budget cpu question

[miguel421]

for a difference of $20 is it worth going with the e4500?


either way it's going to be a "budget" build on an xfx 680i LT sli motherboard, 2gb corsair pc2-6400 and will be overclocked to it's max.

 

[Extelleron]

For $20 extra I'd say go with the E4500... w/ only 1MB of shared L2 cache, the E21xx series are not the best choice for gaming and applications that see performance increases from extra cache. Only 5-10% difference, but for $20 its worth it IMO.

I'm not sure what prices you are looking at, but if you want to save money this E2180 for $49.99 AR is the best deal right now: http://www.tigerdirect.com/app...BGOOCPU1&CMP=KNC-GOOGL
Note that it is an OEM CPU, so you need your own HSF, but if you will be overclocking you'd want to replace the stock cooler anyway.

E4500 will still be better but it costs twice as much.

I'd reconsider on that motherboard though. 680i is an outdated chipset and not the best for a new setup, especially if you plan to go 45nm one day. You'd be better off with a P35 motherboard such as the IP35-e, which can be found at Newegg for $70 AR.

 

[nerp]

I got my E2180 to 3.2ghz with a nudge of vcore and at this speed, it's much faster than an e4500 at stock even with the lower amount of cache. If you're up for overclocking, the E2180 is a tough bargian to pass up. But, on the other hand, for an extra $20 you can get the e4500 and OC that too. Welcome to the world of c2d I guess. 🙂

 

[DSF]

Why the Nvidia chipset? Doubt you'd be going SLI in a budget build.

 

[fk49]

where can you get the e4500 for only $20 more? the e2180 seems to have more OC potential but you would have to invest in a good motherboard/ram which may even out the price difference

 

[miguel421]

I can get them thru work.


retail boxed e2160 = $47.99
retail boxed e4500 = $67.99


both are "open box" which have been sent back to intel and returned (customer claimed it's bad, intel tested says it's not, I verified it) as "recertified".


at anyrate either chip is short term. I have a batch of q6600 chips that went back this morning (betting they're all fine but policy is to let intel test first). and one of those is definitely on the menu when we're talking $150 range. but they're 6-8 weeks away and this 939 3700+ is taking it's last breaths.


that should explain the choice of motherboards. well that and some fool shipped us about 300 of em at less than $80 each

 

[cubeless]

bargain chip and sli mobo? amkes perfoect sence for those of us who try to buy stuff that has an extended lifespan... if u can get them for a reasonable price then a sli mobo will let u double up the vid card later (hopefully at a lower price) and squeeze a longer life out of your pieces... a 680i for $80 sure fills that bill... I am just now going to make use of the second slot in my nf4ultra-d, and it should let that box have another year or two of life...

if u were keeping the chip for a while i'd say get the 4500 for that price... there's a bigger jump between 1and 2mb cache currently thatn between 2 and 4mb... but if u aren't keeping it then save the bux... a 21xx @ 3.2ish with a 8800class card handles everything my kids throw at it... but the 4500 @ 3.2ish is a little perkier...

 

[Denithor]

Personally I would lean toward P35 versus 680i because the P35 boards support more chips and tend to OC better, regardless of whether you are running high or low end cpu on it. And $80 isn't such a great deal, as mentioned above you can get the IP35-E from Newegg for ~$70 after MIR (great OC board, based on my personal experience).

 

[miguel421]

abit has left such a sour taste in my mouth. and it's lingered for YEARS. we carry them at work, and the problems we have with thier stuff is horrid. makes ECS look decent.


besides, the 680i's from ECS and XFX are rebadged EVGA's and they've already setup a new bios for the e8400 and plan to have the one ready for the 45nm quads very soon.