Reddit mentions of INTEL Core i5-2500K Processor - BX80623i52500K

Same in UK, it varies greatly depending on the product but as an example:

i5 US vs i5 UK

$219 vs $262 (£161)

Adds up when buying a new PC.

• 2500k £160
  
  
• Hyper 212+ £27
  
  
• GTX 580 3gb x2 £800
  
  
• Asus P67 £127
  
  
• OS £78
  
  
• Ripjaws RAM £42
  
  
• Obsidian 800d £200
  
  
• 800w PSU £93
  
  That should run BF3 on ultra 1080p 60fps, so yeah it'll shit on any game. If your friend wants to spend that much purely for gaming then a 2600k and more than 16GB of ram is a waste. If he goes with an SLI set-up with a high end video card I'd strongly recommend at least 2 monitors otherwise you're not utilizing all of the card/s power. If not get a monitor with a high resolution. Total = £1550 w/ shipping and any other minor adjustments. You can get him the 2600k and 16GB of ram but it's his loss not your's.
  
  Note: I priced it up on Amazon because they are a good maker of pricing for components in the UK, you could probably find some parts cheaper.
  
  Edit: add an SSD if you like, they aren't for everyone. Personally i'd go with a 60gb good make one and stick OS and most played games on it; a 240gb one IMO if a big waste of money. But, each to their own.

Any reason you went with the i7-960 CPU? That's a few generations behind by now; Wikipedia puts its release in October 2009.

I don't know if you got that particular part at Amazon, but they have a price of 312.97 Euros for the i7-960.

Generally speaking, there's apparently not a huge gaming advantage going with an i7 processor over an i5. If your design software supports multiple threads, then maybe an i7 would be a good idea.

Maybe consider an i5-3450 at 182.89 Euros. If you'd like to do some overclocking, get a "K" CPU. I've seen it mentioned around here that the i5-2500K can manage higher clock speeds than the newer i5-3570K, and it's 20 Euros cheaper.

You'd have to choose a Socket 1155 motherboard with these CPUs, though.

I don't know enough about MMOs to say whether they rely more on CPU or GPU performance. I would say if you're strictly a WoW player, then you probably don't need to go nuts to achieve a perfectly playable game. You could go a few steps down on the CPU and video card ladder, and save yourself some money.

Possible alternative build:

Type | Item | Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel i5-2500K 3.30GHz | £160.50
Cooler | Noctua NH-U9B SE2 | £47.59
Mobo | AsRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 | £113.05
RAM | G-Skill Ripjaws X 1600MHz 8GB Kit | £39.74
GPU | Sapphire HD7850 2GB | £192.94
SSD | Corsair Force 3 Series 120GB | £109.34
HDD | Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB | £89.04
PSU | Be Quiet! Pure Power L8-730W | £64.79
Case | Lian-Li PC-60FNWB | £80.98
Total | | £897.97

CPU: the i5-2500K has the best price/performance ratio + can be overclocked.
Cooler: quiet and efficient air cooling.
GPU: the HD7850 is the best gpu for the money but you can buy a 7870 if you think it's not enough.
PSU: 750W is enough to power a second gpu if needed.
Case: I just added a random case to complete the build.

If this rig is mostly for gaming, may i suggest the i5 2500K as most games won't have support for Hyper Threading therefore making the i7 quite unnecessary. Same goes for the RAM, at max you will probably use 8GB. Maybe with the money you have saved, you could invest in a more expensive case or just accessories?

Seen cheaper, and Amazon is generally safer

EDIT: Ignore that. The first guy has just launched, I personally wouldn't trust buying from a Just Launched for that kind of money.

I wouldn't buy that graphics card from scan.co.uk. At amazon, the Asus gtx 560 TI 1gb is £60 less at only £164.

Also, the 2500k is only £2 more at amazon and as other people have stated is fully unlocked. And with the money you saved on the graphics card, you could buy a cheap aftermarket cpu cooler to overclock it. I'd recommend the CM Hyper 212 Evo £28.

You might also want to purchase an SSD if you have the cash to drastically speed up load times. A small 64 gb crucial M4 is only £60 and you can combine it with intel SRT for good results cheaply.

Links to 2500k, 560 TI, Hyper 212 and Crucial M4.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004FA8NX2/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004K8R8DA
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0068OI7T8/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004W2JKWG/

Shave off a twenty and get this ram. Also, order the mobo from dabs now, when I tried a month ago it was out of stock.

You could get a 30 quid Hyper 212 evo from amazon if you wanted, it's a great cooler.

Also, this psu, the thermaltake toughpower 675w is great. I got one that was faulty, but I've got a new one and its silent, semi-modular, and has great reviews and peripherals. It's 25w more than the one you chose and its cheaper.

One more thing: the i5 2500k is only £158.10 on amazon.

That should save you about £70.

You had this one? https://www.amazon.de/Intel-Prozessor-i5-2500K-Cache-Sockel/dp/B004FA8NX2

And you could play other games on 1080p/ >60fps / Ultra, right?

Thanks for replies :)

the i5 is cheaper on amazon right now dunno why pc part picker didn't pick it up

other than that looks good, that case is so plain, I like it

THERMAL PASTE + £5

ANTI-STATIC WRIST BAND+ £2.30

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor | £165 @ amazon
Motherboard | ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) Motherboard | £120 @ Novatech
HDD | HITACHI Deskstar Internal 3.5" SATA Hard Drive - 250GB | £40 @ Pcworld.co.uk (already bought)
Memory | Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | £35 @ Kikatek.com
Video Card | MSI RADEON HD6950 TWIN FROZR III POWER EDITION OC 2GB DDR5 850MHZ CORE | £215 @ airetechit.co.uk
Case | Cooler Master Storm Enforcer ATX Mid Tower Case | £66.25 @ Novatech
Power Supply | Cooler Master RS650-ACAAE3-UK GX-Series 650W 80 Plus Power Supply Unit | £58 @ amazon.co.uk
|| Total
| Prices include shipping and discounts when available. | £706
| Generated 2011-11-18 20:26 GMT+0000 |