Core2 Quad Cache: 8MB or 12MB?

[DualMonitors]

Hi All: upgrading from Core 2 Duo to Core 2 Quad. Motherboard Asus P5W DH Deluxe, 4GB RAM, Sapphire HD5770 video card.

Wondering if I should get the:

1. Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W, or

2. Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W

There are those who say that beyond around 6MB of cache, there are little, if any, differences in performance.

Price wise, the Q9400 2.66 6MB is around $190, and the Q9550 2.83 12MB is $260. So what really does the $70 buy me in terms of real-world performance? Very little? Substantial?

I'd appreciate hearing comments from the knowledgeable folks here. Thx in advance.

 

[zagood]

1. If you live near a microcenter, you can buy a Q9550 for $169.99 + tax.
2. There are a few Q9550's floating around here in the For Sale forum, and on [H] as well for around $180.
3. From most reports, Q9400 doesn't overclock very well, but if you're not overclocking it doesn't matter.
4. Benches - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=76&p2=50

I just went through this whole thought process as well (currently with an e5200), and came to the conclusion that I couldn't justify spending over $150 on a processor upgrade. Picked up a used Q6600 instead that hopefully will be here by the weekend.

 

[BD231]

Most notible performance gains will be seen in encoding and gaming with the added cache.
Might as well max out that aging 775 socket if you can afford it, you'll get more life out of your setup.

If it were me, I'd get the added cache for the encoding benifits alone. Video encoding can use all the cache it can find!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Most notible performance gains will be seen in encoding and gaming with the added cache.
Might as well max out that aging 775 socket if you can afford it, you'll get more life out of your setup.

If it were me, I'd get the added cache for the encoding benifits alone. Video encoding can use all the cache it can find!

Sure about that? There's another thread on this forum recently that was arguing, apparently incorrectly, that video editing requires a lot of cache.

Is encoding the same sort of task as video editing? If so, then it doesn't take that much cache.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=329058

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

1. If you live near a microcenter, you can buy a Q9550 for $169.99 + tax.
2. There are a few Q9550's floating around here in the For Sale forum, and on [H] as well for around $180.
3. From most reports, Q9400 doesn't overclock very well, but if you're not overclocking it doesn't matter.
4. Benches - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=76&p2=50

I just went through this whole thought process as well (currently with an e5200), and came to the conclusion that I couldn't justify spending over $150 on a processor upgrade. Picked up a used Q6600 instead that hopefully will be here by the weekend.

really, my 9400 OC'd quite well when i had it.

9550 all the way IMO.

 

[DualMonitors]

Thank you all for pitching in to help me think through this.

I'm bummed that Microcenter (brick and mortar only) has the 9550 for a whopping $100 less than Newegg, which is really the undisputed seller of pc parts. gosh golly.

Nonetheless, it is what it is, there's no Microcenter near me and I can't get to the 2 closest ones, and they don't ship. There we have it - Microcenter's deal is a no-go for me, unfortunately.

So I now have the same $190 versus $260 decision.

Yes, those of you who wrote that there's little incentive for me to rip out my motherboard, buy new RAM, etc etc. I'm just not up to it. This is humming along fine as it is with my Core 2 Duo. It'd be nicer and will likely have a longer life if I put a Core 2 Quad in it with an Arctic Cooling cooler in it. I'm hoping for something like another 2 years or so.

For a relatively "light" user, I'm really wondering if the extra $70 of the faster processor w/more cache will be totally wasted? The link to that comparison is super useful, btw. Thx so much for providing it.

 

[qliveur]

Back in August I got my Q9550 from Ewiz/SuperBiiz for $174.40 shipped after Bing cashback. Just wait for a deal like that to come along.

 

[DualMonitors]

Back in August I got my Q9550 from Ewiz/SuperBiiz for $174.40 shipped after Bing cashback. Just wait for a deal like that to come along.

Thx for the idea and also the rough dollar amount i ought to be aiming at.

You know, the Bing Cashback thing for Newegg is only 2%. For $100, it's only $2 so for something that's around $200, it's merely $4. Not much. I suppose if the item is $500 or more or if the percentage is greater than 2%, it would make more of a difference.

