Will upgrading an i5 2500(non k) to an i7 4770k and OC-ing it give more performance?

[Michal_Drwail]

As above, I'm wondering if upgrading my i5 2500(non k) CPU to an i7 4770k and overclock it is worth it.

What I care the most are games like Battlefield 3 & 4. I mean, they run great but SOMETIMES I have some fps drops to 40-45 when GPU's usage is ~80% and CPU's much higher. And I can't overclock my CPU as it's a "non k" one.

My specs:
i5 2500 3.30GHz
ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3
8GB RAM 1333MHz
MSI Radeon R9 280x 3GB
WD Caviar Green 1TB
PSU 600W

 

[crashtech]

The increase should be fairly substantial.

http://gamegpu.ru/images/remote/htt..._GPU-Action-Battlefield_4-test-bf4_proz_2.jpg

 

[2is]

Yes it would be a nice boost. Another option if you're looking to save a few bucks is a 3770k which should be a drop-in replacement. (May need a bios update)

 

[schmuckley]

moreso in the multi-threaded area.
Chances are you may get a 4.4 daily OC'er with Haswell
or..you might have a 4.8Ghz daily OCer with Sandy Bridge.
I'd pick the higher-clocked Sandy Bridge.
OFC the Haswell IMC is outstanding! It will run RAM as high as the RAM will go.
and forget all that nonsense about overvolting RAM on SB..
i probably am running 1.74 right now..eh..this is Haswell..
but the bottom line is...anything after 1366 you can volt the RAM to the moon and it won't hurt your chip.

 

[crashtech]

moreso in the multi-threaded area.
Chances are you may get a 4.4 daily OC'er with Haswell
or..you might have a 4.8Ghz daily OCer with Sandy Bridge.
I'd pick the higher-clocked Sandy Bridge.
OFC the Haswell IMC is outstanding! It will run RAM as high as the RAM will go.
and forget all that nonsense about overvolting RAM on SB..
i probably am running 1.74 right now..eh..this is Haswell..
but the bottom line is...anything after 1366 you can volt the RAM to the moon and it won't hurt your chip.

Pardon me, but I am not sure what to take away from this. May I have the "Cliff's Notes," please?

 

[CrystalBay]

Yeah , prolly 20-25 % with ddr3 2400+, imo.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

OP, you should be able to do an easy (Turbo Bin + 4) OC on that 2500.
Should work on stock voltage and hell, even stock HSF.

Have an i5 2450P running at 3.9 / 3.8 / 3.7GHz (4/3/2+1 cores loaded) on an old Z68 mobo, as well as an i5 2400 running at 3.8 / 3.7 / 3.6GHz (4/3/2+1 cores loaded) on a newer Z77 mobo.

 

[crashtech]

OK, so we stipulate that the 2500 can be turbo binned to 4.1, 4 over its highest bin. That results in a 24% increase over base clock, which is actually giving it more than we should, but what the hell. Assuming a linear fps relationship (which is probably BS) we would yield 77 fps (min), when the 4770K is pulling down 92 (min) at stock clocks. A pretty stark difference, imo...

 

[Pheesh]

is there any reason you wouldn't upgrade to the i7-4790k instead of the 4770k?

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

OK, so we stipulate that the 2500 can be turbo binned to 4.1, 4 over its highest bin. That results in a 24% increase over base clock, which is actually giving it more than we should, but what the hell. Assuming a linear fps relationship (which is probably BS) we would yield 77 fps (min), when the 4770K is pulling down 92 (min) at stock clocks. A pretty stark difference, imo...

Well, the 4770K does have HT, and a 13% IPC increase over SandyBridge.
Plus this is a free upgrade, vs. $300+ for a 4770K + mobo.

 

[crashtech]

Well, the 4770K does have HT, and a 13% IPC increase over SandyBridge.
Plus this is a free upgrade, vs. $300+ for a 4770K + mobo.

I agree with you. Of course, the part of the OP's question, "is it worth it," is going to have many interpretations. If the turbo bin OC is effective, it is a free upgrade, and might suffice until, who knows, Broadwell?

But I am of the mind that posters don't post until they want to upgrade, and in this case, I think it would produce worthwhile results. Whether it's $400 worth of worthwhile, well, I hate to try and answer that.

 

[BSim500]

And I can't overclock my CPU as it's a "non k" one.

My specs:
i5 2500 3.30GHz
ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3

Actually, you can OC it slightly. Sandy & Ivy Bridge CPU's are not "hard-locked" like i3's, they have a "limited OC" feature that allows you to boost clock speeds by +400Mhz on top of max Turbo Boost if you have a Z motherboard. Your i5-2500's normal Turbo of 3.4/3.5/3.6/3.7 + 400MHz = 3.8/3.9/4.0/4.1GHz Turbo Boost OC. Simply go into the BIOS and set it to 41x multiplier. There's a 10-12% boost for free. :thumbsup:

 

[AtenRa]

OC the CPU and since you already have a R9 280X use Mantle in BF4 and you will be more than fine.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Just so the OP is fully aware - the 4770K is NOT a drop-in replacement for a 2500. It would require a new motherboard.

