Is Intel Core i7 860 (Lynnfield) @ 2.80GHz too outdated?

[Vivendi75]

Hello all,

Here's my specs (which I build 3-4 years ago):

* CPU: (as stated in title)
* Display: ATI Radeon HD 5850 1GB
* RAM: 8GB DDR3

I'm currently shopping for an upgrade graphics card over the 5850 within the price range of $200 ~ $300 (something in 4GB). But, what I'm concerned about is the CPU as I don't have an immediate plan to get an upgrade. Is the CPU powerful enough to run the latest game titles (at least) in "HIGH" settings when it is coupled with my graphics card upgrade? Or will it still be a bottleneck regardless of the graphics card upgrade?

 

[Karsten75]

It's still in the "not too shaby" performance category... not great by any means, but you should still see a boost if you upgrade the graphics card.

 

[Cryofax]

That's still a very solid CPU even for today's games. A lot of those YouTube "better than a console!" budget builds use CPUs that aren't even as good. I have one with a GTX750 and it runs Borderlands 2 on high settings smoothly (60fps or so) at 900p (1600x900), If I tossed a better GPU in there (say a 970GTX or R9 290) it would run even better. So that CPU should keep you playing even the latest games for years to come.

But that said, new games keep pushing the envelope. You may have to go to medium settings on some games. Frankly to run EVERYTHING on high you'd need a i7 4970 and top end GPU.

 

[CompuTronix]

Your i7 860 is a 1st Generation Core i processor, which is 45 nanometer architecture rated at TDP 95 watts. It has a 21x multiplier and is a capable overclocker from 4.0 to 4.4 GHz.

This is still a strong gaming processor, even by today's standards.

I would recommend that you purchase a decent aftermarket cooler such as the ever-popular and inexpensive Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO, and overclock your processor.

This will eliminate, or at least seriously minimize any CPU bottlenecking of the latest GPU's.

CT