[Posted elsewhere for someone curious about socket 775/1 CPUs]
The Intel Core 2 Quads and X54xx series Xeon Quads fall into the same CPU compatibility issues as the AMD Phenom series, but as with the Phenoms...
Realistic expectations need to be set.
Similar to having a strong Phenom model with the muscle to match the game requirements,
if your Core 2 Quad or Xeon Quad (Q9500 or X5450 and up) is hitting the approximate CPU frequency for the suggested low end i3/5 Quad (about 3.4 Ghz and up), you would be fine in Apex.
Important: ^ This only applies if you are pairing the above CPUs:
- With a capable recent GPU (I.e., GTX 1060/1070/Rx 570/580/590/Vega etc.).
- With sufficient VRAM (4GB and up) and main system RAM (8GB and up).
You are good to go when these baselines are met.
Just like higher end Phenom users, you are already playing the likes of PUBG and Blackout right now at 1080/High/60fps and up.
Despite the release date of these gaming CPUs, several models were always strong, they've aged well, and you still qualify as having a "gaming rig" today.
In fact, you're knee deep in AAA games released in 2018-19 and they're playing well on such CPUs, just like Apex would play well.
However: I see some passionate people on this thread, and we see they have - for example - only 4GB of system ram, or they're using a dated GPU featuring only 1 to 2 GB of video memory.
Sorry, but even when the game/DRM paths are patched to distribute instruction set compatibility for your AMD or Intel CPU -- a PC like the weak example above was never going to meet the Apex spec regardless. Yes, it would still be nice to actually load into gameplay and decide that for yourself, hang out with friends, but keep in mind there are some baseline speed and RAM considerations that are simply too critical.
The players on higher end Phenom and Intel quad rigs combined with excellent GPU/memory specs, these guys are absolutely ready to play a sophisticated modern 'AAA' PC game. They're already doing it, and if Apex patched-in retrocompatibility for the SSE registers (which doesn't alter the game experience for current players), a bunch of new players would be playing - spending time and money - in Apex too.
