Q8400 for BF3?

[skipsneeky2]

Today while faxing a paper i came across a computer shop by accident so i browse inside and i find a q8400 new in box.

The processor itself was a bit overpriced at $220 but i was thinking it would be a good drop in processor that could save me the hassle of a new build and reformat till ivy came out next year and i could sell my current e8200 for maybe $60 if i am lucky.

My motherboard should not have a problem clocking it to 3.2ghz but would this purchase make sense?

Wanna match it up with a gtx560 ti for 1600x1200 with BF3 .

Motherboard is a dfi x48 dk .

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Get a used q6600 instead as it will OC the same and it will be faster.

 

[jacktesterson]

Q6600

45 mins to go, and at $79 on ebay.... Better choice.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Intel-Core-2...667?pt=CPUs&hash=item5ae39d8c03#ht_1453wt_881

 

[skipsneeky2]

Get a used q6600 instead as it will OC the same and it will be faster.

Searched high and low on sites like craigslist and the liking idk if this town simply never heard of a quad core but i have yet to see a used quad core by itself so a quad core sitting on a store shelf is a rare bird.

 

[ther00kie16]

Searched high and low on sites like craigslist and the liking idk if this town simply never heard of a quad core but i have yet to see a used quad core by itself so a quad core sitting on a store shelf is a rare bird.

People don't tend to sell things like processors on craigslist unless for a profit on a newer model. I live in a pretty techy town and have seen very few processors on craigslist. Usually, the searches turn up an older "gaming computer" with some mediocre graphics card. Get a q8300/8400 or q9300/9400 on ebay for ~$100 and oc that. A few q9400 will even hit 4ghz so it should be decent for BF3.

 

[Maximilian]

Today while faxing a paper i came across a computer shop by accident so i browse inside and i find a q8400 new in box.

The processor itself was a bit overpriced at $220 but i was thinking it would be a good drop in processor that could save me the hassle of a new build and reformat till ivy came out next year and i could sell my current e8200 for maybe $60 if i am lucky.

My motherboard should not have a problem clocking it to 3.2ghz but would this purchase make sense?

Wanna match it up with a gtx560 ti for 1600x1200 with BF3 .

Motherboard is a dfi x48 dk .

Do not pay that for a Q8400, its not a very good quad anyway. Do what others have suggested and go to ebay for a used Q6600 or a Q9xxx if you can find one.

 

[Arkaign]

Fwiw, those X48 mobos sell for a good bit of cash on Ebay. Hell even P45 boards do. Rather than messing with S775 upgrades, it'd be a good time to sell all of that stuff and start a 1155 build. New boards should (at least they are advertised as such) take IB 1155 chips when they become available. My own P67 Pro Asus board recently had a bios update for "22nm" support.

Anyway, long story short :

Build with a board with the features you want, for now just stick a 2100 SB on it, and upgrade later. At least you'll have the mobo and reload all done, and should be able to recoup a good portion of the 2100 back when you go IB. Hell you could even go G620 and still notice a reasonable upgrade from the C2D, although I'd really recommend getting the 2100 as it does quite well in gaming.

 

[nenforcer]

Do not pay that amount for that CPU. It's not worth anything near that, even brand new, on eBay.

You can buy Core 2 Quad Q9450 quad core with 12MB L2 Cache starting at around $125 used. At $220 you can probably get a used Q9650 3.0GHz w/ 12MB L2 Cache.

That quad core is worth $100-$125, at best, even brand new.

 

[LoneNinja]

Don't pay that, you can get an Athlon II X4 for $100 that would out perform it. Unless you need SLI/Crossfire or some other features requiring an expensive motherboard, you could get a new cpu/motherboard/ram for under $250 that will easily out perform it, and give you room to upgrade in the future.

Find a Core2Quad used off ebay if you don't want to replace your motherboard right now, it's the only cost effective solution.

 

[Arkaign]

Don't pay that, you can get an Athlon II X4 for $100 that would out perform it. Unless you need SLI/Crossfire or some other features requiring an expensive motherboard, you could get a new cpu/motherboard/ram for under $250 that will easily out perform it, and give you room to upgrade in the future.

Find a Core2Quad used off ebay if you don't want to replace your motherboard right now, it's the only cost effective solution.

I like the AII X4s, but they only perform better than C2Q when the clock speeds are a fair bit apart.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2836

As you can see in these benches, the X4 @ 2.8ghz generally loses by a moderate amount when compared to a Q8400 @ 2.66hz, and the Q8xxx were definitely the worst of the C2Q series with only 4MB cache. The Q6xxx and Q9xxx will both outstrip the X4s by a fairly considerable margin when clocked to reasonable levels.

The PhII, on the other hand, thanks to a pretty generous L3 cache, DOES hold up against C2Q in a big way.

But yeah, cliffs is that Athlon II X4 overclocked to the high 3ghz range would still get walked over by a good C2Q in the low 3ghz range, and equalled by a Q8xxx lesser C2Q at the same clock speed gap (let's assume 3.2ghz for the 8xxx, and 3.8ghz for the X4, which are fairly reasonable overclocks for each).

With the introduction of the Llano, which has IPC at around PhII levels, there really is no market for Athlon II X4s any more. It kind of finishes it off, as the i3 2100 also runs away from Athlon II as well.

 

[Silverforce11]

I had a Q9400 rig and played BF3. In MP, i saw linear fps increase on the CPU from stock all the way to 3.6ghz.

You won't see that kind of scaling in SP, where most of the benches are done.