how much difference?

[pontifex]

i originally wanted to get a e8400 but they appear to be sold out everywhere.

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Good, then we agree, clock for clock c2d beats K8 by about 20-25% on average, with some extremes here and there. And since games usually only make use of 1 core, it's quite plausible to say c2d beats k8 by about 20-25% on average in games, dualcore will only help because background apps can run on 1 core, and the game can run on the other core.

i think we do as more on the 25% end....Then just add the potential difference of an opty175 @ 2.5ghz versus a Q6600 at a likely 3.2ghz...that is a boost of 28% in clock speed to come up with a 50-55% increase range...

Quad will help as much as 2-10% in some of the gaming test I have seen of 2 cores versus 4 cores...unreal gained 24% in the Tomshardware chart

 

[Denithor]

For most games today: E8400 FTW. Once clocked to 3.6-4.0GHz nothing out there will touch it for performance in today's games.

Q6600 is nice but the vast majority of games are not yet optimized to take advantage of four cores. And once they are, you can always sell the E8400 and pick up a cooler/faster Q9450 at a good price (say, around the time Nehalem launches).

 

[Duvie]

As a gamer....

Do you upgrade frequently? Say within 1 to 1-1/2 years? If so then I would try to get the E8400...

It can OC to over 3.6ghz fairly well...I have seen many in the 3.8-3.9ghz range....some even at 4+ghz.....a 3.8ghz E8400 would be a 52% increase over the clock speed of the Opty at 2.5ghz.

If you hang on to things for 2 years then I would think the Q6600 and 4 cores may begin to show its prowess in newer and optimized games.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Duvie
As a gamer....

Do you upgrade frequently? Say within 1 to 1-1/2 years? If so then I would try to get the E8400...

It can OC to over 3.6ghz fairly well...I have seen many in the 3.8-3.9ghz range....some even at 4+ghz.....a 3.8ghz E8400 would be a 52% increase over the clock speed of the Opty at 2.5ghz.

If you hang on to things for 2 years then I would think the Q6600 and 4 cores may begin to show its prowess in newer and optimized games.

i seem to upgrade about every 2 years or so. but again, finding an e8400 right now is impossible

 

[heyheybooboo]

I wouldn't expect a huge gain - except in those usual suspects and 'special' cases (FSX, etc...)

And as mentioned, I think a good portion of general system performance gain could easily be attributed to ddr2-800

The Q6600 would whomp the Opty in apps like Premiere which will run 4 threads in parallel.

And as noted, a new video card is probably the best move - and maybe a post where we can help him get the Opty up another 200-300MHz.

 

[pontifex]

do you guys buy OEM cpus? I found some 8400s in stock but they are OEMs.

 

[Idontcare]

I bought a handful of OEM Q6600's from newegg. They were all good, no issues. I intended to lap mine anyways, so wasn't looking for a warranty. And the $15 savings went towards subsidizing the cost of some Tuniqs.

 

[harpoon84]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Good, then we agree, clock for clock c2d beats K8 by about 20-25% on average, with some extremes here and there. And since games usually only make use of 1 core, it's quite plausible to say c2d beats k8 by about 20-25% on average in games, dualcore will only help because background apps can run on 1 core, and the game can run on the other core.

I disagree somewhat with that assessment. By my calculations, Conroe is 30%+ faster than K8 per clock. If you are talking Wolfdale against K8, its more like 35% - 40% faster per clock.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articl...-shootout_9.html#sect0

At equivalent clockspeeds (3GHz) an E8400 is 38.5% faster 'overall' compared to an A64 X2 6000+.

In regards to games, a lot of the latest games like Crysis and Call of Duty 4 are multithreaded and require a dual core CPU to run well.

Call of Duty 4 - http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6183967/p-5.html
Crysis - http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6182806/p-6.html

 

[MarcVenice]

Wait, a e4600, 2.4ghz conroe, is about equal to a 3.0ghz K8. Unless my math is off, percentages have always confused me, that's exactly a 25% difference, from 2.4 to 3.0ghz ? Of course, the e6x50 series have 4mb l2 cache compared to 2mb for the e4x00 series. So I guess 20/30% it is, depending on the conroe cpu you buy, e2x00, e4x00 or e6x50.

Once wolfies become mainstream, since intel has trouble with the 45nm process, it's just going to be a sad day for AMD Oh, and I won't suggest AMD over intel, not any longer, but since he has one allready ? Do we really think, that IF he can get his opteron 175 a little higher then 2.5ghz, that he needs a new CPU for just his gaming needs ?

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Wait, a e4600, 2.4ghz conroe, is about equal to a 3.0ghz K8. Unless my math is off, percentages have always confused me, that's exactly a 25% difference, from 2.4 to 3.0ghz ? Of course, the e6x50 series have 4mb l2 cache compared to 2mb for the e4x00 series. So I guess 20/30% it is, depending on the conroe cpu you buy, e2x00, e4x00 or e6x50.

Once wolfies become mainstream, since intel has trouble with the 45nm process, it's just going to be a sad day for AMD Oh, and I won't suggest AMD over intel, not any longer, but since he has one allready ? Do we really think, that IF he can get his opteron 175 a little higher then 2.5ghz, that he needs a new CPU for just his gaming needs ?

If he can, but if it is an older opty 175 he may top out at 2.5-2.6ghz period....That was about the limit for many of the oldeer ones...Some of the ones at the end were getting close to 3ghz...If he could do that, then yeah...drop the money in a newer vid card, but that may take investments in PSU, MOBO, heatsink, etc for no guarantee at anymore....

