In praise of the Sandy Bridge i5 2500k
Discussion
I have just completely changed my work PC, and I love doing this kind of stuff. I figured that perhaps out HTPC with its 2500k may need an upgrade.
However, after doing a search on YouTube 'Is it worth upgrading from Sandy Bridge 2500k', I changed my mind, and have decided to give the HTPC a makeover instead. The CPU has always been running with a modest overclock on the stock Intel cooler, and never had any problems. (I put in a good P67 MATX mobo when building it). The PC does have an old NVidia 460 1gb GPU though, which struggles with some of the latest games.
So, I decided to change the HDD to a fast Samsung SSD as the original 1TB HDD makes a hell of a racket (would prefer the newer NVMe M.2 SSD's..), replace the GPU with an 8gb NVidia 1070 GTX, and stick on a HTPC friendly Corsair water cooler so I can overclock to near 5ghz.
I never intended to keep the original mobo, CPU and memory, but it seems for gaming and watching HD content on our 55" OLED, it's still no slouch, even after 6 years!
However, after doing a search on YouTube 'Is it worth upgrading from Sandy Bridge 2500k', I changed my mind, and have decided to give the HTPC a makeover instead. The CPU has always been running with a modest overclock on the stock Intel cooler, and never had any problems. (I put in a good P67 MATX mobo when building it). The PC does have an old NVidia 460 1gb GPU though, which struggles with some of the latest games.
So, I decided to change the HDD to a fast Samsung SSD as the original 1TB HDD makes a hell of a racket (would prefer the newer NVMe M.2 SSD's..), replace the GPU with an 8gb NVidia 1070 GTX, and stick on a HTPC friendly Corsair water cooler so I can overclock to near 5ghz.
I never intended to keep the original mobo, CPU and memory, but it seems for gaming and watching HD content on our 55" OLED, it's still no slouch, even after 6 years!
chris285 said:
Just incremental updates each time and small increases in performance, but i owuld guess power usage and heat would be the big change in a new cpu.
But depends what you are using it for, what you have done will give it more years of use I am sure
I decided to install my old 2600k CPU instead, as it is water cooled. I have now installed it and the closed loop CPU cooler and all's fine at 4.5ghz.But depends what you are using it for, what you have done will give it more years of use I am sure
Didn't realise just how long the 1070 is! It fits though. Will take a pic when I've finished. I decided to order another 500gb SSD to get rid of the old mechanical HDD's out of the case altogether (SSD's are on the 6gb/s connections) - one for OS and standard program files, and the other for my Steam game library.
The only problem with these dedicated HTPC cases is that you cannot run the various cables behind the mobo...
chris watton said:
I have just completely changed my work PC, and I love doing this kind of stuff. I figured that perhaps out HTPC with its 2500k may need an upgrade.
However, after doing a search on YouTube 'Is it worth upgrading from Sandy Bridge 2500k', I changed my mind, and have decided to give the HTPC a makeover instead. The CPU has always been running with a modest overclock on the stock Intel cooler, and never had any problems. (I put in a good P67 MATX mobo when building it). The PC does have an old NVidia 460 1gb GPU though, which struggles with some of the latest games.
2500k represent! What an awesome CPU - mine's still going strong @4.2 after 6 years too, even being the lone survivor in my system after a faulty PSU took out the mainboard and GFX card. It emerged from the smoke and cinders like Rambo from the napalm'd jungle, ready to fight on.However, after doing a search on YouTube 'Is it worth upgrading from Sandy Bridge 2500k', I changed my mind, and have decided to give the HTPC a makeover instead. The CPU has always been running with a modest overclock on the stock Intel cooler, and never had any problems. (I put in a good P67 MATX mobo when building it). The PC does have an old NVidia 460 1gb GPU though, which struggles with some of the latest games.
I just don't see a reason to upgrade it, even now.
Running a mid 2011 2500k at 4.7ghz at home still, 24gb ram 500gb ssd.
Its getting to the point an upgrade makes sense from a performance pov. An 8700k and some ddr4 but the cost of ram (its ~$800 for 32gb here!) is crazy.
