Core i7-2600

[Cazzman]

Hey guys,

 

My brother is thinking about building a new PC, but since he's on a budget I was thinking about re-using some old gear he already has.
How would a core i7-2600 clocked at 3.4 GHz fare, would it still be usable today, or is it better to go for a faster clocked core i5?

 

Thanks for your tips

[AlwaysFSX]

The 2600 still performs great even by today's standards, he won't have any problems with using one.

[ManIkWeet]

Definately usable, it'll do perfectly fine in MOST games, not all of them.

 

I have an i7 2600k, makes a big difference in some games to overclock it to 4.2-4.6GHz...

[Wauthar]

I would assume it would still be just fine. My dad uses one in his PC and I have a 2500k, both working great. Sandy Bridge chips are known to be great overclockers, so you'll might squeeze out some more performance.

 

EDIT: Wait, is this a locked 2600 or a 2600k? If 2600, it might not overclock, but will still be a viable CPU

Edited April 10, 2015 by Wauthar

[Cazzman]

Great, thanks for the quick answers guys!

[Cazzman]

I would assume it would still be just fine. My dad uses one in his PC and I have a 2500k, both working great. Sandy Bridge chips are known to be great overclockers, so you'll might squeeze out some more performance.

 

EDIT: Wait, is this a locked 2600 or a 2600k? If 2600, it might not overclock, but will still be a viable CPU

 

I'm not 100% sure but i thought it was K, so using it and overclocking is the solution I think we'll go with

[aduman]

I'm using one with two 780 Tis. Oc'ed at 4.2ghz and it's flawless. Sandy Bridge rocks!

[Sheldon_King]

Hey guys,

 

My brother is thinking about building a new PC, but since he's on a budget I was thinking about re-using some old gear he already has.

How would a core i7-2600 clocked at 3.4 GHz fare, would it still be usable today, or is it better to go for a faster clocked core i5?

 

Thanks for your tips

Speaking as a user of eth 2600k at stock clocks, It is fine for everything currently out there. I use my for gaming (Metro Last Light and COD Ghost are the newest games I own however, as nothing newer has peaked my interest), and with CFx 7950s (@1000MHz core), never see less than 60FPS (vSync lock).  Virtual machines run fine (VMware Workstation and VirtualBox), and never seen a slowdown on CAD work.

 

That said, I never saw the difference overclocked to stock, as it rarely hits 100% usage outside of rendering anyway.

[Cazzman]

Speaking as a user of eth 2600k at stock clocks, It is fine for everything currently out there. I use my for gaming (Metro Last Light and COD Ghost are the newest games I own however, as nothing newer has peaked my interest), and with CFx 7950s (@1000MHz core), never see less than 60FPS (vSync lock).  Virtual machines run fine (VMware Workstation and VirtualBox), and never seen a slowdown on CAD work.

 

That said, I never saw the difference overclocked to stock, as it rarely hits 100% usage outside of rendering anyway.

 

Cool thanks, I just checked and he has the locked 2600(stock clock is the same) so this is awesome to hear.

The heaviest game he runs is borderlands 2 so that should be more than fine.