Help me understand this cpu upgrade please.

[gizbug]

Current setup.. e6600 oc'ed to 3.0
8 gig ddr2 ram


The new processors out (i5/i7) seem to have the same clockrate (or close to) what I have now if I were not overclocking. Is then not true that processor speed isn't as important as some might think? (ie..the fastest processor out really might not be all that faster than a mid range speed processor).

What I am trying to figure out, is besides the dual core (which I have now) and the quad of the new processors, plus a little bit more cache, and better power management, are the new processors that much superior than the older ones (like what I have)?

Computer is used for moderate gaming, general/daily use, a lot of multitasking.

Comments welcomed.

 

[BushLin]

Most games are single threaded and FPS usually governed by the GPU (although this is changing), the test for whether you need an upgrade is: are the games you currently play running at a decent minimum FPS on your monitor?

If so, everything else is irrelevant and you can wait until games you want to play need such a system... by then it'll have all come down in price.

However if you spend time waiting for things like video transcoding then there's a good reason to get a modern quad.

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: gizbug
The new processors out (i5/i7) seem to have the same clockrate (or close to) what I have now if I were not overclocking. Is then not true that processor speed isn't as important as some might think? (ie..the fastest processor out really might not be all that faster than a mid range speed processor).

Do the new processors have a different architecture to your Conroe, yes.
Do the different architectures perform differently on a clock-for-clock basis, then yes.

Direct clock speed comparisons are usually only valid between CPUs of the same architecture / IPC.

 

[Mattdoommaster]

I don't believe an upgrade to i5/7 would be of much use to you. The Nehalem based stuff is only substantially better than Core 2 processors when it comes to multi-threaded applications.

 

[alyarb]

if some aspect of the machine's performance is unsatisfactory, try and describe it to us and once we narrow it down, it probably wont be your 3 ghz dual core CPU that is the culprit.

 

[gizbug]

Originally posted by: Mattdoommaster
I don't believe an upgrade to i5/7 would be of much use to you. The Nehalem based stuff is only substantially better than Core 2 processors when it comes to multi-threaded applications.

Interesting observation.

 

[Ben90]

Originally posted by: Mattdoommaster
I don't believe an upgrade to i5/7 would be of much use to you. The Nehalem based stuff is only substantially better than Core 2 processors when it comes to multi-threaded applications.

And when OC is taken into consideration (to his 65 nm)
My 920 on stock cooler on stock voltages pretty much ties the world record ln2 e6600

And super-pi is hardcore ram dependent... these Arnt exactly world record quality ram modules http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820148246

Either way though; it still prolly wouldn't be much use to you to upgrade

 

[cusideabelincoln]

If you multitask a lot, a quad core is going to make things feel a bit snappier. But the difference in performance won't be huge (depending on what you're multitasking).

BushLin posted
Most games are single threaded

I perceive most new games are now at least dual threaded, and more are utilizing up to (and beyond) quad threads.

 

[BushLin]

Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
...

BushLin posted
Most games are single threaded

...

Originally posted by: BushLin
Most games are single threaded and FPS usually governed by the GPU (although this is changing).

 

[ShawnD1]

BushLin posted
Most games are single threaded

I perceive most new games are now at least dual threaded, and more are utilizing up to (and beyond) quad threads.

A lot of games still have horrible threading. Blizz says World of Warcraft is now multithreaded but my E6600 is still pinned to 50% all the time. Maybe they put 1 small process on the other core and the other processes are all done on just the 1 core. I tried it on a Phenom 9600 just for kicks and the game is virtually unplayable; maybe 20fps if you round up and the CPU is pinned to about 26%.

Ghostbusters was supposed to be multithreaded but it's another one of those 50% games. It's a single threaded game and the developers are lying through their teeth.

 

[RussianSensation]

Your best bet for gaming is going to be a videocard upgrade.

For multitasking, if you sell the E6600 for $75 and get a $160 Q9550 E0 stepping, 3.8-4.0ghz quad Penryn will net you more than 100% improvement in DivX video encoding from adding more cores and another 50-100% from SSE4 instruction set. Obviously if the applications you are using take full advantage of 4 cores, the $100 or so net upgrade for the CPU is worth it. You already have 8GBs of DDR2 ram and mobo, so stick with S775.

For overall snappiness and loading of apps get an SSD.