quad core vs. dual core for gaming

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Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
7
81
Originally posted by: eddiebravo
well, it is easy for me to understand the difference between a ford gt and a mustang, but as a hardware noob i cannot say the same about these processors. to me, it seems like the difference between a POS every day driver mustang and a 500hp exotic designed for racing is clearly huge and easily justifies the large difference in price between the two.

Alright, how about I revisit this analogy...

Ford Shelby GT500KR
$80,000
0-60 4.3s

Ford GT
$140,000 (often selling for close to double that)
0-60 3.3s

So, is the extra 1s worth $60,000? Rather, worth $160,000 as many of them sold for considerably more than MSRP?

The performance difference between the Extreme chips and normal chips do exist, just run something that strictly tests the CPU and you'll see. However, is a 20% performance increase worth it for you to pay the price?
 

Tempered81

Diamond Member
Jan 29, 2007
6,374
1
81
the guy torn between a qx9770 and a e8500/e8400:

A qx processor is quad & comes with an unlocked multi. It will likely do 4.0 to 4.2g just like the wolfdale dual cores do (it is essentially two e8500's stuck together side by side with 12mb cache and a changeable multiplier). If you overclock and are choosing between a qx9770 & and e8500, then the qx9770 will beat it in all games. It wins in all games, yet only by a small margin, and is that worth the extra 1200 bucks?
 

kppanic

Junior Member
Apr 24, 2008
16
0
0
Originally posted by: Zap
Originally posted by: eddiebravo
well, it is easy for me to understand the difference between a ford gt and a mustang, but as a hardware noob i cannot say the same about these processors. to me, it seems like the difference between a POS every day driver mustang and a 500hp exotic designed for racing is clearly huge and easily justifies the large difference in price between the two.

Alright, how about I revisit this analogy...

Ford Shelby GT500KR
$80,000
0-60 4.3s

Ford GT
$140,000 (often selling for close to double that)
0-60 3.3s

So, is the extra 1s worth $60,000? Rather, worth $160,000 as many of them sold for considerably more than MSRP?

The performance difference between the Extreme chips and normal chips do exist, just run something that strictly tests the CPU and you'll see. However, is a 20% performance increase worth it for you to pay the price?

But you also have to take note that going from 4.3s to 3.3s (1s delta) is in fact much much harder than from going, let's say, 9.9s to 8.9s.

It wouldn't really matter if I ran 100m in 14.2s and I reduced that to 13.2s. A whole lot of other people would do better than that or at least perform the same.

If all you ever need in your life is 4.3s 0-60, you would be laughing at those striving to achieve anything less than 4.3s for a big cost. But that is your standard. Can't really impose that on others...

So to sum it up,

No for you,
Yes for others.



 

myocardia

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2003
9,291
30
91
Originally posted by: jaredpace
A qx processor is quad & comes with an unlocked multi. It will likely do 4.0 to 4.2g just like the wolfdale dual cores do (it is essentially two e8500's stuck together side by side with 12mb cache and a changeable multiplier). If you overclock and are choosing between a qx9770 & and e8500, then the qx9770 will beat it in all games. It wins in all games, yet only by a small margin, and is that worth the extra 1200 bucks?

Well, besides the two games that the 4 Ghz quad would destroy the 4 Ghz dual, you must have no idea how much some people who fold proteins in their spare time are willing to spend on their systems. From what I've seen, they're the largest market for the QX chips.
 

Tempered81

Diamond Member
Jan 29, 2007
6,374
1
81
myocardia: the quote says that the qx9770 would win in all games @ 4.0ghz.

Originally posted by: myocardia
Originally posted by: jaredpace
A qx processor is quad & comes with an unlocked multi. It will likely do 4.0 to 4.2g just like the wolfdale dual cores do (it is essentially two e8500's stuck together side by side with 12mb cache and a changeable multiplier). If you overclock and are choosing between a qx9770 & and e8500, then the qx9770 will beat it in all games. It wins in all games, yet only by a small margin, and is that worth the extra 1200 bucks?

Well, besides the two games that the 4 Ghz quad would destroy the 4 Ghz dual, you must have no idea how much some people who fold proteins in their spare time are willing to spend on their systems. From what I've seen, they're the largest market for the QX chips.
 

piasabird

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
17,168
60
91
Why are you comparing the Extreme Quad Core to a standard Dual Core? Isnt that kind of rediculous? You can purchase a quad core for about the same price of a E8400.

I think the Extreme processors do deserve some criticism for their price, but face it, they are extreme and have an extreme price.
 

FormulaRedline

Junior Member
Jan 17, 2008
16
0
0
This is a really easy question. The title of the thread even says "for gaming." Not for folding. Not for folding and virus scan and MS Word and gaming all at once.

For gaming, grab a cheap 45nm based dual core (E8XXX or E7XXX) and overclock it.