The Core 2 Quad Range: A Final Send Off

As I sat down to play Red Dead Redemption 2 on my old quad-core processor, I couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia wash over me. The game's main menu loaded quickly, and for a moment, I was convinced that it would run smoothly throughout. But, as is all too common with modern games and older hardware, the experience took a turn for the worse.

The game crashed due to lack of modern compatibility, leaving me wondering if I had simply outgrown my machine. The process repeated itself time and again, each iteration more frustrating than the last. It was clear that this particular combination of hardware was no longer capable of handling the demands of modern gaming.

On the other hand, some games did manage to run with acceptable frame rates, albeit often plagued by stuttering and freezes. Mafia: Definitive Edition, for instance, still ran relatively smoothly in quieter areas, but the visuals were not as crisp as I had hoped. The frame rate was respectable, but the stuttering made it difficult to enjoy the experience.

The GTX 1050 Ti, paired with a Core 2 Quad processor, is a mismatch of epic proportions. While it did provide a smooth experience for Mafia at lower resolutions, it simply wasn't enough to handle the demands of more intensive games like Watchdogs: Legion or Assassin's Creed Valhalla. The Rtx 3070 was a welcome sight, but even pairing it with this aging hardware didn't solve the fundamental issue of incompatibility.

As I delved deeper into the world of testing these processors, I began to wonder if a higher resolution would make a difference. I decided to try and shift the bottleneck from the graphics card by upgrading the GPU, hoping that this would alleviate some of the strain on the aging quad core.

I must admit, it was bittersweet to see the Rtx 3070 working with this setup. On one hand, it was impressive to see these components work together in a way that seemed almost natural. On the other hand, it highlighted just how mismatched they were in terms of performance. The Core 2 Quad processor was still going to max out at around 100% usage, regardless of the GPU's capabilities.

I used the NVIDIA Control Panel to display a 4K resolution on my 1080p monitor via DSR (Downsampled Render), and while the smoother frame rate wasn't immediately apparent from the footage, I could appreciate the subtle improvement. However, even with these tweaks, the stuttering was still present, making it difficult to enjoy the game.

Combining a Core 2 Quad processor with an Rtx card simply feels wrong, like pairing two components that would never be paired in real-world usage. While this combination did provide some welcome improvements, such as the smoother frame rate in Mafia, it's clear that these processors are no longer capable of handling modern gaming demands.

Not all games suffered from compatibility issues, however. Some still managed to run with at least 30 frames per second even at 4K resolutions. This does suggest that these chips may not be completely obsolete just yet, especially for indie games or titles that aren't too demanding.

The future of the Core 2 Quad range is uncertain, but it's clear that there will always be a market for older hardware. These processors have been plentiful on the used market, and can often be found at reasonable prices. I do wonder how long the i5 750, i3 530, or other members of this series will last, but it's likely that we'll revisit these chips in the near future.

As I wrap up my final send-off of the Core 2 Quad range, I'm left with a sense of nostalgia for the days when gaming was less demanding and processors like this were capable of handling everything. It's been a pleasure to explore these machines and see what they're still capable of, even if it's just in smaller doses.

