How much longer will the i7 2600 be able to game?

[justinwitter31]

I am currently running a Dell optiplex 990 i7-2600 (non k) gtx 1050-2gb and 16 gigs of RAM (4x4)

The dilema..
I absolutely don't want to waste money on DDr3 ram at this stage. My gtx 1050 is barely keeping it's head above water and I'm really regretting not buying a 2600 K. Would upgrading to a 1060 mini (stock mt) let me ink out another 2 years of being able to play most games on medium or low at 40-60fps? I would love to buy a new PC now but, with AMD and Intel running neck to neck I feel like that next giant leap forward is around the corner. So can a gtx 1060 get me thru the next few years on survival mode?

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

Well, it depends. Two years on a mid range card is about the average. It really depends on how things like ray tracing take off. Your i7 isn't a horrible processor by any metric right now, and the 1050 isn't a bad card, it is just low on VRAM. Something like a 1060 6GB should add some more life to your machine... but lasting 2 years? We'd need a crystal ball for that, but history is in your favor.

On top of that, I think we are beyond the whole giant leap thing. Transistors are reaching the very edge of their capability, and x86 optimizations can only take us so far. I think from here on out, until quantum computing takes off, we will see smaller and smaller improvements. Intel's 10nm process will probably be the next good bump we get, but Intel is still having problems figuring it out. AMD is making great progress in forging ahead with Ryzen, and while their bumps may be slightly more than Intel's, they are still playing catch up in some aspects.

 

[jojesa]

Yes, you will be able to get a significant improvement with the GTX 1060 over the GTX 1050 and you might get a couple of years out of it.
If you go with the 1070 ti (if you get a good deal) you may have a longer future with it...even if you place it in a new system.
By the way, there is always new technology around the corner. If you keep waiting for the new thing, you will never put anything together.

 

[justinwitter31]

<a href='//hwbot.org/xtu/share/958354'>Intel Core i7-2600K CPU @ 5010.0MHz - 1009 XTU marks on HWBOT</a>

this 2600k is gonna game until she finally cant take the 1.5volts any longer.....