Should I keep my E7600 + 4gb ram or trade the CPU + Ram for a Q9450?

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Farfrumhumpn

Banned
Nov 22, 2009
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Okay, I pulled the trigger on a new system that will be coming with an E7600 and 2x 2gb memory but I'm wondering as I won't be OverClocking should I trade the E7600 and the 4gb kit of ram for a better CPU like a Q9450?

I have a 2gb kit of Corsair Dominator DDRII 1066 so I wouldn't be without memory but I'm wondering if the extra 1.25gb would really do me much good under Vista Home Premium 32-bit when I only watch movies and occasionally play some newer games but mostly older games when I do play.

Here are the games I do play when I play them:

CoD4
CoD WaW
Crysis Warhead
Aliens Versus Predator ( when it comes out : )
Command and Conquer Generals Zero hour with the shockwave mod
F.E.A.R.
GRAW 2
Operation Flashpoint 2
Battlefield 2

So, what do you all think? Keep the E7600 and 4gb or trade the cpu and memory for a Q9450 if I can find someone to do so? The E7600 has a stock speed of 3.06ghz with 3mb L2 but the Q9450 is 2.66ghz with 12mb L2 and 1333mhz FSB.

As another option I could try to trade someone my E7600 and the 2gb ram for something like an E8500 if the extra 100mhz and 1333hz FSB with the extra 3mb L2 would make much of a difference.
 
toyota

toyota

Lifer
Apr 15, 2001
12,957
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I dont see how you can play Warhead with just 2 gb of memory. it will most certainly hitch at times and I had to get another gig of ram to alleviate that in the pc I was using at the time.

I also found this after I already had hitching myself for Warhead and STALKER Clear Sky on the pc before the one I have now. those were the only two games I played where 2gb wasnt enough but there are probably others. http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...d-general-info-about-the-game/Reviews/?page=2

"As our benchmarks reveal, a smooth gameplay with 2 GiByte memory is possible on XP only, on Vista the screen freezes up to one second in some situations."
 
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Farfrumhumpn

Banned
Nov 22, 2009
210
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I've already experienced the hitching which lessened greatly after reducing post processing and volumetric lighting to minimum. I can only immagine it would lessen even further moving from a 4200+ x2 939 CPU with 2gb DDR to a C2D e7600 or even a Q9450 driven by a little more memory speed and bandwidth.

The only thing I'm getting out of that Crysis warhead comparison is that warhead is not quad-core optomized.

There is a good chance the new Aliens Versus Predator might not be quad-core optomized either.

I might try to see if I can trade the E7600 and the 2gb Dominator for an E8500 or maybe even an E8400. The higher FSB and 2x L2 cache might help more but I cannot find a direct comparison between even the E7600 and the E8400.
 
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Ben90

Platinum Member
Jun 14, 2009
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Personally I would trade the CPU+RAM, for a Q9450 and then buy a cheapo 2x1gb kit to keep the ram up.
 
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CurseTheSky

Diamond Member
Oct 21, 2006
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Chances are you won't see any performance improvement from the quad core in the short term

If you plan on keeping this system as is (no CPU, motherboard, or memory upgrades) for at least 2-3 years, it would be a worthwhile trade. Otherwise, you'd be better off to simply keep what you have than trade for a CPU with a slower base clock speed and have to buy RAM on top of it. 2 GB really doesn't cut it for gaming on Vista, though it is doable.
 
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Farfrumhumpn

Banned
Nov 22, 2009
210
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I'll prob see if I can trade the E7600 and the 2gb kit of ram for an E8500/E8400 then. Seeing as these Shuttls won' OC past 333mhz FSB I've decided not to OC at all and would insead like the most performance and be able to do some ecent under-volting to reduce power/heat.

I though briefly about doing the 333mhs BSEL mod to the E7600 but that requires more voltage in most cases and would likely result in a 75 - 80w+ TDP and I don't like the Idea of that so I figure a CPU with a native 1333mhz bus will deter me from OverClocking :)
 
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