Upgrading from an Intel Core i7-2600K: Testing Sandy Bridge in 2019
by Ian Cutress on May 10, 2019 10:30 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Intel
- Sandy Bridge
- Overclocking
- 7700K
- Coffee Lake
- i7-2600K
- 9700K
Gaming: Final Fantasy XV
Upon arriving to PC earlier this, Final Fantasy XV: Windows Edition was given a graphical overhaul as it was ported over from console, fruits of their successful partnership with NVIDIA, with hardly any hint of the troubles during Final Fantasy XV's original production and development.
In preparation for the launch, Square Enix opted to release a standalone benchmark that they have since updated. Using the Final Fantasy XV standalone benchmark gives us a lengthy standardized sequence to record, although it should be noted that its heavy use of NVIDIA technology means that the Maximum setting has problems - it renders items off screen. To get around this, we use the standard preset which does not have these issues.
Square Enix has patched the benchmark with custom graphics settings and bugfixes to be much more accurate in profiling in-game performance and graphical options. For our testing, we run the standard benchmark with a FRAPs overlay, taking a 6 minute recording of the test.
| AnandTech CPU Gaming 2019 Game List | ||||||||
| Game | Genre | Release Date | API | IGP | Low | Med | High | |
| Final Fantasy XV | JRPG | Mar 2018 |
DX11 | 720p Standard |
1080p Standard |
4K Standard |
8K Standard |
|
All of our benchmark results can also be found in our benchmark engine, Bench.
| AnandTech | IGP | Low | Medium | High |
| Average FPS |  |
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| 95th Percentile |  |
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For Final Fantasy, all chips performed essentially the same from 4K upwards (the OC run failed at 8K for some reason), but at 1080p resolutions the OC chip still sits between the 2600K/7700K at stock almost easily in the middle.
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Danvelopment - Sunday, May 12, 2019 - link
This, they're dime a dozen because enterprise are dumping them and consumers are too scared to buy them. Mine is 8 core 16 thread with quad channel DDR3.StevoLincolnite - Friday, May 10, 2019 - link
Running a Sandy-Bridge-E setup... So even less of a need to rush out and upgrade... 6 Cores, PCI-E 3.0, Quad Channel DDR3... Overclocks to 5Ghz.Haven't found anything that I can't run yet. Been an amazing rig.
marc1000 - Sunday, May 12, 2019 - link
I'm trying to stay more focused on work and learning this year, so stopped using my i5-2500k@4ghz and re-activated an old laptop with i7-2620m (max 3.1ghz) with 12gb ram and an average SSD.As today world is heavily web-based for office-like productivity (basically reading emails, accessing online systems, and creating some documents), I'm actually amazed that this laptop is serving me so well. I use a newer i5-8350u at work, which obviously is faster, but the difference is not that much.
for users that want to stay at the top of the game, upgrading makes sense. for users that just want to use the device, it does not (unless your work actually depends of such performance increases).
soliloquist - Monday, May 13, 2019 - link
Still rockin' a 2500K!Over the years I have stuffed it full of RAM and SSDs and still works well for my needs.
AdhesiveTeflon - Monday, May 13, 2019 - link
I still have some CAD users rocking it on a 2600 (non-K) and and SSD just fine too.I left the PC world when the 2600K was king (and the glorious Q6600 before it) and came back when the i7-6xxx series was mid-life and man was I disappointed in the lack of performance jumps that we were so accustomed to from the athlon 64 -> Core 2 Duo/Quad -> i7-2600.
Alperian - Tuesday, May 14, 2019 - link
I'm still running one of these too and they were great like my Northwood before it.I am soon getting a 9900k R0 stepping if I hear good things and relegate this PC to a home Ubuntu server.
I do wish I could afford to upgrade more regularly though. 8 years is too many.
Marlin1975 - Friday, May 10, 2019 - link
Still running my 3770 as I have not seen that large a difference to upgrade. But Zen+ had me itching and Zen2 is what will finally replace my 3770/Z77 system.That and its not just about the CPU but also the upgrades in chipset/USB/etc... parts.
nathanddrews - Friday, May 10, 2019 - link
I originally wanted a 3770K, but missed the window to get a good deal when they were newer. My 3570K+1080Ti still scratches most of my itches, but it's the MMO-style games that really tank my CPU performance and starve my GPU.olde94 - Friday, May 10, 2019 - link
I had a 2500k and had to admit tha VR needed the 4 threads full so i found a brand new 3770k for 80$ which gave me 4 extra threads for the system. This was for me enough to pull most games with my gtx 970 as i rarely play MMO's....... but rendering have me keen eyed on a threadripper......
philehidiot - Friday, May 10, 2019 - link
Olde94.... I am desperately looking for an excuse to buy a Threadripper. I just can't find one.I suspect I'm just going to invest the money in a really sweet gun for target shooting instead but the nerd part of me still wants to cheap out on the gun and get a Threadripper....