Discussion best cpus of the 2010's?

[Order 66]

I want to hear your opinions on the "best" CPU from the 2010's. I know that the 6700k was legendary, but I'm not sure why. What made these CPU's so great?

 

[logainofhades]

I would never call the 6700k legendary. I would give that to the 2600k, or maybe even the 4790k as it is still a very capable chip, even today.

 

[Order 66]

I would never call the 6700k legendary. I would give that to the 2600k, or maybe even the 4790k as it is still a very capable chip, even today.

Interesting question, would the 4790k outperform the 6700k? I know that clockspeed doesn't matter much, but the 4790k has a 200mhz higher boost clock, and they both have 8mb of cache and they're also both 4c 8t CPUs.

 

[logainofhades]

Intel was making very minor improvements up until Ryzen launched. The 6700k was a sidegrade at best. https://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/intel-skylake-review-6700k-6600k-ddr4-ddr3-ipc-6th-generation/16

I upgraded from a 3570k to a 6700k, and the only real benefit I got was better multiasking.

 

[Order 66]

Intel was making very minor improvements up until Ryzen launched. The 6700k was a sidegrade at best. https://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/intel-skylake-review-6700k-6600k-ddr4-ddr3-ipc-6th-generation/16

I thought Skylake was fondly looked back upon. I used an i5 6500 until last year and the experience was pretty bad. I don't know how the performance was when it was launched.

 

[Order 66]

I upgraded from a 3570k to a 6700k, and the only real benefit I got was better multiasking.

On an unrelated note, I've had issues where posts haven't been displaying properly on any of my devices, it also doesn't seem to matter what network I'm on. I didn't see this part of your post until I refreshed the page.

 

[Order 66]

Also, I am extremely confused on the i7 7740x. it apparently has 2 performance cores and 2 efficiency cores, but 12 threads. How is this possible? I thought 12th gen was intel's first hybrid CPU. Also, the performance core clock is listed as 3GHz when the base frequency is 4.3GHz. I'm so confused.
Edit: it looks like this is just an error on Intel's site. It is actually a 4c 8t chip. I am confused as to which CPU they would be referring to.

 

[Eximo]

I think Intel messed up on that if you are looking at Ark, it didn't have efficiency cores. 7740X was a stupid chip, quad core HEDT with only dual channel memory. They also made an i5 as well. So you could save a little bit on the CPU, but still have to pay hundreds for an HEDT motherboard. Very few scenarios where it made sense. I think the overclockers had some fun with it, that was about it.

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...series-processor-6m-cache-up-to-4-20-ghz.html

Efficiency cores were first tested out in the mobile sector. Was a single P core 4 E-core arrangement if I recall. Lakefield was the codename:

Tremont (microarchitecture) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Skylake introduced DDR4, that is about it. I guess M.2 / NVMe drives were common with this generation as well. OEMs adopted them a little before. (I upgraded for NVMe)
Kabylake was basically just a refresh and ended the LGA1151v1 socket.
Coffeelake was the first of the desktop 6 core processors to directly compete with Ryzen 5 chips.
Coffelake Refresh wasn't much to write home about except the 9900k offering 8 cores, to match Ryzen 7.
Comet and Rocketlake appeared in 2020, these were okay. Briefly had 10 "P" cores from Intel.

I would say the standout CPU from the 2010s would be the 3600X? Though it was 2019. Basically achieved parity with Intel at a reasonable cost (compared to the i7-8700k or i5-8400/i5-9400 which didn't have hyperthreading, or the i7-9700k which had 8 cores but no hyperthreading and was more expensive.

In the early 2010s the i5-2500k and i7-2600k were certainly the standout parts.

 

[Order 66]

if you are looking at Ark, it didn't have efficiency cores. 7740X was a stupid chip, quad core HEDT with only dual channel memory.

Intel did mess up, but it says the same thing on Ark
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...series-processor-8m-cache-up-to-4-50-ghz.html

Efficiency cores were first tested out in the mobile sector. Was a single P core 4 E-core arrangement if I recall. Lakefield was the codename:

Interesting. I didn't even know that existed.

Skylake introduced DDR4, that is about it. I guess M.2 / NVMe drives were common with this generation as well. OEMs adopted them a little before. (I upgraded for NVMe)
Kabylake was basically just a refresh and ended the LGA1151v1 socket.
Coffeelake was the first of the desktop 6 core processors to directly compete with Ryzen 5 chips.
Coffelake Refresh wasn't much to write home about except the 9900k offering 8 cores, to match Ryzen 7.

Speaking of i9s, I didn't realize until recently that the i9 wasn't introduced until the 7900x. I had just assumed that the 980x was an i9.

