To get or not to get...i7 2600K

[Centurion_D]

Fella's..I'm on the fence on this decision. I built a new system a few months ago because my 10yr. old pc finally crapped out. The build is a intel i3 550 3.2Ghz processor with 4 gigs of ram. Now I see the intel i7 2600k sandybridge processor on sale at a decent price. Should I go ahead and pass down my i3 system to my soon (he'll be five this year) and go for the i7 or just stick with what I have. Now I plan to hold on to this system for a couple of years. Heck the only reason why I upgraded in the first place is because my old system finally bit the dust. If I do upgrade to the i7 then I choose to hang on to it for a very long time..several years just like my old pc. What should I do?

[iareConfusE]

What are you using your computer for? If it's just internet browsing, watching movies, and looking at pictures, forget it, just keep what you have, it's more than good enough. If you plan on hardcore PC gaming or doing some ridiculous work that requires a lot of processing power, then the Sandy Bridge might be justified.

Just because something is on sale doesn't mean you have to buy it

[G1500]

It's pretty much up to you, What you want to do with it and how much you want to spend. I have an overclocked i7 920 that I have had for about almost 3 years I would say. I built it just to have pretty much. It is super fast, OCed to around 4GHZ, 6gb Dominator Ram, dual SSD boot drives in a RAID 0, 1 gig video card, 1000watt PSU. It pretty much sees use about 2 times a month and that's about it.

If you need it for something or if you want so have something top of the line that you can keep for a while, the cool factor of having the top of the line, fast system, or if you need to get your son a machine, then I say go for it. Otherwise, spend your money elsewhere unless that money is burning a hole in your pocket.

[G1500]

Just because something is on sale doesn't mean you have to buy it

HEY!

That's not true! My XD45 was on sale/impulse buy, and now it is my favorite handgun in the collection.

[Centurion_D]

What are you using your computer for? If it's just internet browsing, watching movies, and looking at pictures, forget it, just keep what you have, it's more than good enough. If you plan on hardcore PC gaming or doing some ridiculous work that requires a lot of processing power, then the Sandy Bridge might be justified.

Just because something is on sale doesn't mean you have to buy it

Well I do some gaming...but I have to admit not so much now. I do some video processing but not any real heavy multi tasking. I'll think about it.

[gfourth]

What are you using your computer for? If it's just internet browsing, watching movies, and looking at pictures, forget it, just keep what you have, it's more than good enough. If you plan on hardcore PC gaming or doing some ridiculous work that requires a lot of processing power, then the Sandy Bridge might be justified.

Just because something is on sale doesn't mean you have to buy it

+1000

And the only reason to get the "K" is if you plan on overclocking.

[iareConfusE]

Well I do some gaming...but I have to admit not so much now. I do some video processing but not any real heavy multi tasking. I'll think about it.

Meh, then don't bother. Try overclocking your i3 if you want it faster for some reason, lol. Save that extra money to purchase ammo and guns.

[KaHuNaZ]

Id get the best you can afford now, so you dont have to upgrade for a while.

[whobob]

foxconn explosion, get it quick.

[JDay]

The i5-2500k is a much better deal, look at the benchmarks. If you overclock it you will get better performance than the i7-2600k at stock speed. It even beats the i7-2600k in some benchmarks at stock speed. The only difference between these two processors is 100mhz, 2mb of cache and the i7 has Hyper-Threading enabled (they're both quad cores).

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/20

[Merc1138]

The K version is pointless unless you're overclocking, and to be honest if you have to ask whether or not you should get the i7, don't.

You mentioned gaming but didn't list your videocard? What does your idea of gaming consist of? Farmville and COD blackops aren't exactly the same thing. What resolution is your monitor(it's always best to be using the native resolution of an LCD, and that can dictate what you may need to really be spending money on).

[JDay]

The K version is pointless unless you're overclocking, and to be honest if you have to ask whether or not you should get the i7, don't.

You mentioned gaming but didn't list your videocard? What does your idea of gaming consist of? Farmville and COD blackops aren't exactly the same thing. What resolution is your monitor(it's always best to be using the native resolution of an LCD, and that can dictate what you may need to really be spending money on).

Farmville isn't a game, it's a data mining program.

[ExtremeX]

I didnt answer the poll... all depends on your usage and applications you run.

Do you NEED it? If so go with JDays recommendation on the 2500k.

I am going to wait for Ivy Bridge personally for my personal desktop. My 1366 system is still getting things done. I was thinking of upgrading just the processor but I am going to hold out.

I will be building a server pretty soon using the 1155 socket and a E3-1230 as a home server using VMware

[AR15Kimo]

Waste of money imo..

The i3 is fine for ur needs.

[BRANCHER]

Don't ask me... I am finally replacing my old PC with a new iMAC i7 3.4, 16gb of ram, and 2 GB of video memory... second monitor etc etc... and getting it tomorrow... wanted to go solid state but could wait the couple of months... but then again I wouldn't have bothered if I had an i3 system... mines an old Pent 4 2.8Ghz and 2 GB of ram...

And I know it is overkill for what I do... but I did get Starcraft II as well... and will be using parallells with Win 7 x64 (need publisher) ... and nice thing about parallels is I can call up the windows on the iPad... ie making it a computer...

OK not been a tech geek for a while (althought I write code for a living)... used to always have the best... Guns sucked budget for the quite a while and alot over the last 7-8 years... and when I figure out how to convince the wife on letting me get a third gun safe.... it will begin again... but that will be tough since we start preschool interviews this month... and yes as a true cal gunner... I didn't get a baseball glove when I found out I was having a boy... I got a custom made single shot bolt action pellet rifle...