Cpu cache

[CatchPhrase]

What is it good for?
My E2140 at 2.664ghz paired with a 8600gt at 680 core and 800 mem scores 5900+ in 3dmark06.
It does not look like a bottleneck in games so why does the new cpus come with 8mb+ cache?
A e4400 costs over $120 for the 1 more meg of cache?

 

[SlowSpyder]

There's more to computers then just 3DMark scores. More cache matters more in some things then others.

 

[Tempered81]

it makes a difference in games... my e8400 + 8800gt scores 14,000 3dmark06. anand did an article comparing 1mb, 2mb, & 4mb of cache in games at the same clockspeed.

 

[CatchPhrase]

Originally posted by: jaredpace
it makes a difference in games... my e8400 + 8800gt scores 14,000 3dmark06. anand did an article comparing 1mb, 2mb, & 4mb of cache in games at the same clockspeed.

Link?
i looked all over for it.

 

[Tempered81]

k 1 sec... fetching link for you

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3127&p=2

 

[VirtualLarry]

Good link, thanks.

 

[CatchPhrase]

Wow spending $100 more for a 20% increase.
Take that $100 and put it into the gpu and you got maybe a 60% increase.
I am talking about games of course.

 

[CatchPhrase]

Originally posted by: jaredpace
it makes a difference in games... my e8400 + 8800gt scores 14,000 3dmark06. anand did an article comparing 1mb, 2mb, & 4mb of cache in games at the same clockspeed.

I think you did not read correctly I stated that I had a 8600gt not a 8800gt. What was your score before the e8400 upgrade?

 

[tigersty1e]

You're already GPU bound, so you probably won't see any real world difference in real games if you add more l2 cache on the CPU.

You will see a better 3dmark06 score if you get a new cpu, but that's just because 3dmark is so sensitive to system changes...

 

[Tempered81]

Originally posted by: CatchPhrase

Originally posted by: jaredpace
it makes a difference in games... my e8400 + 8800gt scores 14,000 3dmark06. anand did an article comparing 1mb, 2mb, & 4mb of cache in games at the same clockspeed.

I think you did not read correctly I stated that I had a 8600gt not a 8800gt. What was your score before the e8400 upgrade?

with a 4300 in this setup it would score about 13000.

If i put better ram in with this e8400 i could score about 15,500 in 3dmark 06 because i could raise the speed of the cpu. 3dmark is sensitive to cpu speed.

I think as far as cache is concerned, which was your point, the anand link i posted is your best point of reference. You can see as cache increases from 1mb to 2mb, there is a large delta, from 2mb to 4mb, the delta is smaller, from 4 to 6mb and from 6 to 8mb, the delta continues to decrease respectively.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Here is Tom's What Is The Impact Of Cache Size?

Looks at 3D games, audio/video encoding, apps & synthetics ... 1mb, 2mb & 4mb L2 cache in C2 procs

 

[sutahz]

Awesome, what all those benches tell me (from Anand & Toms) is that for a person like me, 1MB is hard to resist. I'd like to see how the dual core celeron fairs in those tests, but thats another article hopefully.