My i7 2600K build is still good 10 years on - What current CPU has best VFM over the next 10 years?

[ianh]

Hi all,

My current PC was made back in 2010 with the following specs -

i7 2600K @ 4.6ghz
OcUK CPU Water-cooling with 120mm Rad
Asus P8P67 Pro Rev3.1 MoBo
16GB XMS3 DDR3 @ 1600
Nvidia GTX 580


In the ten years since buying I swapped GPU's from a 580 to a 780 to a 1070 and replaced the original "water-cooled CPU setup" with an Alpenfon Matterhorn Air Cooler (for less maintenance rather than for any extra performance), but thats all in 10 years and, with the constant GPU updates, it is still able to play all my games at 1080p at 60fps right now without issue and usually at the highest detail/quality levels.

However, while everything still works fine right now, I know that at some point my poor CPU/MoBo or RAM will eventually fail and I'll need to swap to a whole new setup but, having not had to worry about upgrades for such a long time I'm slightly "out of the loop" although a few Youtubers reviews are helping me catch up.

With that in mind I'm wondering what currently available CPU would be able to give me the same "still playable after 10 years with just GPU upgrades" i got from my 2600K for the best VFM (Value For Money) whilst doing so (no threadripper please )?

Thanks!

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My own opinion is that I can't believe 4C/8T will still be adequate 10 years from now, I think 6C/12T would be the absolute bare minimum and it's more likely that 8C/16T and higher would be required to buy right now to still be considered adequate (with say 2 newer GPU's like I did) in a decades time.

Of course when I got the 2600K we had a 6+ year period where Intel's dominance effectively hamstrung home/game CPU development into "4C/8T only" for far longer than it should have been (with a static effect on "multi-core" games development too) plus we were generally "stuck" at 1080p for a long time. So now AMD's resurgence has seen home CPU core counts skyrocket and 4K and 144hz gaming taking off I can see the next decade being where games/software really starts to heavily leverage this new "core race" and it makes me wonder if even 8C/16T will be enough in a further 10 years time for whatever the future of PC's looks like?

 

[ianh]

Keep it and invest in a new gpu when the latest ones come out.

Thats my plan so far as the 2600K still works fine, so it's more of a "when this eventually breaks" question.

but there may be some outliers that really benefit from 8+ cores in the future. Im pretty confident a 3600x would be fine in most games in 5 years, hard to say about 10 years we may be forced to stream all our games by then

My thoughts are that now that the current PS5/Xbox X both have 8C/16T chips, meaning that games makers will start to leverage these new cores, that in 10 years time we'll have moved past this current 8c/16T area and who only knows what the later PS7/Xbox XXX consoles (and therefore games) will have, maybe 16C/32T? So would a current 8C/16T CPU now still be able to run the latest games then, not to mention that TV resolution will have changed yet again, we maybe at 16k gaming etc in a decade with 4k considered as "low res" as 1080p is currently compared to the new shiny 4k right now.

The 2600k was exceptional value and I don't think you will find a deal like that again.

Yeah thats my concern. I'm not as big an enthusiast as I was in the 90's when I was swapping chips and GPUs yearly so now I just want to buy once, have it last a "long" time rather than replacing things every 2-3 years.

 

[ianh]

I may just bite the bullet and go for a new system as Gamers Nexus did a great video on youtube the other day (10 Years of Intel CPUs Benchmarked: i7-930, 2600K, 4790K, & Everything Since (2020)) which was very interesting.

Just watched that, what a great video but I hope they do something similar for AMD so I could see a comparison across both platforms. I knew the IPC benefits of newer chips make a bigger difference than pure clock speed but I was surprised at how little that "real world" difference was across the 4C/8T i7 range in the video considering the CPU's spanned 6+ years like that, although the 8C/16T i9 9900K looked fantastic!

In ten years.... 64 core 128 threads?

I did look at a 24C/48T Threadripper purely for a giggle and the price was surprisingly decent I thought (£1900-ish for CPU/Memory/MoBo - what I'll be replacing in mine) but if we're at 16C/32T now with home CPU's will we get to a stage like the 6+ year 4C/8T "limit" where manufacturers deliberately "stagnate" the core race in future to allow software/game to catch-up to these huge core counts which means the 24C/48T would be extremely poor VFM?

 

[ianh]

However, while everything still works fine right now, I know that at some point my poor CPU/MoBo or RAM will eventually fail and I'll need to swap to a whole new setup

Keep it and invest in a new gpu when the latest ones come out.

Thats my plan so far as the 2600K still works fine, so it's more of a "when this eventually breaks" question.

