Who still uses Core 2?

[hat]

I'm wondering how many of us here still use the Core 2 architecture, in their main rig. Not a second pc, guest pc, laptop, I mean the main machine still having a Core 2 CPU.

I had an i7 920 at one point, but I wound up with a Q6600 system. It doesn't seem that much different from the i7 machine, at least at the speed I run at. Certain specific things have suffered, but overall it's much the same.

 

[Aquinus]

I personally don't, but my friend who I built a computer for (which has an E6600 in it,) still loves it and thinks it's great. Granted he is your average PC user, so an E6600 is enough for him.

In all seriousness, I could give him an SSD and he would see more of a difference over a modern day i7.

Edit: I also forgot that my wife uses my old Dell Studio 1735 which has a 2.1Ghz Core 2 Penryn in it and it seems to work okay for her. An SSD would also solve almost all of her complaints (along with a new battery.)

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

Nope, I did just buy a Maximus II Formula for an old E7200 I had lying around. Which might become part of my second rig (temporarily) which would later transform into my primary rig (when I replace the CPU and board)

 

[Kursah]

I know of several builds of my own or and built for others are still out and used as daily drivers. But Core2 is fading fast...it's getting to the point where we're replacing school and business workstations that have Core2 with i3's and i5's, and many of these are the last of their kind. Kind of a shame really... the Core2 days were mostly good. I will say that DDR3 has seen much less issues and failures in my experience, but I feel Core2 was much more fun to OC and find out just how far you could go on stock voltage. Really though, I notice major differneces in what I do and want from my PC between an old Core2 setup and my newer Haswell setup...it's no contest. To each their own in that respect.

 

[Delta6326]

I', still rocking a Q6600 @3.46Ghz Max temp gaming 63C GPU max 75C! I have yet to find issue to upgrade, cpu wise. But I do plan to upgrade sometime 2015. for Pcars and Star citizen.

 

[silkstone]

I wouldn't use one as my main rig as it would bottleneck different games, and while being adequate for day-to-day things, when it comes to encoding videos or working with images, more cores are usually better.

My HTPC is a core2 duo along with my print server and kid's laptop, though. They work well enough in their roles.

 

[RealNeil]

I have a core2 duo rig with Linux on it. An old Dell box.
With Linux Mint, it's fast.

 

[SaltyFish]

I'm still using a Core 2 as my main rig. Still runs games fine since there isn't much to challenge the processor. I think the Core 2 era was around the time when computing power reached a point where it was suitable for most needs for a very long time, especially since there hasn't been anything that really requires a more powerful computer every four years or so anymore.

Skylake is probably the earliest I might consider a new CPU, barring some sort of catastrophic failure of my current system.

 

[GorbazTheDragon]

I'm still using a Core 2 as my main rig. Still runs games fine since there isn't much to challenge the processor. I think the Core 2 era was around the time when computing power reached a point where it was suitable for most needs for a very long time, especially since there hasn't been anything that really requires a more powerful computer every four years or so anymore.

Skylake is probably the earliest I might consider a new CPU, barring some sort of catastrophic failure of my current system.

Just a question, what games are you playing?

My laptop has an ivy bridge i7 (quad+HT) running at 3.2GHz and it is only just enough for playing newer games like BF3. I tried a bit of underclocking and at anything below 2.7 I was getting a CPU bottleneck. My GPU is basically a GTX560 clocked slightly slower.

 

[XSI]

i use e8400 at 2,2-3,5ghz. it is in my main rig with 8800gt. i can play many games, mortal combat 9 on very high graphics, injustice gods among us very high graphics. devil my cry 5 medium to hight. but my MB is in repair now and im thinking of changing to z97+pentium anniversary edition. (~170$ here).

 

[AhokZYashA]

im still rocking 1 desktop and 2 C2D laptops,
the desktop still plays all the game i play fluently (dota2, DN SEA, BF2)
it is paired with a 9600GT.

the laptops only used for listening to music and watch HD movies, which they ran it flawlessly.

 

[Nosada]

Core 2 has been relegated to family members in my case, but I have 4 young cousins who play on a small gaming LAN I set up at my parents house.
an E4300, E7600 and E8400 are among them, with video cards ranging from HD 3850 to R7 260X. All of them play the games they wanna play fluently, though the most demanding is probably Trials Fusion.

