Please note the i5-2500 has HD2000 Graphics, while the i5-2500k has HD3000 Graphicsbmrzycki wrote:I really recommend against overclocking. It can (and often does) introduce strange stability problems to the system. These problems often increase in frequency the longer the system is overclocked too. The last thing you want is for your system to crash while you're in the zone and making the final tweaks to a lead line. The i5-2500k is a great CPU and I'd recommend that one. The price difference between the locked and unlocked variant is quite small (about $15 USD right now) that it's up to you to pick one over the other.
But really. Don't overclock. You'll be glad you did later.
The difference is HD2000 has 6 EUs while the HD3000 has 12 EUs (execution units -- somewhat like mini processors) which means the HD3000 will be around 5-25% faster in games. But still wayyy under what a dedicated graphics card will perform.
2nd Gen Intel 'I' processors also have a 'QuickSync' technology that supposedly increases the speed of video encoding.. if that means anything to you.