To be fair, Intel's designs post-Sandy Bridge have all been more evolutionary than revolutionary. The fact that my i7-2600k can run a game from 2015 at max settings well over 30fps (with a GTX 970, not a video card that is the 2600k's contemporary) is indicative of two trends:

Intel resting on its laurels with minor improvements each gen that don't compel upgrades.

Game developers being restricted by weak consoles so as not to develop games twice, but instead first for consoles then barely upscale it for PC. The Division's producers flat-out admitted that the PC version could've looked a lot better but they wanted it to be "fair for console players" not to outdo it too much. This means older CPUs aren't challenged much at all.

Intel is waiting for AMD to catch up before it takes its next big leap. Just watch, as soon as AMD releases a chip that is a worthy competitor they'll release their new one 3 months later that takes all the wind out of AMD's launch.




The Jedi Master