My i5-6600k just won't die
My old faithful processor, an i5-6600k, just won't die.
Yes, you read that right. The i5-6600k refuses to die.
I usually try to hold on to technology until it breaks past the point of repair. If things don't break, then I usually will replace something when its reached end-of-life and doesn't receive updates for important software/firmware from manufacturers. I've had things on my gaming rigs break before - my last one had a motherboard failure - but this one is literally a tank.
I am, quite frankly, amazed at how long it's lasted (~9 years as of writing) while being run hard. For the first 3 or 4 years, it was consistently overclocked until the instability issues grated on my nerves enough that I just stopped overclocking altogether.
I built my Windows gaming rig on the Skylake platform - specifically the i5-6600k – not too long after its release in August 2015. Over the years, the only things outside of the original set up that have been upgraded are the CPU cooler (AIO), the graphics card (GTX 1060 > RTX 3070), and the C:/ drive (SATA SSD > NvME SSD).
You would have thought the i5-6600k would be part of my Linux build - but no, I built my Linux Mint machine in 2022 after dual-booting Mint on the Windows rig for a couple years. I recycled the 1060 to my Linux machine, which has come in handy for the extra processing power.
My Linux machine runs a far newer processor than the Windows one - an AMD Ryzen 5600. Currently, if I pop my 3070 RTX into my Linux rig, it would be a "better" gaming set up than my Windows machine.
However, as the end support date for Windows 10 draws closer (14 OCT 2025) and my i5-6600k, while still running, is starting to become a massive bottleneck to my gaming, I am planning my next build.
In the mean time, long live my i5-6600k!