 

[patrico]

im still using my trusty Q6600 never gave me any probs at stock or o/ced, its been running most days of the week for 7 years without one incident

 

[digibucc]

not mine but a friend and client is still rocking an e6600 that imho is quite good. it does all they need with a little power to spare. me personally with gaming and virtual machines it's just not good enough. still though it's by no means obsolete or anything.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

One of my friends is still running with my old Q9550 that i had clocked at 3.9Ghz (i think it was 3.9) that CPU is a beast. its paired with a 660Ti but thats going to go soon I think as he said hes starting to lower the settings in games to get decent frames

 

[rtwjunkie]

My youngest son's rig (he turns 19 this month) is still rocking a Core 2 Quad QX9650 at 3.6Ghz on a Gigabye EP45-UD3P motherboard, 8GB of 1066 DDR2, and a GTX 580. It gets the job done for nearly all the games he plays, and quite honestly, his only limitation is the 1.5GB of VRAM sometimes on the 580 (like heavily modded Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, and Skyrim).

The 4 cores are enough even on multi threaded games, still pushing alot of power to the GPU. For instance, on BFBC2 and BF3, all the cores are used heavily, but not maxed out like they were when he had an e8400, so that tells me the cpu is still not a bottleneck.

Recently I upgraded him to my old M4 SSD, and a HooToo USB 3.0 add-in card, and that was a huge upgrade in terms of speed and responsiveness. Since I told him he's got to do any modernization on his own dime now, I have a feeling this setup will be plenty for him for awhile! Besides, that cpu still has some good overclocking headroom.

 

[brandonwh64]

We use E4500's here at work on most of the machine but we have been slowly upgrading to I7's. The Machines we have with 2GB of ram are ok for office use.

 

[GreiverBlade]

i doo too i use a DC7700P from HP Compaq with a E6700 (originally a E6300) and 4gb XMS2 800 i use it mainly as a movie platine for my bedroom, but it's also for nostalgic purpose that i still keep it ... (i am rocking a lot of dual core cpu on my shelf... for collection purpose ) oh wait ... main rig? aherm ... well it's my main rig for DVD/video playback and web browsing when i am in my bed .... does that coun't ? (plus keeping it under Win XP Pro for KOTOR I/II and Sudeki )

 

[Sasqui]

I still use an E8600 @ 4.3 Ghz almost as much as my main rig. Soon to be making an "upgrade" attempt to an Xeon X5470 and retire my ROG 775 Boards.

 

[ste2425]

Yup still running an E8200 and it still runs mighty fine for me, that an my HD4850. I don't game at insanely high resolutions and the games i do play a far from strenuous. For my uses i don't think id see enough of a benefit over cost to upgrade.

 

[P4-630]

My dad has still running a pc with cpu e7200 and gpu hd4870, os windows vista, still runs great, only replaced the psu some time ago.

 

[insane 360]

i've got two machines that get almost as much use as my main ones. one is a dell 1720 laptop sporting a 2.0ghz core2 and an 8500m gpu and its running windows 8.1 smoothly. even plays dirt 3 on medium 720p

the other is a dell 360 with a 2.97ghz core 2 that i'm going to do the same as Sasqui, do the 771 pin mod and an xeon e5540 (whatever the 2.8-3.0ghz quad core) and its running windows 8.1 with a windows 7 vm (needed media center and have VL)

those core2duo are still pretty impressive for their age

 

[Sasqui]

the other is a dell 360 with a 2.97ghz core 2 that i'm going to do the same as Sasqui, do the 771 pin mod and an xeon e5540 (whatever the 2.8-3.0ghz quad core) and its running windows 8.1 with a windows 7 vm (needed media center and have VL)

We must compare notes. I've made progress with the xeon and sticker, next up is messing with the P5Q deluxe it'll be living in.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I almost forgot! Does my server count? The Xeon it has is Core 2 family (it's almost exact replica of e8400). It runs 24/7 and is used daily. Does everything I need it to, so no reason to upgrade.

 

[Mussels]

I'm wondering how many of us here still use the Core 2 architecture, in their main rig. Not a second pc, guest pc, laptop, I mean the main machine still having a Core 2 CPU.

I had an i7 920 at one point, but I wound up with a Q6600 system. It doesn't seem that much different from the i7 machine, at least at the speed I run at. Certain specific things have suffered, but overall it's much the same.

not quite what you're asking, but i had an E6600 until about 2 weeks ago.


it was fine for facebook and HD media playback, but its performance was really, really lacking for modern RTS gaming