I just see all you guys swarming for Sandy Bridge 2500K chips that you don't even need, thinking you're getting a good deal when traditionally you could have a chip like that for half as much. I don't understand it.
Ok let's examine how true your statement is.
1. An overclocked $225 2500k is
faster than an overclocked $999 Core i7 990X in games.
2. An overclocked $320 2600k is not much faster than the overclocked 2500k (see same review).
3. Even
outside of games, stock vs. stock or overclocked vs. overclocked, the 2500k delivers similar performance to the $999 980/990X for
1/4 of the price. Outside of video rendering and other professional applications that thrive on > 6 threads, the 2500k pretty much renders the 980/990X models worthless.
See
Review 1 and
Review 2.
Question: When was the
last time we could have purchased an AMD CPU that could be overclocked to reach the flagship/fastest CPU from
either camp?
Answer:
Athlon X2 3800+ released in
2005. When overclocked, this CPU was able to beat anything from Intel and match / reach the flagship X2 4800+.
But, let's take a closer look at the details:
1) Athlon X2 3800+ cost
$354 vs. $902 for the flagship at the time (X2 4800+). So $130 more than what 2500k costs today.
2) In overclocked state, the X2 3800+ likely consumed as much power as the X2 4800+. 2500k in idle and overclocked states
consumes far less than the 990X.
3) 2500k also comes with a couple unique features such as Quick Sync and a GPU inside. In other words, if you need processing horsepower but don't play games, you are getting a "free" workable GPU that can be hooked up via DVI/DisplayPort/VGA through Z68 mobo. That saves you $ from getting a $25-40 GPU and still lets you encode videos on your smartphone/tablet faster than the $999 i7-990X!
In conclusion, in my mind the last time when AMD's lower end CPU was in a position where it was able to reach top-of-the line performance in the CPU segment was 6 years ago. Yet, it still cost $130 more than what 2500k costs today, and didn't have any power consumption advantages or onboard GPU.
So I am going to say that
traditionally, there actually hasn't been a CPU like the $225 2500k for a looooooooooooong time. The Q6600 came close but it still hovered around the $300 mark. Perhaps the i5-750 is a noteable runner-up.
I am not sure what $100-125 CPUs you are referring to in the last 6 years that could be overclocked to reach near flagship SKU offerings in the majority of tasks.
And here is another point: you can resell the i5-750s, i7-860s, i7-920s, 2500ks, etc. and recoup some of the investment cost. For example, lets say you can sell the Phenom II X4 for $75 in 2 years, I bet you can sell that 2500k for $120. So the differnece in the total cost of ownership between these 2 CPUs over 2 years is probably
even less than $100.
These are some of the reasons why we keep recommending the 2500k.