It's always a pleasure to throw all the hardware at our disposal at a title and enjoy it in its maximum visual quality, but the truth is that to play we don't need the latest configuration, but rather a balanced one. This has been proven ad nauseam on YouTube, with 'old' LGA 775 systems accompanied by a good graphics card and the exact amount of RAM, which chew the most recent games like candy. Don't believe me? Look at what the Core 2 Quad Q9400 can do, a chip that just turned ten years old…
Fortnite and the Q9400
Without a doubt, one of the most popular titles right now is Fortnite Battle Royale, to the point that it already has a porn parody. Being available on iOS and Android has allowed it to add millions of players in record time, but due to a simple question of competitiveness, the interest in playing it on computers is very large. Now, the folks at Epic suggest some minimum requirements that speak of a 2.4 GHz Core i3 or equivalent, 4 GB of RAM, and Intel HD 4000 graphics. However, on the Web they demonstrated that with the correct amount of RAM and a balanced graphics card, that Core i3 isn't even necessary. In fact, previous generations of processors still hold a lot of power, as long as we're willing to make some graphics adjustments (either quality or resolution). Examples? How about a Core 2 Quad 9400?
The Q9400 Explained
As Phil from the PhilsComputerLab channel explains, the Core 2 Quad Q9400 has become a very interesting processor thanks to its low price on AliExpress. The average is around $15, but if you decide to add a dollar or two more, you can go up to a Q9500 at 2.83 GHz. One of the advantages of the Q9400 is that it doesn't require any kind of mod, something unavoidable in the case of equivalent Xeons (you have to alter the motherboard socket and glue a special label over the chip's pins). AliExpress also sells compatible motherboards, generally Asus and Gigabyte models compatible with DDR2 and DDR3 (I recommend getting a board with DDR3, unless you already own 8 GB of DDR2 and want to save a little more money).
Performance in Practice
If you install the Core 2 Quad Q9400 alongside a GeForce GTX 1050 (2 GB version) or similar, you'll most likely be able to reach 60 FPS in a good number of titles at 1080p on Medium. The video shows the aforementioned Fortnite, and DOOM with the Vulkan API running beautifully. Of course, there are some exceptions to the rule. Hitman punishes the Q9400 quite a bit, although it doesn't get along well with Nvidia hardware in the first place. The system crushes classics like Half-Life 2 and DiRT 3, and both The Witcher 3 and Rise of the Tomb Raider run at around 40 FPS, with the graphics card becoming the bottleneck. If the motherboard allows it, reaching an overclock of 3 GHz on the Q9400 shouldn't be too difficult, and that change will be reflected in performance.
Should You Retire It?
In short: If you think it's time to abandon the Q9400, think twice. If you add a good SSD and a graphics card (which you can later move to another system), this silicon with ten years on its shoulders can keep fighting like on day one.