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Wait, a e4600, 2.4ghz conroe, is about equal to a 3.0ghz K8. Unless my math is off, percentages have always confused me, that's exactly a 25% difference, from 2.4 to 3.0ghz ? Of course, the e6x50 series have 4mb l2 cache compared to 2mb for the e4x00 series. So I guess 20/30% it is, depending on the conroe cpu you buy, e2x00, e4x00 or e6x50.

Once wolfies become mainstream, since intel has trouble with the 45nm process, it's just going to be a sad day for AMD Oh, and I won't suggest AMD over intel, not any longer, but since he has one allready ? Do we really think, that IF he can get his opteron 175 a little higher then 2.5ghz, that he needs a new CPU for just his gaming needs ?

i odn't know how you could get it higher. i had to drop it down to 2420mhz today. it keeps blue screening on me.

already ordered a e8400, new mobo, and ram last night anyway.

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Wait, a e4600, 2.4ghz conroe, is about equal to a 3.0ghz K8. Unless my math is off, percentages have always confused me, that's exactly a 25% difference, from 2.4 to 3.0ghz ? Of course, the e6x50 series have 4mb l2 cache compared to 2mb for the e4x00 series. So I guess 20/30% it is, depending on the conroe cpu you buy, e2x00, e4x00 or e6x50.

Once wolfies become mainstream, since intel has trouble with the 45nm process, it's just going to be a sad day for AMD Oh, and I won't suggest AMD over intel, not any longer, but since he has one allready ? Do we really think, that IF he can get his opteron 175 a little higher then 2.5ghz, that he needs a new CPU for just his gaming needs ?

i odn't know how you could get it higher. i had to drop it down to 2420mhz today. it keeps blue screening on me.

already ordered a e8400, new mobo, and ram last night anyway.

I think that is a good move

 

[MarcVenice]

Not a bad move at all, but it does sound like the easy way out In all honesty though, if I could afford it, I would do the same

 

[uo7]

I'm still running my opty 170 @ 2.8 ghz. asrock 939dual (remember those ? ). I'm ordering a 8800gts soon which I don't even know if it will run correctly in the asrock, currently using a 7900gs. Any good advice on what to upgrade to ? I mostly game. I guess i'm wondering what cpu would be an improvement over that 170.

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Wait, a e4600, 2.4ghz conroe, is about equal to a 3.0ghz K8. Unless my math is off, percentages have always confused me, that's exactly a 25% difference, from 2.4 to 3.0ghz ? Of course, the e6x50 series have 4mb l2 cache compared to 2mb for the e4x00 series. So I guess 20/30% it is, depending on the conroe cpu you buy, e2x00, e4x00 or e6x50.

Once wolfies become mainstream, since intel has trouble with the 45nm process, it's just going to be a sad day for AMD Oh, and I won't suggest AMD over intel, not any longer, but since he has one allready ? Do we really think, that IF he can get his opteron 175 a little higher then 2.5ghz, that he needs a new CPU for just his gaming needs ?

i odn't know how you could get it higher. i had to drop it down to 2420mhz today. it keeps blue screening on me.

already ordered a e8400, new mobo, and ram last night anyway.

Did you change your HT multiplier? That seems like a slow speed to bluescreen, unless you left your HT multiplier at 5X. AMD Overclocking Guide

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Martimus

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Wait, a e4600, 2.4ghz conroe, is about equal to a 3.0ghz K8. Unless my math is off, percentages have always confused me, that's exactly a 25% difference, from 2.4 to 3.0ghz ? Of course, the e6x50 series have 4mb l2 cache compared to 2mb for the e4x00 series. So I guess 20/30% it is, depending on the conroe cpu you buy, e2x00, e4x00 or e6x50.

Once wolfies become mainstream, since intel has trouble with the 45nm process, it's just going to be a sad day for AMD Oh, and I won't suggest AMD over intel, not any longer, but since he has one allready ? Do we really think, that IF he can get his opteron 175 a little higher then 2.5ghz, that he needs a new CPU for just his gaming needs ?

i odn't know how you could get it higher. i had to drop it down to 2420mhz today. it keeps blue screening on me.

already ordered a e8400, new mobo, and ram last night anyway.

Did you change your HT multiplier? That seems like a slow speed to bluescreen, unless you left your HT multiplier at 5X. AMD Overclocking Guide

i was just adjusting FSB. i got a e8400 now (although i can't use anything since my video card appears to be dead).

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Martimus

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Wait, a e4600, 2.4ghz conroe, is about equal to a 3.0ghz K8. Unless my math is off, percentages have always confused me, that's exactly a 25% difference, from 2.4 to 3.0ghz ? Of course, the e6x50 series have 4mb l2 cache compared to 2mb for the e4x00 series. So I guess 20/30% it is, depending on the conroe cpu you buy, e2x00, e4x00 or e6x50.

Once wolfies become mainstream, since intel has trouble with the 45nm process, it's just going to be a sad day for AMD Oh, and I won't suggest AMD over intel, not any longer, but since he has one allready ? Do we really think, that IF he can get his opteron 175 a little higher then 2.5ghz, that he needs a new CPU for just his gaming needs ?

i odn't know how you could get it higher. i had to drop it down to 2420mhz today. it keeps blue screening on me.

already ordered a e8400, new mobo, and ram last night anyway.

Did you change your HT multiplier? That seems like a slow speed to bluescreen, unless you left your HT multiplier at 5X. AMD Overclocking Guide

i was just adjusting FSB. i got a e8400 now (although i can't use anything since my video card appears to be dead).

Yeah. AMD overclocks aren't that simple. You want to keep the HTT at around 1GHz. Lowering the HT multiplier to 4X should help you overclock higher on your old system, if you want to keep it around as a backup or an extra LAN system.