New CPU Vs. My old one

[Sandbag]

I am building a new comp and I am looking to put a 3.16GHz dual core Intell in it
along with
4 GB of ddr3 dual channel ram


But my current comp has the Pentium D 3.2 Dual core in it and i am not impressed w the gaming granted this is on 2 GB on DDR2 memory

So my question is that will will the quality of basically just a newer model be that much greater with the only difference being a bigger FSB and more L2 cache or should i shoot for the quad core

(I mostly play a lot of MMOs with the ocasional shooter, but i am also power hungry and would like to play on absolute max settings without a single hitch)

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: Sandbag
I am building a new comp and I am looking to put a 3.16GHz dual core Intell in it
along with
4 GB of ddr3 dual channel ram


But my current comp has the Pentium D 3.2 Dual core in it and i am not impressed w the gaming granted this is on 2 GB on DDR2 memory

So my question is that will will the quality of basically just a newer model be that much greater with the only difference being a bigger FSB and more L2 cache or should i shoot for the quad core

(I mostly play a lot of MMOs with the ocasional shooter, but i am also power hungry and would like to play on absolute max settings without a single hitch)

The old Pentium D is garbage compared to the latest dual cores.

 

[Sandbag]

yeah i guess I can always upgrade later if my games start to optimize multi cores

 

[vj8usa]

What's your budget? If you're considering an E8500, odds are you could afford to buy something like a Q9550 or Phenom II, which would last a lot longer for gaming.

 

[Sandbag]

But the dual core will run everything and then some for the time being am i correct?

 

[Markfw]

what video card do you currently have ? For gaming, that is the biggest consideration.

 

[Sylvanas]

There are plenty of games already out that show the benefits of a Quad over a Dual, for a new build (unless it's a budget build) a Quad is always going to be better.

 

[MarcVenice]

His actual question was if the new micro-architecture was really that much better, knowing the clockspeed of his new and old cpu are almost equal. The question is: yes. The difference is so huge, the e8400 will destroy that old Pentium D. Depending on what videocard you have though, you might want to consider a cheaper cpu and a gpu upgrade to go alongside with it. Also ddr3 doesn't give any benefit whatsoever compared to ddr2.

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
what video card do you currently have ? For gaming, that is the biggest consideration.

Not necessarily - if you're stuck on a dinosaur of a P4 CPU the GPU is going to be horribly restricted in what difference it can make.

Marc is right. When the new Core 2 chips first came out, back in late 2006, the earliest benchmarks showed that the lowly e6300 (2x1.86GHz, 2MB cache) crushed the absolute fastest P4 ever made - the Pentium Extreme Edition 965 (2x3.73GHz, 2x2MB cache) - which just happens to be exactly twice as fast and features twice the cache of the lowly e6300. And also had Hyper Threading. None of which helped it win the fight against the new architecture.

That being said - I will also recommend you go for a quad. At this point I have a hard time suggesting anyone buy a socket 775 setup when building new (dead socket - no further chips will be released).

If you have the budget grab the newest generation i7 920 and an X58 motherboard and be completely amazed at the speed difference. Otherwise there are some amazing combo deals on Phenom II X4 chips these days.

 

[Udgnim]

Originally posted by: Sandbag
I am building a new comp and I am looking to put a 3.16GHz dual core Intell in it
along with
4 GB of ddr3 dual channel ram


But my current comp has the Pentium D 3.2 Dual core in it and i am not impressed w the gaming granted this is on 2 GB on DDR2 memory

So my question is that will will the quality of basically just a newer model be that much greater with the only difference being a bigger FSB and more L2 cache or should i shoot for the quad core

(I mostly play a lot of MMOs with the ocasional shooter, but i am also power hungry and would like to play on absolute max settings without a single hitch)

newegg lists a Q9550 at $220 and E8500 at $190

with just a $30 difference, I would definitely go for the Q9550

in terms of everyday use, you probably won't notice that much of a difference for most applications, but there will come a time when you definitely wished you spent the extra $30 on the Q9550