I5 5200k vs I7 2600K vs I7 2600 vs I5 2500?

Yes the 2600 i7 would be the one to go for, it's a fantastic cpu.

Remember the i5 and i7 will use the turbo feature on load and so will automatically clock up to around 4Ghz

If you are not prepared to get better cooling and mess about overclocking I'm sure you will be very happy at the performance of the i7 2600 even without over clocking

I7 2600 Vs I5 2500

Considering that you mentioned that money is no problem, i7 2600 would be the best selection, as it is better than the i5 series and you don't want to overclock it. However, you must consider that there will not be much difference between i5 and i7 when gaming; manly, graphics card matter when you are gaming. If you don't do video editing, then i5 is not a bad choice, however the i7 processor will last for more years before an upgrade is necessary.

Get the i7 2600, go with your gut feeling. As you said, you don't want to spend money on aftermarket coolers/fans. The i7 2600 will last you a long time before you need to upgrade. It was like back in the core 2 duo/quad days that those cpus will last you 3-4 years. Same goes with the i7. If your purely on gaming, get the i5 2500 as there isn't much difference in gaming performance. Otherwise, get the i7 2600 if you're doing cpu intensive tasks such as video editing/encoding. Enough said.

I stand by my answer that I have probably given DOZENS of times. The 5200K would be my first choice but unfortunately that is some years away to be sure. I would stay with the 2500K. You will not see ANY performance differences other than overclocking with the K. Seriously you are truly overthinking this, which isn't a bad thing, and as you may have saw in the LINK I provided you with earlier you can see the performance differences. Even if I had the money to spare I would be wise and invest the money in a 2500 or 2500K as opposed to wasting or simply spending $100 more on the 2600K. I'm certainly not just going to throw $100 at Intel because I have the money. They don't deserve it. Intel needs to earn my money. The return that the 2500K brought to the table justified what I was investing in it so Intel only earned $229 minus their costs for distributors and such. The 2600K failed. Don't spend your money just because you can. Go for the $2500K and um guess what? You have $100 to spend on a cooler. I am not sure if I would have spent $60 on the V8 back then but if I had known how relatively cool it was going to keep my computer I would have.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/313593-28-differ...

http://ark.intel.com/compare/52210,52214

http://ark.intel.com/compare/52213,52214

BTW I have the Cooler Master V8 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8... . Wow it's gone up considerably in price since I purchased it almost a year ago. I haven't ever seen it go down. I recommend the V8 whenever there is a cooling concern. I also recommend the cheaper http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8... . I found it to be very irresponsible not to install an aftermarket cooler. I bought the V8 as the first part for my computer. The next month I purchased an 8GB RAM dual channel kit from G.skill. 8 Months later I was finally done buying parts and had it constructed. My last part was the 2500K from Intel. I installed their cooler even though I had only heard bad things about it. I idled at 53°C. I installed the Cooler Master V8 on my 2500K. My temps are below

Core 0

Core Speed 1895.7 MHz

Multiplier x 16.0

Bus Speed 99.8 MHz

Temperature 29 °C

Thread 1

APIC ID 0

Core 1

Core Speed 1596.4 MHz

Multiplier x 16.0

Bus Speed 99.8 MHz

Temperature 31 °C

Thread 1

APIC ID 2

Core 2

Core Speed 1596.4 MHz

Multiplier x 16.0

Bus Speed 99.8 MHz

Temperature 32 °C

Thread 1

APIC ID 4

Core 3

Core Speed 1596.4 MHz

Multiplier x 16.0

Bus Speed 99.8 MHz

Temperature 29 °C

Thread 1

APIC ID 6

To ignore all of the bad news I had heard about the cooler from Intel I knew that my CPU would be a lot cooler and in the long run I feel that it will also extend its' life a bit. I mean I am looking at a 20°C difference between the first time I pushed the switch on my Azza 2000R and right now. I would seriously reconsider your decision. $34 can usually be saved up in less than a month by most. That sum of money is imho justified by the significant drop in temps.

It's actually overclocked to 4.4GHz right now. If I was to start playing a game my computer would bring my core speed up to the appropriate level that it needs up to 4.4GHz at the most. I have C1E enabled inside of my BIOS. C1E allows my CPU to throttle back to what you can see above. I need to find a pic from awhile back...

Okay. Take a look at this http://postimage.org/image/g54fa26sz/ . I am a bit confused..Nevermind I only had it up to 4.2GHz back then. Even when my 2500K is overclocked about 1GHz over the default speed my temps are still well below what they were when I installed the Intel cooler and the 2500K was at stock speeds. EDIT: I just noticed something. I also had Batman: AC, Gimp and a few other programs running. This certainly supports by cooler suggestions.

I must sorta agree with the first answer. my link from earlier http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=287 even has the 2500K ahead in Dirt3. I mean the 2600K is not worth the extra money.

You can think the i7 is better BUT...it won't be unless your work involves a lot of multi-threaded apps.

Does it?

If not, save your money, get the i5.

Though you should do one thing, and that's wait for IvyBridge.