 

[CompuTronix]

Best Intel Quad Core processors of the 2010's:

22 Nanometer - 4th Generation i7-4790K (Delidded) All Core O/C @ 4.8GHz
14 Nanometer - 7th Generation i7-7700K (Delidded) All Core O/C @ 5.0GHz

The 4790K OC'd @ 4.8 slightly outperforms the 7700K @ stock (4.5 Turbo) in both single and multicore workloads.

Since both processors have paste rather than solder between the Die and the IHS, (3rd through 8th Generation), delidding is the key to minimizing Core temperatures, which in turn maintains stability while unlocking maximum overclock performance.

CT

 

[Eximo]

I ran my 7700k at 5Ghz too, and I did redo the thermal paste under the heat spreader, but didn't go to liquid metal. Other than that, it wasn't that impressive still being a quad core.

8700k deserves some credit for being a hex core. And then 9900k came out with 5Ghz boost out of the box.

 

[jnjnilson6]

I want to hear your opinions on the "best" CPU from the 2010's. I know that the 6700k was legendary, but I'm not sure why. What made these CPU's so great?

In the beginning of 2011 there came out the Intel Core i7-990X (there even was a rumored i7-995X) and it was an emblem. This CPU had the gaming enthusiasts drooling in its wake. It had 6 cores and 12 threads and was really Enthusiast business. I do think it can be termed 'legendary,' because of the general sway and attention it got as a super spectacle.

You would look at it in those years and imagine the dark night sky and the stars gazing abruptly in incredulous whiteness through a window by which a monitor'd stand and hard-core gaming and animation would flurry with insane speed powered by a component of boundless productivity. It was great in those days. Truly great.

 

[Order 66]

In the beginning of 2011 there came out the Intel Core i7-990X (there even was a rumored i7-995X) and it was an emblem. This CPU had the gaming enthusiasts drooling in its wake. It had 6 cores and 12 threads and was really Enthusiast business. I do think it can be termed 'legendary,' because of the general sway and attention it got as a super spectacle.

You would look at it in those years and imagine the dark night sky and the stars gazing abruptly in incredulous whiteness through a window by which a monitor'd stand and hard-core gaming and animation would flurry with insane speed powered by a component of boundless productivity. It was great in those days. Truly great.

Speaking of first gen i7s, I saw that a friend had a PC that they don't use as their main system anymore, and I know it has a i7 980x, and a gtx 1080ti. Is this a balanced system? I'm thinking the i7 would hold the 1080 ti back.

 

[Order 66]

there even was a rumored i7-995X

and what were the specs of this rumored i7 995x?

 

[jnjnilson6]

Speaking of first gen i7s, I saw that a friend had a PC that they don't use as their main system anymore, and I know it has a i7 980x, and a gtx 1080ti. Is this a balanced system? I'm thinking the i7 would hold the 1080 ti back.

Well, it would indeed. The i7-980X came out in 2010 when video cards like the Radeon 5850/5870 were considered masterful. The HD 7970 GHz came out in 2012 as one of the enthusiast cards and it is a little over 3 times slower than the GTX 1080 Ti. It would not be too bad though especially while running software which depends more heavily on core count than clock speed.

The i7-995X is rumored to be synonymous to the i7-990X but to additionally portray higher clocks: 3.6 GHz as the main speed and 4.3 GHz with Turbo Boost; while the i7-990X ran at 3.46 GHz stock and got up to 3.73 GHz Turbo. I do not know if any i7-995X CPUs were commercially sold though; it was quite the enigma back in the day.

 

[jnjnilson6]

Your question is great though. That's because the 2010's were really the time when the world of graphics was truly transformed. Surely the game which marked this great change was Crysis which came by the end of 2007.

https://gamingbolt.com/crysis-remastered-review-maximum-disappointment
Quoting from the above link: "If Crysis’s 2007 release taught us anything, it’s that future isn’t promised. Sometimes today is the best things will ever be."

I do not think we have had anything like Crysis or will in the foreseeable future. When the big gamers had HD 5800 / HD 6800 cards and GTX 460 / 560 (about 2010-2011) and the Core i7-9xx series seemed glorious and enchanting and afterward the big names like the Core i7-2600K set a whole new parallel to performance and gaming and a little further the Radeon HD 7xxx Series arose to its pinnacle blasting the world of gaming off gaudily. Those are quite nostalgic times full of melancholy beauty that can arise in the blossoming edges of memory birthing along those times in which for the first time gamers reveled indefinitely in the true specter of graphics having arisen from the crystalline outlines of the 21st century; the subtle diamondlike glory of a transformation in technology to be witnessed only then, only there...