I'm not desperate for more cpu either really not a lot hangs around apart from video renders/timelapse.
I've never run a CPU for so long its usually 2-3 years max. Planning on upgrading late next year so 7 years old??
Its getting to the point an upgrade makes sense from a performance pov. An 8700k and some ddr4 but the cost of ram (its ~$800 for 32gb here!) is crazy.
I'm not desperate for more cpu either really not a lot hangs around apart from video renders/timelapse.
I've never run a CPU for so long its usually 2-3 years max. Planning on upgrading late next year so 7 years old??
I messed around a little too much last night. I stupidly updated the BIOS to the EVGA P67 SLI Micro Motherboard. What a mistake that was! Constant BSOD's and massive instability.
Luckily, I read the manual and found I could revert to the original BIOS by making a change on a jumper, and all is good again. So, lesson learned, if it's not broke, leave it alone!
The HTPC case is pretty roomy, and if I have to upgrade the mobo, CPU and RAM in the future, I'll get a full ATX with better PCI slot spacing. (And also I liked the thought of no SATA cables and power plugs clogging up the case if I upgraded to a latest configuration, there are only 2 USB3 ports, so I bought a PCI card giving me an extra 4, but this meant more cabling..)
Luckily, I read the manual and found I could revert to the original BIOS by making a change on a jumper, and all is good again. So, lesson learned, if it's not broke, leave it alone!
The HTPC case is pretty roomy, and if I have to upgrade the mobo, CPU and RAM in the future, I'll get a full ATX with better PCI slot spacing. (And also I liked the thought of no SATA cables and power plugs clogging up the case if I upgraded to a latest configuration, there are only 2 USB3 ports, so I bought a PCI card giving me an extra 4, but this meant more cabling..)
Edited by chris watton on Thursday 23 November 08:25
OK, all sorted, Sandy Bridge i72600 running at 4.5ghz (i5 2500 now in step son's PC, also at 4.5ghz), 16gb RAM, 2x500gb SDD's, GTX 1070 and a BR drive.
Not as neat as I'd like, but the extra USB PCI card needed power, which meant a whole new cable coming from the PSU with all the unwanted extra plugs that come with it..
Not as neat as I'd like, but the extra USB PCI card needed power, which meant a whole new cable coming from the PSU with all the unwanted extra plugs that come with it..
Another update!
The USB 3 PCI card I bought wasn't 100% reliable, making the 20-30gb file size films stutter when watching. I then bought another and had the same problems.
I decided to completely change the motherboard, CPU and RAM for something more current, so I went with a full size ATX Z-370 motherboard (with 8 USB 3 ports), a Coffee Lake i58600k CPU and 16GB of DDR4 RAM, along with a 250gb Samsung Evo NVMe M.2Solid State Drive for the OS and the two 500gb SSD's for my Steam library. Less cables in my HTPC case, too, so a lot neater.
That should last another few years, I hope - nothing wrong with the old Sandy Bridge CPU, it was just the motherboard. Although Assassins Creed Origins loves this newer CPU!
I was thinking about getting a 4k BR drive for it, but you need to use the on-board graphics chip for it to work, how stupid is that!
The USB 3 PCI card I bought wasn't 100% reliable, making the 20-30gb file size films stutter when watching. I then bought another and had the same problems.
I decided to completely change the motherboard, CPU and RAM for something more current, so I went with a full size ATX Z-370 motherboard (with 8 USB 3 ports), a Coffee Lake i58600k CPU and 16GB of DDR4 RAM, along with a 250gb Samsung Evo NVMe M.2Solid State Drive for the OS and the two 500gb SSD's for my Steam library. Less cables in my HTPC case, too, so a lot neater.
That should last another few years, I hope - nothing wrong with the old Sandy Bridge CPU, it was just the motherboard. Although Assassins Creed Origins loves this newer CPU!
I was thinking about getting a 4k BR drive for it, but you need to use the on-board graphics chip for it to work, how stupid is that!
Hmm. How easy to do is the overclocking and what should I watch out for? I have exactly this CPU in my 5-something year old tower. It's starting to get maxed out with boring stuff although gaming is still ok. And it's never run hot. Getting some upgraded performance for zero pennies is pretty attractive!
