Is the i7 950 still relevant in gaming?

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necrogaming

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I'm currently looking at my online local classified ads for a new gaming pc. The current specs are:

CPU: i7-950 8 CPUs Hyperthreaded Processor @ 4.01GHz

MOBO: ASUS P6TD Delux X58 Chip Set Extreme Motherboard

GPU: ASUS DCii R9 270 OC Dual Fan 2GB DDR5

1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 64Mb Cache

Corsair Hydro H50 Liquid Cooler

Windows 7 64Bit

It's a pretty high end old system. But is this system worth $500CAD?
 
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photonboy
NOOOO!!!

That is definitely not worth $500. Aside from SSD and other hardware support (at full performance), the CPU performance is pretty low now.

You need to factor in WARRANTIES, resell value and the fact that the graphics card would need to be updated right away or don't bother.

*So I'll make a roughly $700CND build that includes a better graphics card and see how that goes.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?id=837

For example, here's the performance of an R5-1600 (it's not a direct comparison as games can't use all threads)
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Ryzen+5+1600&id=2984

You can lookup other CPU's.

The liquid cooler if several years old will fail too as they last roughly five years (in part due to tube...
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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NOOOO!!!

That is definitely not worth $500. Aside from SSD and other hardware support (at full performance), the CPU performance is pretty low now.

You need to factor in WARRANTIES, resell value and the fact that the graphics card would need to be updated right away or don't bother.

*So I'll make a roughly $700CND build that includes a better graphics card and see how that goes.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?id=837

For example, here's the performance of an R5-1600 (it's not a direct comparison as games can't use all threads)
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+Ryzen+5+1600&id=2984

You can lookup other CPU's.

The liquid cooler if several years old will fail too as they last roughly five years (in part due to tube permeation). Graphics card is pretty low-end now. I'll make a "BUILD" at PCPARTPCIKER and try to give other info below.

Be back later..
 
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Solution
photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/RMdtf8

That's not necessarily ideal, but I was trying to see what I could do with the budget. The CPU has half the cores/threads but for most games is a better CPU. I'd rather put in a good 4-core though.

However this CPU is quite inexpensive for what you get and you can always get a better i5/i7 CPU later.

Ryzen R3 is coming with cheaper 4-core CPU's, though you'd want at least 2666MHz DDR4 memory in Dual Channel (i.e. 2x4GB) due to how the CPU works it needs faster memory.

The GTX1050Ti would be roughly 30% faster than an R9-270 but it also has more VRAM (4GB). 2GB is starting to be problematic for many modern games as it's just not quite enough now.

Windows 10 is also better. You can find it cheap on KINGUIN (dot net) and I've had people I trust buy it for about $30CDN and it worked. I believe you use MS Media creation tool (Google how) to burn a Windows 10 boot USB stick or DVD then use the key you get from Kinguin.

Summary:
Lots of things to consider. Again just throwing something which attempts to be balanced within a budget. adding $100+ would help a lot.

*Is that $500 system a rip-off? I guess that's hard to say, but again the lack of Warranty, compatibility, resell value and so on make that a difficult thing to quantify.

Generally it's good to spend a little more if that gets you something new of similar or better performance.
 
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necrogaming

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I mainly plan to play Overwatch. As well as for home entertainment-- watching in 1080p and up would be a huge upgrade from 720p. My previous motherboard for my "gaming" pc was fried.I ordered a new one but it's not a guarantee it will work. I just can't afford buying new parts right now.

I like the build you made but a gtx 1050ti is over $200CAD. Would my GTX 670 FTW work? My GPU may also have been fried in the process. I have to check which parts are still working. I wanted to upgrade the processor to a Pentium G4600/20 or i3-7100. Otherwise, everything looks good. Sadly, I'm not too keen on buying on KINGUIN, no matter how tempting the prices are.
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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The GTX670 is still a reasonably good GPU if you tweak the game settings carefully. Overwatch scales pretty well.

Right about the GTX960 (so between the 660Ti and 680):
https://www.techspot.com/review/1180-overwatch-benchmarks/page2.html

Your CPU will be the main limiting factor beyond that (assuming you have sufficient system memory which is probably a bare minimum of 4GB)

Not sure what you mean by "upgrade the processor" because it's not clear what system you have now. You also mention a motherboard replacement but we don't have any information on what parts you have now.
 
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Karadjgne

Karadjgne

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Depends on what games you play. I run an i5-3570k with a 660ti and an i7-3770K with a gtx970. For most of the games, there's barely any difference, few detail settings is all. But some of my newer titles bog down on the wife's pc, some because it's an i5, some because it's a 660ti.

Overwatch is easy on the pc. To get high/50 you only need a i5-670 and gtx660, so that pc will work fine for a media center and Overwatch gamer. But thats about as far as it'll realistically go, basically anything similar graphically or aged.

But no, it's not worth C$500, the cooler is probably close to at least 5yrs old, so start thinking EOL for liquid levels, it's running a moderate OC, so chances are decent there's been some OC on the gpu as well, and there's no knowing just how hard it has been pushed. It's an AIO on an aged mobo, just exactly what temps has the case, VRM's, mosfets etc seen, especially with that portable oven called an AMD R9 series gpu.
C$300, and maybe, I'd think about it.
 
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Rakanyshu

Rakanyshu

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Jan 10, 2015
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Pretty much what the last reply said i Would push it to 200-250 as its time is running out, its a great cpu and all but i would save more and try to score a New platform maybe a ryzen 1600 if You can stretch your budget and re-use some of your last rig
 
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Karadjgne

Karadjgne

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Since you already have the rest from the old build, I'd suggest this for your C$500. It's a virtual David vrs Goliath, and that Intel doesn't have a rock...
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($266.50 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: MSI - B350M GAMING PRO Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($97.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($149.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $514.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-27 00:54 EDT-0400
 
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