Is the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 still good for gaming?

[TheRealDJDuckVenom]

Hi There,

Recently my friend got a free PC from work so I decided to take a look at it and see what's the best CPU we can put in it. I found out that it's the Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650. I'm NOT going to overclock it as my motherboard doesn't support it. Anyway my friend will do some light gaming and music production. Is this CPU still good for gaming and music production? For all you music nerds, He's Ableton.

Thanks 😀

 

[schaft]

No, it is no longer able to playing heavy game. But hey, its free, just use it as it can. If its only for light gaming, it should perform. Nothing beat free stuff.

 

[synphul]

For lighter games or older games it should do ok for lower to medium performance. I wouldn't go spending a bunch of money to upgrade it though. If you have a 9650 to put in it already that's one thing to use spare parts. If you're considering purchasing a 9650 it's not really worth spending more than $30 or so on a cpu. Money would be better invested in a newer system.

A pentium g4560 2c/4t will outperform it in most games (if not all) and can be bought new for $70. While true it would need a motherboard, ram etc to build a system around a newer cpu the trade off is it's a current modern system and a better cpu can be added to improve it. Investing even moderately into such an old system as the q9650 it's not going to get much better and lacks a lot of features.