I had an i7 2600k, great cpu, it would still do reasonably well today, even overclocked mildly, what kills these cpu's is the new GPU's just bottle neck with them so going for a top of the range card is a bit ott if you want the best performance out of the rig without spending a shed load of cash in the process.
k out of them without too much hassle especially in the temps departmentWhoozit said:
Hmm. How easy to do is the overclocking and what should I watch out for? I have exactly this CPU in my 5-something year old tower. It's starting to get maxed out with boring stuff although gaming is still ok. And it's never run hot. Getting some upgraded performance for zero pennies is pretty attractive!
If it's the K version, you can (and should) overclock it. Just change the CPU multiplier to 40-45 and it will run at 4 or 4.5GHz - as long as your motherboard supports overclocking.Edited by chris watton on Sunday 3rd December 18:49
chris watton said:
If it's the K version, you can (and should) overclock it. Just change the VPU multiplier to 40-45 and it will run at 4 or 4.5GHz - as long as your motherboard supports overclocking.
Seems to be. Is it as simple as changing BIOS settings? Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz, 3310 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
MB is a Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD63P-B3 . I'm technical enough to build a PC but not to understand the overclocking. Looking at Overclockers.co.uk from 5 years ago it appears to be a well used MB for clocking.
Whoozit said:
Seems to be. Is it as simple as changing BIOS settings?
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz, 3310 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
MB is a Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD63P-B3 . I'm technical enough to build a PC but not to understand the overclocking. Looking at Overclockers.co.uk from 5 years ago it appears to be a well used MB for clocking.
Should be fine with that motherboard - and I should have typed CPU multiplier, not VPU!Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz, 3310 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
MB is a Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD63P-B3 . I'm technical enough to build a PC but not to understand the overclocking. Looking at Overclockers.co.uk from 5 years ago it appears to be a well used MB for clocking.
Even easier to overclock now, my new motherboard already had pre-set overclocking options, I just clicked the 5GHz option and it did it all for me, 5GHz with just one click! (I discovered I could also use the mouse in the BIOS)!
But the Sandy Bridge CPU is very easy to overclock just by changing the multiplier - I don't ever recall having to change anything else.
The i5 2500k was overclocked using its standard cooler for five years, in a tiny HTPC case, although a better cooling solution would be better..
ETA - You can still download more recent drivers and stuff for your motherboard:
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z68X-UD3P-...
Edited by chris watton on Sunday 3rd December 19:00
Whoozit said:
And done. I upped it to 4x. Seemed to boot up a fair bit faster, and seems smoother. CPU temp is maxing out at 70 degrees with some intensive Lightroom work, but quickly reduces to below 50 degrees.
Cool! The good thing about just changing the multiplier and nothing else, if you do go too far, it will just fail to boot and you revert back to the standard BIOS settings and start again, as nothing should be damaged. from my experience, at least.OK, I finally finished my new HTPC - as mentioned, no longer Sandy Bridge, but a Coffee Lake i5 8600k, overclocked to 5GHz.
I made another couple of changes, I bought Noctura fans for the CPU cooler radiator, changed the fans config so they are all blowing in. Also, I bought a MATX size 600W PSU, so there's a little more room between the PSU cable plugs and CPU rad and fans and, swapped out the very long 1070 for a GTX 1080 mini, the smallest available as far as I know, meaning more space for air to circulate. I had to buy some cable extensions for the motherboard and CPU power cables, as the ones that come with the PSU were way too short..
This is it, before adding the BR drive and SSD hard drive tray:
I made another couple of changes, I bought Noctura fans for the CPU cooler radiator, changed the fans config so they are all blowing in. Also, I bought a MATX size 600W PSU, so there's a little more room between the PSU cable plugs and CPU rad and fans and, swapped out the very long 1070 for a GTX 1080 mini, the smallest available as far as I know, meaning more space for air to circulate. I had to buy some cable extensions for the motherboard and CPU power cables, as the ones that come with the PSU were way too short..
This is it, before adding the BR drive and SSD hard drive tray:
Edited by chris watton on Wednesday 6th December 15:59
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