Thank you for joining me on this final exploration of the Core 2 Quad range. If you enjoyed this send-off, be sure to leave a like below, dislike if you didn't subscribe to the channel, and hopefully I'll see all of you in the next one.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello everyone and welcome to another video now recently i decided to sell off some of my older pc components stuff that even i couldn't recommend for gaming pc builds in 2020. one part that pulled the short straw was this core 2 quad processor these chips have been a real staple of the channel over the years we've tested countless games with them overclocked them with nothing but electrical tape pushed extreme versions to the limit and those of you who've been here a while may remember that it was a core 2 video that kick-started the growth of this channel well most of you guys watching this video right now probably joined me on my budget adventures over the last year or two it was a random intel cpu that i found on ebay that started the snowball effect that brought us all together and that is insane so today before i retire this socket 775 based lineup from the channel i thought we'd take one last look at its modern day performance the only core 2 quad i have left is the 2.5 gigahertz q8300 it once offered a tiny bit more performance than the most commonly known q6600 but these days that really doesn't matter which version you pick because they'll all struggle in 2020 even with an overclock if you do happen to purchase one of these then i'd recommend no graphics card more powerful than a 1050 ti to pair with them a more powerful gpu would go to waste and even the 1050 ti is being held back when it comes to playing newer games one of two things are likely to happen the first is that when you try to actually start the game it will crash due to the lack of modern compatibility like red dead redemption 2 here which teases you a little bit by making it to the main menu before freezing the second is that the games you want to play will run but the frame times will be pretty bad and even hitting a decent average frame rate will be overshadowed by the fact that freezes and jutters plague the experience now that being said there is sort of a third thing that's going to happen using one of these cpus in 2020 brings on a certain curiosity and excitement surprise as well while some games will do exactly as good as you'd expect them to i.e crash or freeze completely others like mafia definitive edition for example will still run okay in some instances now this is a brand new game and sure while we are on the map screen here which of course is going to serve you best with a couple of 100 frames per second quieter areas in the actual game itself will still grant you at least 30 frames per second now don't get me wrong it's not a decent experience by any means because there is a lot of stutter here and there and the footage does make it look a lot worse than it actually was but the q8300 sure is a fighter and 12 years after its release it's still hanging in there in some situations now this experience made me wonder whether or not a higher resolution would actually help the gtx 1050 ti is barely being utilized so could an attempt to shift the bottleneck from the graphics card help out intel's aging quad core well to try that we'd need a beefier card now my feelings here were bittersweet on one hand it was nice to see the rtx 3070 working with this setup but on the other hand this represents a huge mismatch and one that solves an issue by pairing two components that in the real world would never be paired it's necessary in order to run our tests at higher resolutions though as the 1050 ti is only really ideal for 1080p or lower and i haven't really got anything that sits in between the two that can handle 4k with decent frame rates if it was paired with another cpu now honestly i knew that this probably wouldn't have helped out the cpu is going to max out at 100 usage or near enough regardless so we're not really achieving much here though we did get crispier visuals and a slightly better frame rate i'm using dsr from the nvidia control panel here to actually display a 4k resolution on my 1080p display albeit downscaled now the smoother frame rate isn't immediately obvious from the footage from mafia i'll admit but i guess an improvement is still an improvement combining a quarter quad and rtx card though just feels very wrong of course the games that didn't work before still don't work and these include titles such as watchdogs legion assassin's creed valhalla call of duty black ops cold war just to name a few and even if they did run i don't think we'd get a very playable experience that's not to say that some games still don't run with at least 30 frames per second even at 4k even if you do have to put up with those horrible frame times overall there we go i felt as though this series of processors needed a final send off they've done a lot for the channel over the years and if we ever put together a pc build tailored toward older games or a minimum system requirements pc that requires a core 2 duo or core 2 quad at the center then you may see one of these or one of those again but as for now i think it's time to let socket 775 rest what a great 12 or so years it's been now i firmly believe that there will be some future releases that will still work with these chips especially indie games or ones that aren't very intensive so i don't think they are completely obsolete there is always someone with a use for older hardware which is why i'm glad these still seem to be plentiful on the used market and you can find them for a pretty low price it does make me wonder how long the um 1156 core series chips will last to you know the i7 860 for example the i5 750 and i imagine that the i3 530 or 540 is probably on its last legs but yeah i'm sure we'll take another look back at that series in the near future too all that's left to say then is thank you for joining me on this final send-off of the core 2 quad range if you enjoyed this one leave a like on it down below