Old cpu still a good idea?

[Randomdeath]

I have a good ol' Q6600 in my system right now. I was given a nice brand new 1080ti by a friend who upgraded to Titan XPP (He's always on the bleeding edge)

I was wondering if I could run games like Overwatch at the very highest settings and still get decent framerates? I know the old cpu is definitely, definitely a terrible bottleneck in my system right now. But before I put the card in I wanna know if it would be a decent upgrade over my HD 6870.

If it wouldn't help much I would sell the card and buy a more balanced, Ryzen system.

 

[Herc08]

It's definitely an upgrade, but that Q6600 is going to hold you back, and as you said, create a massive bottleneck. If you can, upgrade to Ryzen and prevent that. But just know that a new CPU means a new motherboard and RAM.

 

[geofelt]

You have a very generous friend!!

You have the ability to try it with your Q6600 and see how you do.

Some games like fast action shooters should respond very well.
Games which depend on cpu power may not.

 

[elbert]

Its a massive update from the 6870. The most I would suggest for your CPU is a 1050ti or 470. Your looking at about a 4x fps. This said You would be better off getting a good Ryzen 5 1600 and a rx580 4GB with the sale. Using your PSU, drives, and case you could get the upgrade for around $450~550.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($218.55 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - B350 PC MATE ATX AM4 Motherboard ($84.99 @ B&H)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte - Radeon RX 580 4GB Gaming 4G Video Card ($188.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $557.52
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-08 13:26 EDT-0400

 

[FD2Raptor]

Depends on the deal you may get on secondhand parts, you can score i5/i7 Ivy/Sandy Bridge config that can get along just fine with the 1080Ti for 1080p without costing as much as a totally new config (if your Q6600 is on a G41/45 MB that use DDR3, you can even reuse those parts in the 2nd hand config, further saving money; I was able to get an i5 3470+B75MB for just ~$100).

A new Ryzen config would only be worth it if you're looking at 1440p/4k gaming, which I'd assume that you aren't (at least in the near term), given your HD 6870.

Um, elbert, did you miss the fact that his friend gave him a GTX 1080 Ti?

 

[boosted1g]

The amount of bottleneck between an old socket 775 cpu and a 1080 would be so huge it is comical.

Some GPU only games would fly, but everything else would crash hard into the brick wall that is your CPU.

Sell the card and get new hardare. It woudl take $450-550 in hardware to be able to utilize that 1080ti.

 

[King_V]

It's not a terrible CPU, but it'll definitely hold the system back. There are faster Core 2 Quads available, sometimes for a reasonable price, too, if you want to upgrade really quickly and cheap. It's just a matter of finding which ones are compatible with your motherboard.

Also, it wouldn't be a total panacea, but, it would definitely improve things. If your motherboard/BIOS supports it, go with the Q9550 or Q9650. If your board supports the Core 2 Extreme, those might be worth looking into - however, even used, the Core 2 Extremes sometimes command an absurd price.

I'm given to understand some Xeons might work as well, depending on the motherboard . . but . . . and I'm not entirely clear on this . . they might need some sort of adapter to work, or possibly cutting a notch on the socket somewhere. I've only very briefly looked into it, and didn't pay serious attention.

Still, at some point, putting money into an older architecture won't be worth it. I wouldn't recommend the CPU upgrade for the existing motherboard unless you can manage to find it pretty cheap.

 

[boosted1g]

It's not a terrible CPU, but it'll definitely hold the system back. There are faster Core 2 Quads available, sometimes for a reasonable price, too, if you want to upgrade really quickly and cheap. It's just a matter of finding which ones are compatible with your motherboard.

Also, it wouldn't be a total panacea, but, it would definitely improve things. If your motherboard/BIOS supports it, go with the Q9550 or Q9650. If your board supports the Core 2 Extreme, those might be worth looking into - however, even used, the Core 2 Extremes sometimes command an absurd price.

I'm given to understand some Xeons might work as well, depending on the motherboard . . but . . . and I'm not entirely clear on this . . they might need some sort of adapter to work, or possibly cutting a notch on the socket somewhere. I've only very briefly looked into it, and didn't pay serious attention.

Still, at some point, putting money into an older architecture won't be worth it. I wouldn't recommend the CPU upgrade for the existing motherboard unless you can manage to find it pretty cheap.

Upgrading to a faster Core2 Quad is like adding an intake to a 100hp car to race agaisnt 800hp super cars. Sure the intake will be an improvement, but in the grand scheme of things it is sitll grossly insufficient

 

[King_V]

Agreed - it's really more of a "you'll get better performance for cheap now, which might hold you over until you've got the money for the big upgrade" solution. I wouldn't pay more than $40 for that sort of thing, though, if Randondeath was looking for a faster CPU to work in the original motherboard.

(Or, along the automotive route, the expensive headers you buy and can stick on a wheezing old 305 Chevy engine will be usable and well-suited to the 383 you're currently building up slowly. And, it'll make the 305 feel a bit peppier than it was).

 

[boosted1g]

Agreed - it's really more of a "you'll get better performance for cheap now, which might hold you over until you've got the money for the big upgrade" solution. I wouldn't pay more than $40 for that sort of thing, though, if Randondeath was looking for a faster CPU to work in the original motherboard.

(Or, along the automotive route, the expensive headers you buy and can stick on a wheezing old 305 Chevy engine will be usable and well-suited to the 383 you're currently building up slowly. And, it'll make the 305 feel a bit peppier than it was).

Understand your point, but if the OP is runing a core2quad setup so it is reasonibly safe to assume that he is not going to have $1k to drop into a new i7 rig to utilize that beast of a GPU. Thus selling the card and building a 1060 level system is much more logical.

In this case the 1080ti is not exhaust headers but a huge 71mm turbo that the non-race built engine will barley be able to tap into (after buying new exhaust and supporting parts).

 

[Herc08]

I'm just baffled that we are still posting to this thread. That 1080 is a steal, but I think we can all agree that upgrading his components will be much better.

 

[King_V]

In this case the 1080ti is not exhaust headers but a huge 71mm turbo that the non-race built engine will barley be able to tap into (after buying new exhaust and supporting parts).

Or pushing the power to the limit until that wheezy old 305 comes apart.

Uh, maybe I've been watching too many episodes of RoadKill on YouTube... :lol:

 

[Randomdeath]

Thanks for your two cents, guys! Looks like im selling the GPU!

Also, for me, it seems WAY more fun to put a giant turbo on an old beater engine, get a run or two on the quarter mile out of it and then watch it blow up... lol