- 4GB G-SKILLZ

Does no one else see a problem with these specs? I don't think you can justify getting an *unlocked* CPU with the *H77* chipset.

He can sell the mobo and get a new one later on. Either way' date=' its still a great CPU.[/quote']

If you had suggested which motherboard/CPU combination to upgrade to, I think your response here would make more sense. Instead, people have only mentioned the CPU when OP mentioned overclocking with an H77 board. I must stress that he needs a *NEW* motherboard now if he wants to overclock as he originally stated.

I would go with a 3570K' date=' just for future-proofing (if anything ever will take use of the PCIe 3.0), Intel probably has some trick they haven't released yet for z77.[/quote']

1155/Z77 has no real new products coming to it (maybe some lower power versions of what we already have?). Talking about future-proofing with CPUs that are fundamentally the same architecture doesn't make much sense. Also, it's hard to find a device that can even saturate PCI-E 2.0 bandwidth at the moment for consumer use.

2500K vs. 3570K is a bit of a toss-up. The 2500K usually runs cooler and thus has more OC headroom, but the small intrinsic advantage a 3570K tends to make up for it generally running hotter.

This comment is exactly spot on, couldn't have said it any better. If I were in OP's shoes I would either forget overclocking and get a 3570 or I would go out and buy a Z77 board with a 3570K and an aftermarket cooler.

[christoi]

You currently have a Sandy Bridge CPU and a I presume an SB motherboard, so you may not want to go for any ix 3xxx CPUs. You can safely go to either a 2500K, a 2600K. or a 2700K, if you want an unlocked processor.

What motherboard do you have anyways?

I'm pretty sure you just need the flash the BIOS, Z68 does support Ivy-Bridge processors. It's usually not recommended though, because you need an SB processor to flash it in the first place.

[christoi]

What will you be using the rig for?

Honestly, I would just stick with the 2300 for now. It's a perfectly capable chip, only difference being that it's locked - though H77 doesn't support multiplier overclocking anyways, so you will have to get a new board too if you want to do so. However, even then you would be looking at a minor performance in even CPU-heavily applications, even less with things like games. If you really need better performance, I would either wait for now, or go for a higher-end unit.

[Jozi]

If I were you I would go for 3570k and z77 motherboard.

[Art Vandelay]

i5 2500k is better at overclocking' date=' but you will get better preformance from an i5 3570k[/quote']

IPC, the 3570k wins, but with the die shrink and overclocking, you will likely reach the thermal limits of the 3570k at a point that will make its performance similar to the 2500k, when overclocked.

IMO, if you can get the 2500k cheaper, get the 2500k. The 3570k has a few nice features, but the 2500k can match its speed. Also, PCIe 3.0 won't really matter for quite some time; it has a higher number, but even in benchmarks, it doesn't make a great difference.

Also, you can get a used 2600k for the price of a new 3570k, which is what I did. That's just something to consider.