i7 2600 good for gaming?

[Yazooman]

Was looking around on 2nd hand computer store, saw a build that has an i7 2600, 8gb ram, 1tb storage, disk drive and all the usual (no GPU though). It's going for $350 (New Zealand dollars), which is definitely a steal! Would this computer be good for gaming if I got a dedicated GPU such as a R9 270? My mates are all claiming that the i7 2600 is "horrible" for gaming, which I don't believe...
Thanks for anyone's advice!

 

[lucasz]

The 2600 is great for gaming

 

[veryoldfart]

Been using mine since they were new in 2011. Still hanging in there with the best of them. Gaming is more about the GPU anyway.

 

[Tom Tancredi]

2600 WAS and still IS great for gaming (http://gamegpu.ru/images/remote/http--www.gamegpu.ru-images-stories-Test_GPU-Action-Battlefield_4-test-bf4_proz_2.jpg) the problems tend to be that iCore 2xxx series only uses SATA II and PCIe 2.0 chipsets (last I checked), which all current hardware uses SATA III and PCIe 3.1, which is normally twice the bandwidth / performance difference according to the IEEE standards.

 

[gamerk316]

2600 WAS and still IS great for gaming (http://gamegpu.ru/images/remote/http--www.gamegpu.ru-images-stories-Test_GPU-Action-Battlefield_4-test-bf4_proz_2.jpg) the problems tend to be that iCore 2xxx series only uses SATA II and PCIe 2.0 chipsets (last I checked), which all current hardware uses SATA III and PCIe 3.1, which is normally twice the bandwidth / performance difference according to the IEEE standards.

SATA III support is determined by the chipset, not the CPU. I'm running SATA III with my 2600k. As for PCI-E 3.0, you only need that extra bandwidth for SLI/CF configurations; no single card bottlenecks the bus yet.

That being said, a Haswell or Ivy Bridge CPU makes more sense at this stage.

 

[nikoli707]

sandy bridge. there is the 2600 and the 2600k. both are quad 3.4ghz processors that turbo up to 3.8ghz.

the 2600 is a locked processor and it cannot be overclock. in actuality it can, but only up to a max of 4.0ghz and only if you have the right motherboard.

the 2600k is an unlocked processor and along with its little and big brothers the 2500k and 2700k(all originally cast the same then binned out), are arguably and probably the best overclocking enthusiast cpu die ever made. with decent water cooling like a d5 pump and xpsc 240 rad, a 2600k will easily hit 5.0ghz fully 24/7/365 stable, and can regularly be pushed into the 5.3-5.6ghz range for benching.

for gaming yes, the regular 2600 is more than fine, but it lacks in the reasoning that if it were a 2600k, all you would need is a cheap $25 air cooler and you could happily overclock it to 4.5ghz which is about a 35% gain in performance over a regular 2600 which is very considerable.

if your not comfortable with overclocking, then dont worry about it... an i5-2600 and an r9-270 will give great 1080p gaming and is a good match up. the only thing you should look at is the power supply in that computer as it may not have enough juice to power the r9-270 and the rest of the computer, so you might need to invest in a decent quality 500-600w power supply.

 

[rmpumper]

It's great for that price. If you would be looking at a new build, I would suggest 4670K over non-K 2600. But in this case you are good to go. Just get something better than r9-270 and an SSD if you have the money to spare.

 

[Yazooman]

sandy bridge. there is the 2600 and the 2600k. both are quad 3.4ghz processors that turbo up to 3.8ghz.

the 2600 is a locked processor and it cannot be overclock. in actuality it can, but only up to a max of 4.0ghz and only if you have the right motherboard.

the 2600k is an unlocked processor and along with its little and big brothers the 2500k and 2700k(all originally cast the same then binned out), are arguably and probably the best overclocking enthusiast cpu die ever made. with decent water cooling like a d5 pump and xpsc 240 rad, a 2600k will easily hit 5.0ghz fully 24/7/365 stable, and can regularly be pushed into the 5.3-5.6ghz range for benching.

for gaming yes, the regular 2600 is more than fine, but it lacks in the reasoning that if it were a 2600k, all you would need is a cheap $25 air cooler and you could happily overclock it to 4.5ghz which is about a 35% gain in performance over a regular 2600 which is very considerable.

if your not comfortable with overclocking, then dont worry about it... an i5-2600 and an r9-270 will give great 1080p gaming and is a good match up. the only thing you should look at is the power supply in that computer as it may not have enough juice to power the r9-270 and the rest of the computer, so you might need to invest in a decent quality 500-600w power supply.

Asked the seller, comes with a Coolermaster 500w psu. Should be good enough for a R9 270x toxic imo