Turns out my friend can’t get

Turns out my friend can’t get a discount on [i]all[/i] the intel stuff, so he suggested an i5-2500 in place of the g620 which through him won’t be much more expensive than a g620 from newegg. How would the i5-2500 compare to the g620 in terms of power usage/cooling requirements? For the sake of comparison I should probably assume that I’d underclock the i5 for similar performance. The nice thing would be the ability to ramp up the clock if I find it necessary down the line. But I also don’t want to pay a bit more if I won’t see any benefit in everyday htpc use if it also will consume significantly more power and require more (noisier) cooling.

Also, he can only get a 20gb ssd or a 120gb, and the discounts aren’t that great. I’m thinking I’ll feel confined by the 20gb as an OS drive (win7) even though I’m not planning to load it up with a ton of apps or anything. Agree or disagree?

Once again, the feedback is greatly appreciated!