If it ain't broke don't fix it? You could literally wait for the latest GPU's and upgrade that... and see how it all works out.

Thanks for the reply but again, as per the OP, this is a "I'm not changing anything yet but whats best when it does break" question.

 

[ianh]

So looking at the replies, the main CPU's are the 3600x, 3700x and 3900x - I'm quite surprised that Intel has been completely left out of the recommendations but then seeing that their 10th Gen release line up looks a little Meh then it's no surprise I guess.

With the AM4 socket hitting it's EoL with Zen3's release and requiring new MoBo's and Intel 10th Gen needing a new MoBo as well, I'm hoping my PC lasts long enough to avoid this "your new MoBo may only support 1 generation of CPU" issue.

 

[ianh]

Good post Ponero. Would you say then a 3900x-3950x would be a waste for a pure gaming build that wanted to last as long as possible with just the odd gpu upgrade. Theres people still on 2500k (overclocked) with good gpus and gaming at pretty reasonable settings. I would like to be in that position with my cpu and buy whatever the top 4000 ryzen cpu is for that reason.

I would put that ability down to the lack CPU Core increase progress for a 5 year section of 2012-2017 rather than 2500k/2600k being future-proofed when created.

My reasoning is this - We had at least 5 years (2012 to 2017) of continuous 4C/8T stagnation from Intel for their top end desktop CPU's which massively limited games/software dev's who simply decided, why waste time/money optimising for more cores when we've had 5 years of the same 4C/8T. It finally took the PS4/Xbox One releases in 2015 with their 8C/8T APU's to start getting games developers to use more cores for games (although PC game dev's were still hamstrung) and it's only now that they'll start to increase multi-core development as both desktop CPU's and PS5/XBox X are hitting 8C/16T as the mainstream, but we lost 5-ish years of dev optimisations due to Intel.

It's really that Intel deliberate stagnation bloody annoys me, because after AMD launched Ryzen we "suddenly" get Intel's top end desktop CPU's going from 4C/8T to 10C/20T within just 3 years (7700k in 2017 to 10900k in 2020) showing that Intel had deliberately stopped CPU core growth in the mid 2010's rather than hitting any tech limit.

Taking that further (and into the realms of guesswork) if Intel hadn't deliberately stopped core progression then we should have seen 6C/12T by 2013, then 8C/16T by 2015 and 10C/20T by 2016 then who knows how soon we would have seen Intel make 12C/24T (or even 16C/32T) for 2020 to compete with Ryzen 3950x, I mean if that had even existed as I think Ryzen would have flopped if Intel were kicking out 10C/20T CPU's in 2016 and just imagine what game/software multi-core optimisations would be like now if game devs had those 10C/20T CPU's as mainstream back in 2016 (again, all guesswork)!

 

[ianh]

Looking into the recommendations given here a little further (thanks for the replies) so far the 3700x really does look to be the best VFM currently, and seeing the results of the 3300X's "1 CCX" design in reviews released last night makes me think whatever Zen 3 brings will be yet another big step, if my 2600k lasts that long.

I also looked at Intel's and the 10700k looked interesting as a 9900k "refresh" but for far less cash (still £400-ish?) but with it's large increase in power requirements I'd be worried about how hot it runs even with "die thinning". However there aren't any reviews out yet so I'll wait and see how they turn out.

It's been an eye opener to catch up on the recent advances, I think the last time I looked seriously at an upgrade was around 2014-ish and there wasn't any point at all so I stopped keeping up with the CPU side of Tech and only bothered with GPU and the past 3-4 years have been a CPU game-changer which I'd completely missed.

 

[ianh]

I always tell myself to upgrade gradually, but once I build a system, I can never be bothered taking it apart until I need a full system upgrade.

My aim is that, once I build a new setup, it'll just require 2 GPU swaps to get it last a decade like my current one (skip alternate GPU releases) as I don't want to be swapping CPU/MoBo's as well as GPU's every 2-3 years

 

[ianh]

Now we've got more info from the new 10th Gen Intel release there's nothing there that makes me think "wow, gotta get that!!!" despite the fears of running very hot being less than expected (still hot but not that bad TBH).

As I don't know what I'll be doing over the next decade I'm not sure focusing on a pure "gaming" Intel CPU over a more rounded AMD one just because you get 10-15% FPS in "some" games is going to me a sound decision. Don't get me wrong, if 10th Gen was say 30%+ faster FPS but with comparable "everything else - workflow" performance to AMD at the same price point then it'd make more sense to buy that but right now (before Zen 3 is released) I think that the difference just isn't big enough right now, and when Zen 3 comes out it'll hopefully catch-up/reduce that FPS difference whilst further increasing the "workflow" side too.

