Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor

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I went for the 2500k over the 2600k because I make very little use of hyperthreading on my home computer. This CPU is a monster. It can even be OC'd somewhat with the stock cooler. All in all this is an amazing CPU and paired with a good aftermarket cooler it can really be pushed.The only complaint I have is that the power cable on the CPU fan is about 2mm too short. It is stretched tight around the cooler, and the vibration causes it to move a little bit over time resulting in it just barely touching the edge of the fans blades. This makes a loud noise inside the case as they rub and I have had to open up the side and move the wires every 2-3 days to keep it quiet. Not a huge deal, but it drove me nuts so I got a different cooler. No reason to grade the processor down I don't think.

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Bought this for a flight sim build for my uncle. Went with the i5 over the i7 as flight simulator x doesn't use hyperthreading so there wasn't much point in going to the i7. Overclocked to ~4.7 ghz on a corsair H60. Very pleased with the performance for the price.

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This is replacing my x2 4400+ 2.2Ghz, what a difference.Win 7 64bit on an Asus P8P67 board. Haven`t had it higher than the turbo mode 4.2Ghz yet but for now default speeds are more than enough. Cooling it with a Noctua twin 120mm fan cooler it is just great. I would buy again.

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This is a beautiful peace of engineering, overclocked easy to 4.5ghz at 1.35 volts and still idles at 28 with a hyper 212. I'm in love

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Don't really have any complaints for this particular processor. Installation was easy, it keeps up with some of the big boys, and it is an overclocking monster!Haven't bought an after market heatsink yet, but do plan on it soon! :)

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I got my highest stable running at 4.9 but I decided to just stick with 4.5 for overall 24/7 use. Coupled with h70 the temps kept low.

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Not only does it overclock easily, but it also runs very cool. Reaching max overclocks on air cooling is great. No water cooling required, just a good heatsink with fan.

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The price-performance ratio on this thing is absolutely amazing. It encodes much faster than my Q6600, obviously, and runs much cooler. I'm very satisfied so far. If anyone is planning to make a gaming PC, this is definitely it. At $200, it can't be beat.

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A great quad core CPU with fantastic overclockability - at least 4.5 G on air for myselfHighly recommended for gamers!

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4.0 ghz at 1.15 volts which is lower than stock voltage I believe. Amazing capability and very fast!

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Installed on a Gigabyte P67A-UD3-B3 board for a friend. Was detected properly and is running at stock speeds. Turbo mode was set to 3.4 GHz by default.I used some MX-2 thermal paste instead of the stock goo and so far the temps hover around 37C with the stock heat sink/fan.This CPU was installed in a gaming system along with a 560 Ti, so it's going to get a lot of use. Maybe my friend will change his mind in the future and overclock it to add a few years to the life of his system.

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It had a hard time picking between this and the i7-2600K, but figured this was the better value for the money, and it is. It's a great upgrade from my old LGA775 E6600.It is OC'd to 4.2GHz and running stable on my MSI P67A-GD65 and cooled by a Scythe Mugen 2, with temps at idle only 4-5 degrees above ambient.It's products like this chip that keep me in the Intel camp.

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Had a hard time choosing between this and a six core AMD.. I think I made the right choice.

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Got this as my new processor for my new sandy bridge build and I gotta say its one awesome processor!

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Amazing chip at an amazing price. Glad I got this over the similarly priced 6 core AMD chips.Absolutely destroys every game I throw at it, even without overclocking.

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for gaming, it's the best power/price cpu on the market right now. and yes, it's worth the 20$ more for the K version because it's so easy to overclock to 4ghz!

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A very good processor. Runs very cool at idle even with default fan. Temperature hardly exceeds 60C under load.

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Was amazed of how fast this processor is. Overclocking was a sinch, and it definately blew away the competition in terms of synthetic benchmarks. Ran games perfectly fine (in other words, no GPU/CPU bottleneck) and encoding was blazing fast. The only qualms I had with this is finding a decent, cost effective, motherboard. But seeing as how that is not the processors fault, I am not rating against that. But, there are cheaper processors out there, that can do the job perfectly fine as well. I will continue to recommend it to enthusiasts.

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Upgraded from a e4500 LGA775, and as you can expect, there is no contest between the two. I have had this overclocked at 5.0ghz with a 1.4vcore, temps were a little high (70 degess) so I dropped it to a mere 4.7ghz j 1.35v... and max temps is about 60 under prime95, 27 degrees on idle. This thing is a beast!

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Nothing much to say that can't be found in professional Sandy Bridge reviews. It's a fast little bugger, and had no trouble running at 4.4 GHz on air. It could probably go much higher, if I was inclined to try. Very, very fast in video encoding tasks, especially compared to my old C2D.

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Special K eats anything else in this price range for breakfast. The sale price with a free game was good.Paired this puppy with a MSI P67A-GD55 mobo, and the results are outstanding. Just tried my first ok and overclock and it is stable at 5 GHZ. Core temps only went up 5 degrees, using a Coolit Vantage Water Cooling System.

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Using this on P8P67 Pro. OC'd to 4.8 no problem then lowered it to 4.5 for everyday use. Amazing gaming CPU. The OC protential makes this CPU one of the best bang for buck.

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This is the best gaming CPU I even bought. at the same time, it's the cheapest! OCed to 4.7GHz on P8P67 Dlx.Running cool, get all the latest Intel extension (AVX).I get 9266 on the Passmark CPU chart at 4.7GHz.

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What can I say, I could't be happier with this processor. Have gotten this up to 4.7GHz with no overheating issues. Absolutely love this chip and would recommend it to anyone (especially gamers). This is a steal for the price point.

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I wasn't really expecting a huge jump in performance when I was upgrading to this CPU. I had Quad LGA 775 Core Duo that I put in my desktop last spring. I had wanted to move the a motherboard with DDR3 memory and basically move to the next generation. Installed Windows 7 on my SSD which was fast as well. Once all of my updating and settings were done and got down to using it I was pleasantly surprised. As I said I really didn't expect to see a huge performance boost but that's what I got. One program I use a lot is Handbrake. It seems to use all the CPU power it can get and I am getting close to double my FPS when converting a video. Rendering a video in Pinnacle is also much faster. I was going to buy the locked version but when I bought this with the sale price there was only a $5 difference. I may upgrade my MB in the future to take advantage of the overclocking abilities of this CPU. But I still get 3.8GHZ in turbo mode. Overall I am very happy with this CPU and would highly recommend.