There’s no shortage of aging desktop CPUs on the used market. If you’re thinking about buying one—or already have one in your system—and keep hearing that it’s no longer worth using, it can be hard to know whether that’s actually true.

While some processors are absolutely too old to recommend in 2026, others are written off long before they stop being useful. I’ve picked four CPUs that are often labeled as outdated but still make a lot of sense today, provided you understand their limitations. Each one represents a different milestone in desktop computing, so be sure to read the context on when and why I’d still recommend them.

Intel Core i7-8700 is still a solid entry point for modern Windows 11 builds

Intel’s last great value gaming chip

The Intel Core i7-8700 is part of the Coffee Lake generation of CPUs that Intel launched in late 2017 as a direct answer to AMD’s first-generation Ryzen chips.

It marked the first time Intel bumped up mainstream core counts in nearly a decade. In other words, the i7-8700 provided a massive jump to 6 cores and 12 threads over the i7-7700’s 4 cores and 8 threads.

Six physical cores were a really strong asset in 2017, and even in 2026, they remain a sweet spot for gaming and general computer use, though they might show signs of struggle in some multithreaded workloads.

What makes the i7-8700 a solid pick even in a modern scenario is its strong single-core performance, which allows this 8-year-old CPU to keep up surprisingly well in modern games when paired with an entry-level graphics card for 1080p gaming.

To give you an idea of the i7-8700’s performance, let’s look at how its slightly more powerful sibling, the i7-8700K, held up in Gamers Nexus’ Mega Charts: CPU Benchmarks. Paired with an NVIDIA RTX 4090 at 1080p, the i7-8700K averaged 63 FPS in Dragon’s Dogma 2, 88 FPS in Starfield, and 69 FPS in Baldur’s Gate 3. In less demanding games, it averaged 239 FPS in F1 24 and an impressive 393 FPS in Rainbow Six Siege.

Of course, the “K” variant, with its unlocked multiplier, offers a bit more performance and additional overclocking headroom, but you can expect the i7-8700 to perform within a few percentage points of it.

Perhaps the most important thing for everyday users is that the i7-8700 officially supports Windows 11, which is another massive advantage over the first-generation Ryzen chips.

Aside from that, the i7-8700 still supports PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSDs and DDR4 RAM. While newer PCIe Gen 4 and Gen 5 drives and DDR5 memory are faster on paper, they also come with a higher price tag. For most everyday tasks, these older standards still deliver more than enough performance, especially when paired with decent components.

AMD Ryzen 7 2700X remains an excellent budget CPU for multitasking

Eight cores that still get the job done

Credit: Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek

The Ryzen 7 2700X is part of AMD’s 2018 Zen+ refresh, which replaced the 14nm process used for Zen chips with a more efficient 12nm one. Along with a handful of architectural improvements, this allowed the new generation to achieve higher clock speeds while consuming less power.

In the modern context, those performance improvements matter far less than the fact that Zen+ meets Microsoft’s requirements for official Windows 11 support, whereas first-generation Zen chips do not.

Thanks to its generous 8 cores, 16 threads, and reasonable $329 MSRP at launch, the Ryzen 7 2700X stood out as one of the best all-rounder chips for heavy workloads and gaming alike in 2018. Those strengths have helped it remain relevant for years—it’s actually quite comparable to the Ryzen 5 3600, which has a more modern architecture but two fewer physical cores.

In the aforementioned Gamers Nexus Mega Charts, the Ryzen 7 2700X isn’t present, but its slightly slower sibling, the Ryzen 7 2700, is. It achieved 52 FPS in Dragon’s Dogma 2, 66 FPS in Starfield, 53 FPS in Baldur’s Gate III, 171 FPS in F1 24, and 277 FPS in Rainbow Six Siege. That’s respectable performance, and you can expect a few percent more from the X variant.

I actually ran the Ryzen 7 2700X paired with an AMD RX 6600 XT in my previous system until a year and a half ago—a build I put together specifically to match the performance of a PlayStation 5. I used it for several years, and I can attest to its solid performance in day-to-day browser-based work and 1080p gaming on a tight budget.

The CPU can be found on the used market for around $50 or less, making it an excellent entry point into PC gaming.

