How long would a Sandy Bridge 2600K with a single Radeon 6970 last me gaming before I would need an upgrade?

I'm just wondering how long this setup would last me playing games on max settings before I would need an upgrade? Games I plan to play are Battlefield 3, Crysis 2, Elder Scrolls Skyrim, Deus Ex Human Revolution, and Mass Effect 3 if that gives you an idea of what I need and use?How long would a Sandy Bridge 2600K with a single Radeon 6970 last me gaming before I would need an upgrade?
That's a very new CPU. You'll need to upgrade probably in 4 years. Dual Cores that came about 4-5 years ago are still ok to have now so I don't see why a CPU now is ok to have 4 years from now. Your graphics card will become outdated slighty faster though. It'll be outdated within 2 years. A 4870x2 was the best AMD card 2 years ago. It is not able to play Crysis at maxed settings at high resolutions and has the inability to play games in DX11.

If you don't mind playing games in low-medium settings, your graphics card will last 4-5 years before you need to upgrade. Right now the 6970 is capable of playing anything at maxed settings with the exception of Metro 2033. It'll be good for Battlefield 3 and Crysis 2 as well.
That set up will no doubt last you awhile unlike what the others have said.

While it is true that games do not fully utilize all the cpu cores, thats changing fast. Bad Company 2 has support for 2 to 8 processor threads, Battlefield 3 will no doubt have that as well. The 2600k also is really great on overclocking, reaching up to 4.5Ghz with ease on air.



That rig will last you awhile, the gpu may need replacing in time, but that CPU is near the top of benchmark charts, and the graphics card would be fully utilized instead of being bottlenecked.



I would say go for it, unless your ok with waiting for 2011 sockets (which will probably be a lot more expensive.) Although I wouldn't really wait for bulldozer, AMD's only cpu that is in the top charts of cpu performance is their server opteron, which even is still crushed by Intel's other cpus.



So long answer short, it will indeed last you awhile, it might help to get a P67 motherboard that supports multiple graphics cards though, so your games play really well.How long would a Sandy Bridge 2600K with a single Radeon 6970 last me gaming before I would need an upgrade?
Well, based on Moore's law, 6 months before it's outdated. But based on those games, you'll be able to play em near max forever since those games already exists. If your referring to future games of that caliber, probably a couple of years, games change too fast to stay at the top performance. Personally, Nvidia is far superior. I'd recommend the new GTX 560 or 580. and no need to get the 2600k. Slower game performance than the 2500k. Even though it's "better", it's not utilizing all 8 threads since most games don't even use more than 1 or 2 cores. The 2500k gets higher frame rates and all around better performance than 2600K, plus its cheaper. Unless your gonna be using the CPU for processing things that require 8 threads, its useless.
July 26th, 2012. Then you will need a upgrade.



I'm kidding. Honestly sooner then you think. The games you named are high demanding games.



Your probably looking at a year in a half. Then you will probably have to move your settings from very high to just high.



But by that time. The HD 7 Series should be out. The HD 6 series should have a price drop. And you should be able to pick up another 6970 for about $200. Then you should be good for another year in a half.



Obviously I am pulling these numbers out of my ***. I am just estimating.How long would a Sandy Bridge 2600K with a single Radeon 6970 last me gaming before I would need an upgrade?
For most gamers the equipment becomes out dated long before you really need to upgrade! In about 6 months or so the new 2011 socket will be out with the new intel CPU that promises 30-50% better than the 1155 Sandy Bridge, Then too. AMD will roll out its new Bulldozer with the AM3+ socket, It too promises great results. then there is the Promise of the PCIe 3.0 x16 slot with 8GT/s as apposed to the present 5GT/s. AMD has got there series 7000 video cards in the works and Nvidia is suppose to have there series 600 cards out soon. They all PROMISE a lot but independent benchmarks tell the score Just wait till the "smoke clears" and pay little attention to the manufactures Hype...Of course they say its wonderful..they are trying to sell it!!