leave a dislike if you didn't subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so already and hopefully i'll see all of you in the next onehello everyone and welcome to another video now recently i decided to sell off some of my older pc components stuff that even i couldn't recommend for gaming pc builds in 2020. one part that pulled the short straw was this core 2 quad processor these chips have been a real staple of the channel over the years we've tested countless games with them overclocked them with nothing but electrical tape pushed extreme versions to the limit and those of you who've been here a while may remember that it was a core 2 video that kick-started the growth of this channel well most of you guys watching this video right now probably joined me on my budget adventures over the last year or two it was a random intel cpu that i found on ebay that started the snowball effect that brought us all together and that is insane so today before i retire this socket 775 based lineup from the channel i thought we'd take one last look at its modern day performance the only core 2 quad i have left is the 2.5 gigahertz q8300 it once offered a tiny bit more performance than the most commonly known q6600 but these days that really doesn't matter which version you pick because they'll all struggle in 2020 even with an overclock if you do happen to purchase one of these then i'd recommend no graphics card more powerful than a 1050 ti to pair with them a more powerful gpu would go to waste and even the 1050 ti is being held back when it comes to playing newer games one of two things are likely to happen the first is that when you try to actually start the game it will crash due to the lack of modern compatibility like red dead redemption 2 here which teases you a little bit by making it to the main menu before freezing the second is that the games you want to play will run but the frame times will be pretty bad and even hitting a decent average frame rate will be overshadowed by the fact that freezes and jutters plague the experience now that being said there is sort of a third thing that's going to happen using one of these cpus in 2020 brings on a certain curiosity and excitement surprise as well while some games will do exactly as good as you'd expect them to i.e crash or freeze completely others like mafia definitive edition for example will still run okay in some instances now this is a brand new game and sure while we are on the map screen here which of course is going to serve you best with a couple of 100 frames per second quieter areas in the actual game itself will still grant you at least 30 frames per second now don't get me wrong it's not a decent experience by any means because there is a lot of stutter here and there and the footage does make it look a lot worse than it actually was but the q8300 sure is a fighter and 12 years after its release it's still hanging in there in some situations now this experience made me wonder whether or not a higher resolution would actually help the gtx 1050 ti is barely being utilized so could an attempt to shift the bottleneck from the graphics card help out intel's aging quad core well to try that we'd need a beefier card now my feelings here were bittersweet on one hand it was nice to see the rtx 3070 working with this setup but on the other hand this represents a huge mismatch and one that solves an issue by pairing two components that in the real world would never be paired it's necessary in order to run our tests at higher resolutions though as the 1050 ti is only really ideal for 1080p or lower and i haven't really got anything that sits in between the two that can handle 4k with decent frame rates if it was paired with another cpu now honestly i knew that this probably wouldn't have helped out the cpu is going to max out at 100 usage or near enough regardless so we're not really achieving much here though we did get crispier visuals and a slightly better frame rate i'm using dsr from the nvidia control panel here to actually display a 4k resolution on my 1080p display albeit downscaled now the smoother frame rate isn't immediately obvious from the footage from mafia i'll admit but i guess an improvement is still an improvement combining a quarter quad and rtx card though just feels very wrong of course the games that didn't work before still don't work and these include titles such as watchdogs legion assassin's creed valhalla call of duty black ops cold war just to name a few and even if they did run i don't think we'd get a very playable experience that's not to say that some games still don't run with at least 30 frames per second even at 4k even if you do have to put up with those horrible frame times overall there we go i felt as though this series of processors needed a final send off they've done a lot for the channel over the years and if we ever put together a pc build tailored toward older games or a minimum system requirements pc that requires a core 2 duo or core 2 quad at the center then you may see one of these or one of those again but as for now i think it's time to let socket 775 rest what a great 12 or so years it's been now i firmly believe that there will be some future releases that will still work with these chips especially indie games or ones that aren't very intensive so i don't think they are completely obsolete there is always someone with a use for older hardware which is why i'm glad these still seem to be plentiful on the used market and you can find them for a pretty low price it does make me wonder how long the um 1156 core series chips will last to you know the i7 860 for example the i5 750 and i imagine that the i3 530 or 540 is probably on its last legs but yeah i'm sure we'll take another look back at that series in the near future too all that's left to say then is thank you for joining me on this final send-off of the core 2 quad range if you enjoyed this one leave a like on it down below leave a dislike if you didn't subscribe to the channel if you haven't done so already and hopefully i'll see all of you in the next one\n"