Great processor, runs great, and is basically the best 8 core, 16 thread x79 Xeon Proc you can get.
It is as good as you could expect a 1680 v2 to perform - excellent. I consider this proc the best x79 proc for general use. 8 cores, 16 threads, and great clock speed for the architecture. I got this one for gaming, upgrading from a 2665 v0, so it's a significant and straight upgrade. I am gaming on a Machinist motherboard from Aliexpress just because I came into possession of an old server loaded with DDR3 ECC and two 2665s in it. Amazing value for the price (especially free on some of the parts), gaming on these old Xeon chipsets suprisingly holds up very, very well. Oddly, older games, like Fallout 3 and New Vegas, play pretty bad, yet newer games run like all new hardware minus the frame times and occassional stutters on loading. F3 and NV run bad because of their usage of cores, as they can only use two and only one of them at 100%, relying on clock speed for good performance. Naturally, Xeons are not high clock speeds, so hopefully the 1680 v2 will allow me to fulfill my Fallout modding dreams, as those games are what inspired me to go to PC. These x79 chips run new games great, with only their IPC and clock speed to a lesser extent holding them back. Of course, comparing clock speeds across generations doesn't really work well, but I can say in my experience the Xeons with their lower speeds means you won't get blazing FPS and performance, but you will be getting great performance given the price and how old these chips are just in general. I have to run more modern games at max settings to not bottleneck my CPU and 5700xt any more than it is, with the exception of some settings in games that are just unoptimized/impractical to max out. Games like Fortnite or Modern Warfare 2019, for example, I run maxed out or all but maxed out with one or two settings one tick or two below max and the game runs as good if not better than scaling down to "performance" or "esports" levels because of how well these procs run the games.
All in all, for gaming and general use, the 1680 v2 is the best you can get for the x79 chipset. If you have a better, more standard production motherboard to more appropriately support overclocking, this chip can rival and even beat an overclock 9900k. I am still looking for a better board, but will be going to x99 soon if I can get a server blade in that chipset similar to the last one. I recommend the Aliexpress motherboards for value. Overclocking is doable but not reliable, and the BIOS is limited. The biggest annoyance I have with mine is the lack of RGB support on the motherboard, so no cool customization of flashy lights. That and sometimes the USB ports not working right, which could be my case (Cooler Master H500), but that is basically it. After you install the board, OS, and get all your drivers and updates from Windows, you are set. I can't recommend the Aliexpress Xeon motherboards, especially the Machinist brand, enough. The 1680 v2 is my top recommendation for procs to put on those boards for the value, even if they are one of the more expensive ones comparative to other chips in the generation.
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned