[SOLVED] Are the 1st and 2nd gen i7's and i7 k's really worth buying? or no, just curious

N1njaDestr0yer

Honorable
Mar 2, 2017
235
9
10,685
Hello Tom Hardware Enthusiasts

I had a question in terms of older CPUs.... Are the 1st and 2nd gen i7's really worth the money (In 2020) or no they are not, because I see all these "Gaming PC's" that have i7 2600's (i7 2600K) and i7 920's (and the i7 930, i7 950 and i7 960) but I am not sure about buying them, what do they lack in terms of gaming in 2020 I know they are still a 4 Core - 4 Thread CPU but they might be power hungry or just lack the CPU threads or something else.... Just Curious.

Thanks again

-N1nja
 
Solution
If one can find an i7-2600 or 2600K at a great price ($25?), and your mainboard supports it. and the price is VERY right, it is a nice upgrade over an i3-21xx, to be sure, and they are still useful for office work, surfing, e-mail, etc.! But for gaming , their average (and in particular minimum) FPS is less than half of what modern upper-tier CPUs are capable of...

But an R3-3300X, a $120 CPU, pretty much curb stomps them in gaming..; many start their shopping with the 'defacto standard' R5-3600/i5-10600K these days.
If one can find an i7-2600 or 2600K at a great price ($25?), and your mainboard supports it. and the price is VERY right, it is a nice upgrade over an i3-21xx, to be sure, and they are still useful for office work, surfing, e-mail, etc.! But for gaming , their average (and in particular minimum) FPS is less than half of what modern upper-tier CPUs are capable of...

But an R3-3300X, a $120 CPU, pretty much curb stomps them in gaming..; many start their shopping with the 'defacto standard' R5-3600/i5-10600K these days.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Makste
Solution

animekenji

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2010
196
33
18,690
I wouldn't go older then 6th generation, myself, because that's the cutoff for DDR4 memory. Sooner or later, DDR3 will be discontinued as demand for it starts to go away. DDR4 will be around for a while longer than DDR3. DDR5 will be here soon, and that will only hasten the death of DDR3.