 

[Michal_Drwail]

Just so the OP is fully aware - the 4770K is NOT a drop-in replacement for a 2500. It would require a new motherboard.

I'm aware of that.

As far as oc-ing the 2500 is concerned, I tried but there isn't much difference between the stock speed and 3700MHz.

But I'm wondering if it's worth changing. And I'm wondering if it's not wasting money because my i5 2500 is a decent CPU but it's tempting me to buy this "great" i7 4770k and some good cooler and to play a bit with overclocking and see results. And of course a new motherboard.

 

[MisterMac]

Lets say we wait and see how DC \ 4790k works out...

3700 mhz to 4700 mhz = roughly 27% Clockspeed increase

SB>HW IPC = 14-17% ipc increase

+ various HT bonuses


You should hopefully gain minimum 40% somewhat relative "CPU Performance".


That would tempt me massively.

 

[Michal_Drwail]

Lets say we wait and see how DC \ 4790k works out...

3700 mhz to 4700 mhz = roughly 27% Clockspeed increase

SB>HW IPC = 14-17% ipc increase

+ various HT bonuses


You should hopefully gain minimum 40% somewhat relative "CPU Performance".


That would tempt me massively.

Yes, I've just got to know about the 4790k and I think I'll wait for it because it sounds very promising. And it's going to be just a bit more expensive than 4770k so now I'm even more tempted

 

[cytg111]

As above, I'm wondering if upgrading my i5 2500(non k) CPU to an i7 4770k and overclock it is worth it.

What I care the most are games like Battlefield 3 & 4. I mean, they run great but SOMETIMES I have some fps drops to 40-45 when GPU's usage is ~80% and CPU's much higher. And I can't overclock my CPU as it's a "non k" one.

My specs:
i5 2500 3.30GHz
ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3
8GB RAM 1333MHz
MSI Radeon R9 280x 3GB
WD Caviar Green 1TB
PSU 600W

So .. deducing here that you play BF4 pretty competetively, seeing how infrequent drops to 40-45 fps is a problem worth upgrading for. Since it is pretty much only BF4 (right?), is these numbers running on mantle? If not I think you just got a freebie.

 

[Michal_Drwail]

So .. deducing here that you play BF4 pretty competetively, seeing how infrequent drops to 40-45 fps is a problem worth upgrading for. Since it is pretty much only BF4 (right?), is these numbers running on mantle? If not I think you just got a freebie.

No, BF3 & BF4. But it's not often. Usually, I get 60fps on the ultra preset (BF4 with Mantle - without Mantle it's much worse, 40-50 when there is some "heavy" action).

 

[AtenRa]

No, BF3 & BF4. But it's not often. Usually, I get 60fps on the ultra preset (BF4 with Mantle - without Mantle it's much worse, 40-50 when there is some "heavy" action).

Lower the Image Quality settings, if you have 4x MSAA lower it to 2x MSAA. Im sure you can have 60fps continuously using the Core i5 2500 with Mantle.

Edit: If you are going to spend all that money, Core i7 5820K (6-core) is rumored to be released at only 20% higher price than Core i7 4820K in September

 

[SPBHM]

Edit: If you are going to spend all that money, Core i7 5820K (6-core) is rumored to be released at only 20% higher price than Core i7 4820K in September

+ DDR4 + x99 MB




max oc for the 2500 non K should be 3.8GHz with BCLK 100, 105 would be 4GHz

I would assume it would be fast enough with mantle!? or perhaps the 280x is a lot worse with mantle than the GCN 1.1 stuff

 

[cytg111]

Lower the Image Quality settings, if you have 4x MSAA lower it to 2x MSAA. Im sure you can have 60fps continuously using the Core i5 2500 with Mantle.

Edit: If you are going to spend all that money, Core i7 5820K (6-core) is rumored to be released at only 20% higher price than Core i7 4820K in September

Well, allready running mantle i'd guess that you'd get much more bang-for-buck going 280x crossfire.

 

[2is]

Certainly give the turbo OC +4 a try if you haven't already. I had a 2500k in addition to a 2600k and 3770k that I had and still have and I didn't feel the 2500k performed appreciably slower in anything I did. I eventually sold it simply because I didn't need 3 gaming systems.

Now if you simply want to upgrade, then upgrade

 

[ruhtraeel]

Take a look for these benchmarks and decide for yourself:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2012/05/01/intel-core-i5-3570k-cpu-review/6

http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1158&page=13

 

[BonzaiDuck]

. . .
but the bottom line is...anything after 1366 you can volt the RAM to the moon and it won't hurt your chip.

Where did you hear that? This seems to be an ongoing caution in the "Mem & Storage" forum. As far as I understand, Intel itself had stated that anything over ~1.57V for RAM would void the processor warranty.

It may well be the case, under a business logic for setting specs and warranty limits, that "it won't hurt your chip."