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E6400 to E8500 Worth it?

Q

QuadDamage2k

Member
I have a Ok rig right now

E6400 with a GA-965G-DS3 (Not sure what rev) How do i check
At 2.55ghz I can run it at 2.88 but it gets a bit unstable in some games (I have a Ninja Cooler with a 120 fan
3 Gig of DDR 800
500 gig hd
XP Pro Sp3
X Gamer Sound
550 True Power PS
ATI 1950Xt (Soon to be a ATI 700 series or a HD4850)


I just want to know if i will see a huge diferent jumping to a 3.5 core 2 duo
I plan on overclocking the E8500 they are just 199 at newegg shipped right now


I wasn't sure if my GA-965G-DS3 will be able to handle the new chip, i know it would have to run at a slower buss speed due to my ram correct?

My board
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Sup...el.aspx?ProductID=2659
Not sure if i have the rev 3.3?
The rev 1.0 won't work, so i don't want to buy a chip that won't work.
I can just do the bios flash and it should work correct?
Any help would be great
Thanks


What i want to buy
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/...036&CMP=AFC-C8Junction
 
There is nothing wrong with my rig now, should i wait it out, or upgrade to a faster chip on this board, or just wait till the next gen becomes cheaper?
 
i would recommend waiting, especially try out your e6400 with the new graphics card first and foremost. if performance is poor/unsatisfactory then, then look into a cpu update. nehalem is just around the corner (lowest one rumoured to be 2.66ghz and 284usd) so grabbing the e8500 now or soon might not be the best idea.
 
If there's nothing wrong, why upgrade? I agree with updating the graphics cards first, and turn your attention to the CPU later if necessary.

To answer your other question, DDR2-800 will run with any current CPU.
 
Originally posted by: QuadDamage2k
I just want to know if i will see a huge diferent jumping to a 3.5 core 2 duo
I plan on overclocking the E8500 they are just 199 at newegg shipped right now
Click to expand...

No, certainly not. It would be an improvement, but hardly one worth the money when compared to a graphics upgrade.

That said, if you upgrade the ram can be overclocked or downclocked to suit your needs.
 
I agree with the other posters that a graphics card upgrade would be a far more significant and correct path than a CPU upgrade. In fact, with your current graphics card you would likely see little or no improvement in games with just the CPU upgrade even if you successfully over clocked it to 3.5GHz. The HD4850 would be an excellent choice as an upgrade to your current system and would provide a HUGE improvement in game performance from your current set up.

Also, I find it strange that the 6400 you have won't overclock more than what you indicated. That chip should do a lot better than just 2.5 to 2.88GHz. I'm betting something else is limiting your overclock. Possibly you need to step down your RAM as you increase your FSB or your FSB is set too high with a lower multiplier. It's also likely your motherboard is just no good at over clocking. You may find you need a whole new motherboard to achieve better over clocks. With that in mind it won't make any sense to upgrade the CPU since your current motherboard won't support it. If you upgrade the motherboard to a good P35 or better you will likely find the 6400 CPU you already have can get well over 3GHz.
 
I'll confirm Woody's comments with my personal experiences with the P965-DS3 (rev1) + e6400. I had to bump up the volts a notch to get my e6400 to run 2.66GHz stable on that POS board. When I upgraded to the IP35-E in my sig I was able to run the same setup (CPU, RAM, etc) at 3GHz with no voltage boost. Solid as a rock.

To address the question posed: I then upgraded from my e6400 to the current e8400 in my sig and really haven't messed with overclocking. It doesn't really feel any different from my OC'd e6400 in games or anything. The only reason I upgraded was because I sold the e6400 for $200 (so it was basically an even swap).

I would honestly just recommend that you spend $100 on a new motherboard (P35/P45 chipset with the features you want) that will let you unlock the real potential in your current CPU.
 
Originally posted by: QuadDamage2k
E6400 with a GA-965G-DS3
Click to expand...

I think you might be held back by your board, because it is the 965G chipset and not the 965P chipset. I don't recall the G chipsets (before the G31/33/35) as good overclockers.

One thing you might try is to add some forced air cooling on your Northbridge heatsink. My wife's system has a GA-965P-DS3 board and without forced air cooling the system can be unstable when overclocked.
 
Originally posted by: TC91
nehalem is just around the corner (lowest one rumoured to be 2.66ghz and 284usd) so grabbing the e8500 now or soon might not be the best idea.
Click to expand...

First, assume you could get 4.2ghz out of that E8500.

Second, how do you think that will compare to a 2.66ghz nehalem performance wise? 🙂


I can tell you how it would compare dollar-wise for a complete system overhall.
 
THanks for the input guys, I agree the board i have is cheap and it is unstable. I'm sure i have to clock down the ram, but it's a paint to get over 2.6 stable. It's fine at 2.55 right now with just the FSB OC'ed and a good cooler i get temps 55 when i game hard and it's not 2 bad.
 
Originally posted by: jaredpace
Originally posted by: TC91
nehalem is just around the corner (lowest one rumoured to be 2.66ghz and 284usd) so grabbing the e8500 now or soon might not be the best idea.
Click to expand...

First, assume you could get 4.2ghz out of that E8500.

Second, how do you think that will compare to a 2.66ghz nehalem performance wise? 🙂


I can tell you how it would compare dollar-wise for a complete system overhall.
Click to expand...

Well earlier in my post i did say that the OP should try the graphics card first with her cpu and if the OP didn't like the performance THEN look into a cpu update. Anyways the nehalem will be a quad core with 2 threads per core (total of 8 threads) compared to only 2 cores and 2 total threads on the e8500, and well, you can always overclock the nehalem too (lets assume 3.2ghz is pretty doable since that is the flagship model's stock speed, not to mention you can probably go higher as the flagship will most liekyl have some headroom as well), and in addition not accounting for the IPC improvements with nehalem as well 😀

QuadDamage2k, I think you could probably work on increasing the overclock if you have time, but your e6400 @ 2.55ghz isnt a slow cpu by any stretch.
 
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