Help Me Choose - i5 2500, or 2500K

[Zealot]

For Christmas I was fortunate enough to have my parents nearly buy me an entirely new PC.

I have a huge cooler master case with lots of large fans,ports, AND a slot for portable hard drives on the top , 8GB of Kingston Hyper X 1600 MHz RAM, a 60 GB Solid State Drive, and an Intel i5 2300 processor. And a motherboard.

--BRB WITH SPECS ON CASE AND MOTHERBOARD--

Okay - Motherboard is an ASUS P867 (Revision 3.1 - New P67 B3 Revision) - http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8P67/

Cast is the Cooler Master CM690 Advanced - http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6638

Now, my dad explained to me I can pay the difference and upgrade it to a higher model and my first though was to get the i7, but with research I have found I could pay far less and simply overclock an i5 2500K model. The difference in price between the regular 2500 and K model is I think 20-30 dollars, so I am here to ask if it would be worth the money for the K? I am quite the gamer and I know my way around computers very well. I red the OCing guide on the website but it felt pretty out of date

If I were to OC the 2500K:
-Would the slight increase in cost be worth it?
-Would I require a non stock cooler despite the case giving what seems to be excellent airflow?
-If I need a better cooler, any recommendations?
-And of course, what is a good method for doing the OC? Changing multipliers and voltages through the BIOS?

Thank you for your time
-

 

[zPixel]

For Christmas I was fortunate enough to have my parents nearly buy me an entirely new PC.

I have a huge cooler master case with lots of large fans,ports, AND a slot for portable hard drives on the top , 8GB of Kingston Hyper X 1600 MHz RAM, a 60 GB Solid State Drive, and an Intel i5 2300 processor. And a motherboard.

--BRB WITH SPECS ON CASE AND MOTHERBOARD--

Okay - Motherboard is an ASUS P867 (Revision 3.1 - New P67 B3 Revision) - http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8P67/

Cast is the Cooler Master CM690 Advanced - http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6638

Now, my dad explained to me I can pay the difference and upgrade it to a higher model and my first though was to get the i7, but with research I have found I could pay far less and simply overclock an i5 2500K model. The difference in price between the regular 2500 and K model is I think 20-30 dollars, so I am here to ask if it would be worth the money for the K? I am quite the gamer and I know my way around computers very well. I red the OCing guide on the website but it felt pretty out of date

If I were to OC the 2500K:
-Would the slight increase in cost be worth it?
-Would I require a non stock cooler despite the case giving what seems to be excellent airflow?
-If I need a better cooler, any recommendations?
-And of course, what is a good method for doing the OC? Changing multipliers and voltages through the BIOS?

Thank you for your time
-

You should definitely go with the 2500k, it's much better for overclocking.

Even though your case has excellent airflow, you're going to be a better cooler.

 

[Zealot]

You should definitely go with the 2500k, it's much better for overclocking.

Even though your case has excellent airflow, you're going to be a better cooler.

Any recommendations? The computer store I'll probably by buying from is http://www.bestbytecomputer.com/catalogue.php as it is one of the best local custom PC stores, if you poked through the CPU cooling section of Fans and Accessories, is there any fans there you think would be sufficient?

 

[jonnyp11]

2500k, the k means unlocked multiplier and the non k's is locked, and using the fsb to overclock it is less stable and creates more heat, so even if it were liquid cooled you prob would be maxing it at 4ghz or less compared to like 4.6 or more.

idk if these guys ship or if there is one close to you, but this is the best price to performance cooler pretty much, but this should easily get you over 4ghz stable at good temps.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=8_129&item_id=042095

 

[Perkomate]

K for sure. I'm hitting 4.6ghz on the 212+, and that cooler is better and your case has more fans.
It seriously makes a massive difference in normal computing. No joke, things run better and faster, and it's a much more responsive system. Totally worth it.