One of the only downsides of the Ryzen 7 2700X is its relatively high power consumption, as it has a 105W TDP.

AMD Ryzen 5 1600 proves you don’t need expensive hardware to build a capable PC

A legendary budget processor that costs less than a dinner for two

Credit: Bertel King / How-To Geek

I’ve already alluded to Zen 1 chips and the fact that the previous two models outperform them while also offering official Windows 11 support, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t deserve a spot on this list—with some major caveats, of course.

Specifically, I want to talk about the Ryzen 5 1600, a CPU that’s now 9 years old and practically worthless on the used market. I’ve found several listings between $20 and $25 on eBay, but I’m sure you can find one for even less if you buy it as part of a complete system or motherboard combo.

So, what does a CPU that costs less than a fast-food meal for two get you?

Surprisingly, quite a lot. According to the testing in Gamers Nexus’ Mega Charts, the Ryzen 5 1600 achieves 53 FPS in Starfield, 144 FPS in F1 24, and 249 FPS in Rainbow Six Siege.

Again, this is with an RTX 4090, so you should temper your expectations when pairing it with a more budget-conscious graphics card.

That being said, I think the Ryzen 5 1600 could make for a wonderful CPU in a dirt-cheap system for basic computing and light gaming, particularly in esports titles.

You also get the benefits of pairing the chip with fast DDR4 RAM and a PCIe Gen 3 NVMe SSD to get the most out of your system. And since it sits on the legendary AM4 socket, choosing a motherboard that’s compatible with first-generation Ryzen processors, such as a B450 board, also gives you an excellent upgrade path once more powerful AM4 CPUs, such as the Ryzen 5 5600X or Ryzen 7 5700X3D, come down in price. Just keep in mind that you may need to flash an older BIOS that still supports your CPU, as some newer BIOS versions have dropped support for first-generation Ryzen processors.

As for official Windows 11 support, while you can technically bypass the requirements and still install the operating system, I recommend opting for a lightweight Linux distro instead. If you don’t need Windows for work or simply want to maximize performance, Linux makes more sense because it generally runs more smoothly and uses fewer resources.

Intel Core i7-6700K is old, but it still makes sense for the right Linux build

A gamer’s classic that’s hard to write off

Credit: Jason Fitzpatrick / How-To Geek

The Intel Core i7-6700K came out in 2015, an era when Intel was unarguably dominant in the CPU world. It was an incredibly powerful CPU at the time that marked the transition to DDR4 memory on mainstream desktop platforms.

So, if you’re building a machine today, you can take advantage of incredibly cheap used DDR4 RAM to keep your platform costs to an absolute minimum. M.2 slots also became much more common around this time, which is a great thing to have if your goal is to build a smooth, responsive machine for not a lot of money.

Despite only having 4 cores and 8 threads, the i7-6700K remains a surprisingly capable CPU even today, thanks to its excellent single-core performance and high overclocking potential.

YouTuber Iceberg Tech tested an overclocked i7-6700K running at 4.5GHz with an AMD RX 6900 XT across a variety of games.

The i7-6700K achieved 299 FPS in Valorant at 1440p max settings, 211 FPS in Counter-Strike 2 at 1440p low, 58 FPS in Starfield at 1080p medium, and 98 FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1080p medium. Again, it’s hard to overstate how strong of a showing this is for an 11-year-old quad-core CPU.

It’s worth noting that, compared to the AM4 platform, the LGA 1151 situation is much more complicated, so you can’t simply use this CPU in any LGA 1151 motherboard. Essentially, if you have or want to buy the i7-6700K, forget about having a meaningful future upgrade path.

This makes it all the more painful because the i7-6700K doesn’t officially support Windows 11, which automatically makes it a strong candidate for a Linux-based machine.

These CPUs are still worth buying today, but temper your expectations

Buying an old CPU for work or gaming can make a lot of sense if you’re on a tight budget, but keep in mind that raw performance is far from the only thing that matters. Aside from the potential lack of Windows 11 support, these aging chips are based on architectures that are ancient by modern standards and lack many of the features and optimizations found in newer CPUs.

That being said, if you know what to expect from older hardware and can get a good deal on a working used model, one of these chips could end up serving you well for years to come.