@Acme -Stalker

 

[ianh]

In my opinion, now is bad time to buy. in 2021, 2022 we'll see major new technologies released

I second this personally. Your current rig has got you this far so unless you're desperate to upgrade.............

Thanks for the posts and the info, as I mentioned in the OP I'm not doing anything until my rig finally fails. So this is just me getting a heads up on the CPU tech I've ignored for the past 8+ years because I know my setup won't last forever so when it finally does break (the only reason I'd be upgrading) I don't have to spend a few weeks/month without a PC whilst I catch-up on all the new tech, review all the different options, buy, ship and build a new one - Instead I can just buy the same day it finally breaks.

However its good to get so many opinions that match/disagree as it all helps me understand the newer tech when people who've used it give their experiences.

 

[ianh]

Here's my thinking re: HEDT - They'll still be capable in 10 years time of that I have no doubt, so if I got a 3960x setup (which I looked into) I'd still be using it in 2030 without issue, just matched to a really good GPU from the time. However, the VFM of a £1200 CPU vs, for example, the much regarded in here 3700x at just £300 can't be ignored but that really relies upon the 8C/16T 3700x (matched with a really good GPU again) still being as capable in 2030, just as my 2010 2600k with a 1070 still is in 2020 for my 1080p gaming. Who knows if 1080p gaming will even still be there in 2030, or will it have died out and 4K then be considered as "basic" as 1080p is now when 8k/16k is around (will it be, who knows?) etc.

If I was looking to change the "core" parts (CPU/MoBo/RAM) of the build every 3 or so years (which may end up being a better plan) it'd be much easier to decide. However my "keep the core the same & just update the GPU" plan, which worked well for the 2600k, is probably too dependent on the current tech having another stagnation period, where something like CPU's upto 16C/32T (either Intel or AMD) stays as the maximum core count for "desktop" setups for at least 5+ years. Plus with the PS5/XBox X I hoping that makes all game devs (inc PC) fully utilise that 8C/16T by 2024 at least, meaning that CPU core count becomes a limitation rather than the GPU being one. I mean what core count will PS6 etc be using in another 6-7 years time?

Or on the other hand, could Core count be less important and just IPC be the big development steps instead, so Desktop chips top out at that 16C/32T mentioned above but the IPC improves 15%+ every 2 years instead?

It's just so much guesswork with so much changing over the past 2 & next 2 years that my worry isn't so much that whatever I get will be bypassed in 3+ years (I know it will be so why worry) but that there's a technological "jump" in say 5+ years that'll leave 8C/16T trailing in it's wake forcing me to upgrade the "core" anyway making all this "decade planning" a little moot

I suppose this discussion is helpful to me in any case TBH.

 

[ianh]

LOL, Linus is reading my mind!

 

[ianh]

As a blast from the past, about 14 months after my initial post and things have changed dramatically in the "availability" of PC parts!

I've eventually decided to go with the AMD R9 5900x for it's 12C/24T just to give me some future expansion (over an 8C/16T CPU) if I end up keeping this one for the next decade. As a bonus I managed to find an extremely good bundle (CPU/MoBo/Ram/GPU) from a direct competitor which includes an EVGA 3080 XC3 Ultra for only £70-ish more than its MSRP which is amazing at this time!

Hopefully everything arrives tomorrow and I should be able to make some money back when I sell the GTX 1070, although I'll keep it for a bit as a back-up just incase.

 

[ianh]

Very odd time to upgrade.

Dead MoBo (I think) kind of forced the issue rather than just a desire to upgrade, as I mentioned way back in the OP.........

I know that at some point my poor CPU/MoBo or RAM will eventually fail and I'll need to swap to a whole new setup

 

[ianh]

Heh my brother is still using my i5 2500k. 2500k/2600k are legendary CPUs

I was still 1080p gaming with a GTX1070 on mine without issues until a week ago, such an awesome chip and definitely where Intel screwed up as they realised themselves just how game-changing it was and decided to screw users over initially with all the chips afterwards and screw themselves over as they did almost nothing for 4-5 years, missing out on all that dev time!

 

[ianh]

I keep thinking of doing a full upgrade. However, whilst I can still play my games at decent frames, I'm holding on for one more cycle. I have so so many games on my virtual shelf that I could be happy for many years to come.

I think the next AMD Ryzen and GFX card generation (Nvidia and AMD) will be epic and, had I been able to, I'd have preferred to hold out 1 more year too.