I apologize in advance if this review is a little vague on some of the specs of this CPU. I'm not doing this FROM that computer, so I don't have any of the exact details to go off of.
I've had a handful of computers [desktops and laptops, including a $5,000 Sager 9262 I bought in 2008] over the years, but they've always been pre-assembled, and I've always wanted to build my own desktop gaming rig. Having just gotten back home from Afghanistan, I had a bit of cash to finally throw into an attempt.
I won't go TOO into details on my rig, but I got the Corsair Obsidian 800D with a Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7-B3 Motherboard (Mobo), GeForce GTX 570x2, Intel SSD, and Corsair 16gb of DDR3 1600Mhz RAM. And of course, the i7 2600K.
#1 - Installation - First of all, installing this thing was a cinch. [For my motherboard] All I had to do was lift the locking mechanism up, remove the dust guard, set the CPU on the contacts of the Mobo, and lock it down. I second-guessed myself when I did this, thinking it should have been a smidgen more difficult, but nope. Simple as that.
After installing every other component in my case, and turning this bad boy on, I immediately went into the bios to check it out. You can get pretty deep into the settings on this Mobo, but I got the hang of it rather quickly and familiarized myself with the capabilities of this processor. I didn't overclock it right off the bat (good idea for anyone), so I could get a baseline performance test (before and after, so to speak). I installed the OS and whatnot, followed by a few games like Crysis, Bioshock 2, Arma 2, etc.
#2 - Overclocking - The factory clock on this is 3.4Ghz (multiplier of 34). I'm currently pushing 4.4Ghz (or a multiplier of 44) with AIR COOLING, and without getting extremely hot. I plan on getting liquid cooling over time, but I'll wait for that.
#3 - Performance - As I'm not at that computer right now (doing this from work), I don't remember my exact framerate (FPS) in these games, I CAN tell you that it's extremely good. If I remember correctly, I got around 65 FPS on Crysis, and ARMA 2 with all graphics settings maxed out. I know that half of that may be the 570s, but this CPU helps A LOT!
#4 - Price - For $340, this thing blows the concept of "getting a deal" out of the water! The 2600K is regularly compared against the 990x in stats and performance, and the 990x is nearly $1,000!
All in all, I give this thing a 5 out of 5. It's a bargain price for some high-performance, and high-quality hardware. It'll slaughter anything you throw at it, and then some. It's compatible with all current-gen GPUs and most RAM.
I definitely recommend getting this CPU if you're planning on building your own gaming computer. It's way beyond nice to have. It's one of the most powerful consumer CPUs out there, and by far the best power-to-dollar ratio out there.
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This Item  Intel Core i7-2600K Quad-Core Processor 3.4 Ghz 8 MB Cache LGA 1155 - BX80623I72600K |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | $85.00 | -10% $234.00 Typical: $260.78 | $185.75 | -17% $62.17 New Price: $74.95 | -26% $58.99 New Price: $80.00 | -47% $66.00 New Price: $124.27 |
| Delivery | Get it Apr 10 - 12 | Get it as soon as Monday, Apr 15 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 10 | Get it Apr 10 - 12 | Get it Apr 12 - 16 | Get it as soon as Thursday, Apr 11 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Stability | ||||||
| For gaming | ||||||
| Easy to lock | ||||||
| Value for money | ||||||
| Sold By | OEM XS INC. | Chromebook Prosale | Amazon.com | TekRefurbs | Bargain_R_Us2 | ConfigureSystem |
| core count | 4 | 12 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| cpu socket | LGA 1155 | LGA 1700 | LGA 1700 | LGA 1150 | LGA 1155 | LGA 1155 |
| cpu speed | — | — | — | 3.4 GHz | 3.4 GHz | 3.4 GHz |
| cpu family | Core i7 2600K | core i7 | core i5 | core i7 | core i7 | core i7 |
| L2 cache | 8 MB | 11 MB | 8.5 MB | 8 MB | — | 8 MB |
| wattage | — | 125 watts | 125 watts | 84 watts | 77 watts | — |
Reviews with images
Upgraded to this.
I decided to upgrade my computer from a first generation i5 to this baby. The i7 2600K is what i was searching for, was able to overclock this chip to 4.3Ghz and still running stable. In addition to aftermarket cooling systems the CPU heated up to about 40-47*C. No bad at all.
