Upgrading from a i7 2600, worth it?

[Rocko Modaro]

Hi all!

 

I have a i7 2600, and was thinking of finally upgrading. My PC is about 6 years old now, lol. (Although, I do have a relatively new gpu, 4gb rx 480 and a new 1080p, 144hz monitor). Only two things I ever upgraded.

 

Was thinking of getting a 7600k for $169 via Fry's on Black Friday, or a $200 8400 when they come back in stock.

 

Will either of these actually yield me noticeable performance increases in gaming/workstation stuff? Because honestly, I keep hearing the i7 2600 is a monster still. But I also hear it's still lacking when compared to the newer chips. 

 

I'm also extremely frugal. I really would rather get a $50 mobo and a $169 7600k instead of paying $129 for a z-version mobo with coffee lake.  However, I know 8400 is so nice...I still don't know if it's all worth it. Since I even need to buy new ram too... gosh damn it's gonna be expensive either way.

 

 

[NelizMastr]

Skip Kaby Lake and go Coffee Lake in early 2018 when the lower end chipsets launch. Much better value. And you'll notice the most after upgrading the GPU also. A midrange card like the 1060, 480/580 will run fine with a 2600, but 1070/Vega56 and up is a bit too much.

[Princess Luna]

Do nothing for now, your best alternative is keep saving and get down the line the i7 8700 on the cheapest h310 chipset Asus branded motherboard you find in January with 2666mhz ram.

[Sauron]

Honestly a gpu upgrade will give you a bigger performance boost. Upgrading to a coffee lake cpu with a new motherboard and new ram would cost you north of 450$, enough to get you a Vega 56 or 1070ti.

5 minutes ago, NelizMastr said:

Skip Kaby Lake and go Coffee Lake in early 2018 when the lower end chipsets launch. Much better value. And you'll notice the most after upgrading the GPU also. A midrange card like the 1060, 480/580 will run fine with a 2600, but 1070/Vega56 and up is a bit too much.

It really depends on the resolution, though in his case it's true. However, the 2600 can be overclocked to over 4ghz if you have a p67, z68 or z77 motherboard - with an overclock the bottleneck is significantly reduced. Have you tried that @Rocko Modaro? Personally I still don't feel the need for an upgrade, but since I play at 4k I notice any cpu shortcomings in games a lot less.

[Rocko Modaro]

5 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Honestly a gpu upgrade will give you a bigger performance boost. Upgrading to a coffee lake cpu with a new motherboard and new ram would cost you north of 450$, enough to get you a Vega 56 or 1070ti.

It really depends on the resolution, though in his case it's true. However, the 2600 can be overclocked to over 4ghz if you have a p67, z68 or z77 motherboard - with an overclock the bottleneck is significantly reduced. Have you tried that @Rocko Modaro? Personally I still don't feel the need for an upgrade, but since I play at 4k I notice any cpu shortcomings in games a lot less.

Yeah, I tried that I remember could only get it to 3.9 stable iirc

 

It's just everything I do now feels so fluid and fast already. I mean, I just have that "upgrade itch" if you will and know how old my CPU is. The new cpus are just so tempting but gosh damn it's gonna be expensive. I've read 2600 is a legendary chip too. I also heard if I do upgrade, I could sell it too right and try to make some $ back?

 

Gonna hold off for now, maybe I am overthinking all this and just trying to get myself hyped or something

 

 

[NelizMastr]

Just now, Rocko Modaro said:

 

It's just everything I do now feels so fluid and fast already. I mean, I just have that "upgrade itch" if you will and know how old my CPU is. The new cpus are just so tempting but gosh damn it's gonna be expensive. I've read 2600 is a legendary chip too. I also heard if I do upgrade, I could sell it too right and try to make some $ back?

 

The value of the 2600 non-K is virtually nothing these days,  $65-75. The 2600K and 3770K however can fetch $100-150.

[Rocko Modaro]

Just now, NelizMastr said:

The value of the 2600 non-K is virtually nothing these days,  $65-75. The 2600K and 3770K however can fetch $100-150.

Hehe, that's a lot of money to me though. I'd sell it for sure if I upgrade! 

[SeanAngelo]

32 minutes ago, Rocko Modaro said:

Hi all!

 

I have a i7 2600, and was thinking of finally upgrading. My PC is about 6 years old now, lol. (Although, I do have a relatively new gpu, 4gb rx 480 and a new 1080p, 144hz monitor). Only two things I ever upgraded.

 

Was thinking of getting a 7600k for $169 via Fry's on Black Friday, or a $200 8400 when they come back in stock.

 

Will either of these actually yield me noticeable performance increases in gaming/workstation stuff? Because honestly, I keep hearing the i7 2600 is a monster still. But I also hear it's still lacking when compared to the newer chips. 

 

I'm also extremely frugal. I really would rather get a $50 mobo and a $169 7600k instead of paying $129 for a z-version mobo with coffee lake.  However, I know 8400 is so nice...I still don't know if it's all worth it. Since I even need to buy new ram too... gosh damn it's gonna be expensive either way.

 

 

get coffee lake. no point in kaby lake.

[Sauron]

11 minutes ago, Rocko Modaro said:

Yeah, I tried that I remember could only get it to 3.9 stable iirc

 

It's just everything I do now feels so fluid and fast already. I mean, I just have that "upgrade itch" if you will and know how old my CPU is. The new cpus are just so tempting but gosh damn it's gonna be expensive. I've read 2600 is a legendary chip too. I also heard if I do upgrade, I could sell it too right and try to make some $ back?

 

Gonna hold off for now, maybe I am overthinking all this and just trying to get myself hyped or something

The 2600(k) is pretty much the last big leap intel made before 6 years of scratching their butts. Only just now, with renewed competition from AMD, are we seeing significant improvements again. By selling it you could make 100$ or so, if you're lucky, but don't expect it to be worth gold - it's in relatively high demand simply because it doesn't perform much worse than a new chip and it can be had for far cheaper (this will change rapidly now that intel and amd are back on track).

 

If you find it fluid and fast and only want to upgrade for the fun of it, I suggest you wait a generation or two, since right now everything indicates there will be a new performance race. Maybe in a couple of years we'll get 12 cores or more on desktop platforms, before things settle down a bit.