Intel 5960X. Best CPU ever made.

[Jacky60]

£1100 for 8 cores seems like madness today. So glad those days are long gone.

The only thing I miss from this era was socketed BIOS chips and Intel NIC’s.

It was £800 and I still use it today and its now officially old but at 4K it still works with my 4090. 8 years old and still able to put up a fight is very decent imho BUT some games ARMA 3, TLOU 1, MSFS2020, it's really showing its age and will be retired V soon.

 

[Jacky60]

How much did you pay for it and what are the rest of your specs?

£799 in 2015, 32GB DDR@3000mhz, 4090 @stock

 

[jigger]

It was £800 and I still use it today and its now officially old but at 4K it still works with my 4090. 8 years old and still able to put up a fight is very decent imho BUT some games ARMA 3, TLOU 1, MSFS2020, it's really showing its age and will be retired V soon.

It was £799 and those cores are still decent if a little long in the tooth.

Glad to hear it x2

Enjoy.

 

[Jacky60]

The thing with the likes of the 5960X, Core 2 Quads, the Xeons I mentioned, etc. they've not just outlived their generation but stayed relevant over a large timespan, some of the other CPUs were great within their generation/era for various reasons whether performance, value for money or overclockability, or a combination of, etc. but quickly became obsolete once their generation moved on.

A lot of the mini PCs, Windows tablets, etc. have only just started to pull away from the better Core 2 Quad cores for performance interestingly (the outgoing J4125 for instance was broadly comparable to the Q9550).

Exactly my point, my 920 was great but it only lasted a generation or 1.5 whereas my 5960X hasn't (it really has a bit tbh) let me down in 8 years and that's amazing longevity for a CPU.

 

[Jacky60]

Glad to hear it x2

Enjoy.

Thanks appreciate it, I'm sort of excited about 7800X3D and hope to bejesus I notice a big difference. Hell Let Loose I get killed a lot but suspect its me getting old.

 

[jigger]

Thanks appreciate it, I'm sort of excited about 7800X3D and hope to bejesus I notice a big difference. Hell Let Loose I get killed a lot but suspect its me getting old.

Yeah, try not to catch old age, that stuff seems terminal.

 

[Dave2150]

5960X was good for it's time, but nothing special in the grand scheme of things. Games at the time and a few years later, performed better with the fastest mainstream desktop CPU at the time. 6700k launched a few months after the 5960X and had higher IPC, meaning it performed better in games. There were no games that actually needed more than 4 cores at the time either.

You did have to delid the mainstream desktop CPU's at the time to get the most out of them, as the thermal interface was paste and not solder.

 

[Jacky60]

Yeah, try not to catch old age, that stuff seems terminal.

Says the man with the 1800X

 

[random_matt]

The CPU is rubbish, let go of the delusion.

 

[Troezar]

Thanks appreciate it, I'm sort of excited about 7800X3D and hope to bejesus I notice a big difference. Hell Let Loose I get killed a lot but suspect its me getting old.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. I found the 5800X3D to be a nice upgrade, not just in gaming. Not so much in raw power but everything felt very responsive.

 

[Wing-Man]

People still 4k with 4th and 5th gen i7’s

I loved the x5650 @4ghz for £45 i gamed on that for ages

 

[Wing-Man]

Hell Let Loose I get killed a lot but suspect its me getting old.

Yer me too

 

[jigger]

Says the man with the 1800X

The 1800X has been upgraded twice. 1800X - 3800X - 5950X

 

[mid_gen]

It was a super spendy chip at the time, so doesn't really hold up that well.

The 5820k was the king from that era, a good value, well performing chip that overclocked very easily and still runs most modern games nearly a decade later.

It's taken a looong time for an equally good value upgrade to appear (which for me was a non-X 7900).

 

[Sone]

Rise of the 8-Cores | i7-5960X

Testing the Intel i7-5960X eight core CPU in 9 popular and demanding games in 2023, using an RTX 3070 discrete GPU.In 2014, the first consumer 8-core 16-thre...

www.youtube.com

And it's £32 at a well know high street store right now. I think the OP ia right if you can find a cheap old X99 system and slap it in.

 

[Pooh]

Rise of the 8-Cores | i7-5960X

Testing the Intel i7-5960X eight core CPU in 9 popular and demanding games in 2023, using an RTX 3070 discrete GPU.In 2014, the first consumer 8-core 16-thre...

www.youtube.com

And it's £32 at a well know high street store right now. I think the OP ia right if you can find a cheap old X99 system and slap it in.

make sure you use some protection when you slap it in though.

wouldn't want to short it with static

 

[Aaron Tennant]

5960X was good for it's time, but nothing special in the grand scheme of things. Games at the time and a few years later, performed better with the fastest mainstream desktop CPU at the time. 6700k launched a few months after the 5960X and had higher IPC, meaning it performed better in games. There were no games that actually needed more than 4 cores at the time either.

You did have to delid the mainstream desktop CPU's at the time to get the most out of them, as the thermal interface was paste and not solder.

I’ve been after 6950x just wanted an old second hand one at a reasonable price. people on a well known auction site… wanting £300.. when you could get a new i7 for the same price

 

[Wing-Man]

I’ve been after 6950x just wanted an old second hand one at a reasonable price. people on a well known auction site… wanting £300.. when you could get a new i7 for the same price

The 6950x is not that old you would class it old school.. x79/x99 is x299 it not.

But x79/x99 motherboards make it so your busy to just buy a 5600x, it costs less and out performs the other cpus

Edit: sorry mixed the cpu up with a different one, but my statement still stands. But a 5600 or even a 3700x

 

[Cyber-Mav]

Edit: sorry mixed the cpu up with a different one, but my statement still stands. But a 5600 or even a 3700x

yes but those cpus dont cost less than 35 quid inc delivery with new socket 2011 mobo for 36 quid inc delivery too. dunno about the mobos iv seen seem to be no brand name versions.

 

[Wing-Man]

yes but those cpus dont cost less than 35 quid inc delivery with new socket 2011 mobo for 36 quid inc delivery too. dunno about the mobos iv seen seem to be no brand name versions.

You have to take into account other costs. If I buy a £35 cpu what board do I put it in? Ooo and now comes the £200 very used board.

And I’ve seen 3600x sell for 50.