7 Years Ago Today Intel Launched the Core i7-2600K

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Who would have thought that after 7 years since being launched and reviewed here, that the Intel Core i7-2600K would still be relevant? Last year we showed how the 2600K stacked up against the Kaby Lake 7700K, and honestly, the then 6 year old CPU held its own pretty darn well. But where the 2600K truly showed its aging chops was in our review entitled, The Definitive AMD Ryzen 7 Real-World Gaming Guide.


Desktop gaming is still largely GPU-limited, even when looking at a lot of 1080p scenarios with low-end enthusiast GPUs. I would be remiss if I did not mention our six year old Intel Core i7-2600K, quite frankly it makes Intel and AMD look bad on the gaming front.
 
It actually seems like yesterday I was at the Amiga dealer buying my Amiga 3000 system.
 
my wife has my old i5-2500K today.. but other than casual facebook~ish games she doesn't game any..

I occasionally use her computer (my old computer) ..it still seems quite fine all this time later.
 
And then the b2 chipset was recalled and motherboard makers had to haul ass to get new ones to market.

I remember all the threads asking where the new ones were.
 
2700k at 4.8 here. One of the best purchaces I ever made.

x58 was another great platform.
 
Damn kids! Get off my yard!

Yer lucky my tinfoil hat slipped down over my eyes or me and this sawd-off would be pepprin some hide!

I missed out on the 2x00K chips. Got stuck with a lowly 4790K.
 
The good thing about not constantly upgrading your hardware in order to have a good looking sig is that when issues are found that can't be resolved by a simple microsode update you just wait for the issue to be resolved in a newer generation of processor, upgrade your hardware after around ten years of reliable usage and you're good to go for another ten years. No money lost as it was time to upgrade anywway!
 
2500k @ 4.3

I wouldn't mind an upgrade to 3770k @ 4.3... but damn if those things haven't held their value too well. Because everyone like me is still looking at them because it's so much more effective than going out and getting a whole new 7***k or 8***k system.

I mean, unless you REALLLY gotta have that native M.2 port I guess.
 
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We are 2600k Strong, you know...except for the whole meltdown and spectre issue...
 
2500k @ 4.3

I wouldn't mind an upgrade to 3770k @ 4.3... but damn if those things haven't held their value too well. Because everyone like me is still looking at them because it's so much more effective than going out and getting a whole new 7***k or 8***k system.

I mean, unless you REALLLY gotta have that native M.2 port I guess.

I run an m.2 to pcie adapter, it's bootable and gets pretty good speeds. Sure not as good as native, but way better than SATA and definatly nothing to sneer at.
 
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Still running 2700k @ 4.7 as daily driver, until the latest intel bug was no reason to upgrade ;(
 
Intel: "Still running a 7 year old 2600K? Be a real shame if its performance were suddenly slashed by 30%"
Customer: "But it's worked for so long what do I do!?"
Intel: "I've heard there's a new kid on the block who likes his coffee black."
Customer: "Oh Okay whatever just don't break my water cooling lines, please no mister."
 
Skipped the 2500k and a few more generations.

Went from a i7 860 @ 3.5 Ghz to a i7 7700k @ 5 Ghz. Significant improvement.

Moved the i7 860 to the kids system to replace an i3 that was running at 3.7 Ghz. :D
 
Also 2500k @ 4.2 here but that meltdown bug might be what I needed to move on... Should post in the thread "What would it take to update your 2500/2600K"
I doubt Intel will offer any update at all for those old CPUs ...

Let's see what happen...
 
I have a 2700k 4.2ghz still in a turn on and usable state, with my retired h100 on it.
 
Loved my Core i7-2600K. To date it's the only CPU I literally overclocked to death.

I pushed the CPU so hard after spending months dialing it in only to lose it one morning upon turning it on only ... it didn't turn on. I simply replaced it. I even nearly got a 2700K but I think it was like $100 more and decided against it.

I remember the cpu costing me like $263 dollars? For some reason that number comes to mind.

Awesome CPU!
 
Got my 2600k for $99 USD from retail edge all those years ago, only just swapped it out for a 3770k. But since I've been upgrading around my 2600k all these years, I've got enough spare parts for a whole second machine.

Now this 3770k is going in a "VR machine" for my living room, and I'm going back to my trusty 2600k for my main office/pancake gaming machine.

My first "all new" build since the 2600k will probably be a i7-9700k, 2080Ti, 4k HDR 144hz, Vive gen2 rig. Don't need both kidneys anyway :ROFLMAO:
 
Still going strong at 4.8Ghz, although with the recent news I may finally pull the trigger on a new cpu/mobo. AMD has never looked so appealing.
 
Oh yeah, well I still have my bulldozer and piledriver!.......neither of which are in use. I kind of fell out of actually turning my PC on.

Maybe Ryzen one of these days. After the cars are paid off, and saving for a house and everything else in life....maybe Ryzen 4 instead.
 
These past 7, stagnant years is what happens without competition.

AMD didn't even bother to bring Piledriver updates to the desktop. They didn't even bother to shrink the architecture...
 
Still going strong at 4.8Ghz, although with the recent news I may finally pull the trigger on a new cpu/mobo. AMD has never looked so appealing.

This is what I'm thinnking, may wait and see what happend at silicon/microcode level before I do though.
 
Sheeeaaat I'm still on my 980x! Can't wait for my next compie with Ryzen though ;) fuck Intel ME
 
I run an m.2 to pcie adapter, it's bootable and gets pretty good speeds. Sure not as good as native, but way better than SATA and definatly nothing to sneer at.

Which adapter is that? have my 2500k running at 4.3 and would like to use a m2 stick. To give it some more oomph.
 
I just updated my dad's rig from an i5 750 to a i7 2600K. It's basically just as quick as my i7 6700.
 
2500k @ 4.3

I wouldn't mind an upgrade to 3770k @ 4.3... but damn if those things haven't held their value too well. Because everyone like me is still looking at them because it's so much more effective than going out and getting a whole new 7***k or 8***k system.

I mean, unless you REALLLY gotta have that native M.2 port I guess.

Well, that, and DDR4 prices as of late... DDR3 and DDR4 prices used to be fairly close for both new and used with DDR3 still holding a slight edge. You can still find 16GB of used DDR3 for about $60 fairly often, but you need a bit of luck on your side to find 8GB of used DDR4 for $60... That, in my opinion, is more of why some of those older chips have held their value as much as they have.
 
It's also the same year AMD released the garbage pile known as Bulldozer which haunted the company for the next six years.
 
It's also the same year AMD released the garbage pile known as Bulldozer which haunted the company for the next six years.
https://www.hardocp.com/news/2018/01/04/for_geeks_only_i_was_there

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