Thx though for giving me the approximate price point I should be aiming at.

 

[NumericalMethods]

One thing that you should seriously take into account before your upgrade is your mobo. While those 975x boards were bad boys in 2006 the were designed for 65nm conroe chips. Take a look at the cpu compatibility list:

http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/...-us&model=P5W%20DH Deluxe&product=1&os=25

Optional support for 45nm wolfdales. Now, as a former owner of a p5k deluxe (965 chipset) I know that optional support is flaky for some chips especially quads. The VTT for the 65nm chips is 1.2v and 45nm chips is 1.1v. One of the things your board will not do is supply the correct vtt (it can't do 1.1v). Looking at some of the beta bioses that offer support it looks like you might be working with an fixed vcc as well. Not ideal.

You may want to buy a chip while remembering that if it is a hassle and doesn't work smoothly you will need to change your board as well.

 

[sticks435]

I just went from a E6750 to the Q9550 through the MC deal, pretty much for gaming. I figure for $183 bucks, I can stave off the full system upgrade for hopefully another year or so. Will probably upgrade my vid card when all the DX11 cards shake out.

 

[BD231]

Sure about that? There's another thread on this forum recently that was arguing, apparently incorrectly, that video editing requires a lot of cache.

Is encoding the same sort of task as video editing? If so, then it doesn't take that much cache.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure 6mbs split between each two cores is better than three and I'm also not going to post links that are readily available to the op via google, either. Multi-threaded apps are the future and you want your computer to last you as long as possible???

Yes, bro, the 12mbs is going to hold you over longer at the very least. A " light " user would *NEVER* need 12mbs of cache, however, he's already spending to much either way you look at it.

 

[RussianSensation]

$70 price difference is too much. Sell the E6600 for $60. Get the Q9400 and call it a day. That extra $70 will net you maybe another 5-10% performance gain once you overclock when all is said and done. 2GBs of ram is a major limitation here.

Since you are already willing to drop $200 on a quad core but you'll likely need another 2GBs of ram. If I was in your shoes I would much rather just sell the mobo+cpu+ram and get a $200 Core i5 750 + ram + $100 Gigabyte UD2. This is why I dont recommend spending $260 on that Q9550.

Most importantly, before you even start thinking about upgrading, just get a decent $30-40 cooler:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-003-_-Product

Those E6600s will easily clock to 3.4ghz. That's a 40% performance increase for $30. If you intend to get a Quad, a good cooler would help anyway

If you don't notice any difference once you overclocked the processor to 3.4ghz, then you dont need a quad....and all you would have spent was $30.

 

[lopri]

I bet he could fetch more than $60 for an E6600. OP, like NumericalMethods mentioned, you may want to double-check the compatibility of 45nm CPUs and your board. 975X officially support only 65nm CPUs.

 

[DualMonitors]

$70 price difference is too much. Sell the E6600 for $60. Get the Q9400 and call it a day. That extra $70 will net you maybe another 5-10% performance gain once you overclock when all is said and done. 2GBs of ram is a major limitation here.

Since you are already willing to drop $200 on a quad core but you'll likely need another 2GBs of ram. If I was in your shoes I would much rather just sell the mobo+cpu+ram and get a $200 Core i5 750 + ram + $100 Gigabyte UD2. This is why I dont recommend spending $260 on that Q9550.

...

Thx so much for putting thought and time into my situation. My apologies for forgetting to update my signature. I've had 4GB of RAM for a very long time, but simply forgot to update that part of my signature.

 

[Aluvus]

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure 6mbs split between each two cores is better than three and I'm also not going to post links that are readily available to the op via google, either. Multi-threaded apps are the future and you want your computer to last you as long as possible???

Yes, bro, the 12mbs is going to hold you over longer at the very least. A " light " user would *NEVER* need 12mbs of cache, however, he's already spending to much either way you look at it.

VirtualLarry asked you a pretty straightforward question, and nothing in your post answers him at all. Whether or not "multi-threaded apps are the future" has nothing at all to do with the usefulness of particular amounts of cache in video encoding tasks, particularly when the parts in question support the exact same number of simultaneous threads.

 

[aamsel]

ttt