So,is there a CPU that is 2x as fast at AMDs x2 4200?

[stockriderman]

I usually upgrade to speed up my photoshop and video editing process. Last time my updgrade was from AMD's 2500. Speed difference was at least 3x.
I am thinking of upgrading again. Any CPUs that are twice as fast as my current setup?

 

[genec57]

Intel quad core Q6600 will make photoshop fly. It is probably more than twice as fast as the x2 4200.

 

[Smartazz]

The E6850, Intel's Core 2 Duo will come close and any of the C2Q will easily be twice as fast.

 

[myocardia]

Well, let's see, this one is roughly twice as fast as your 4200: X6800, this one is 3-3.5x as fast: QX6700, and this one is ~4x as fast: QX6800.

 

[harpoon84]

I don't think the current dual cores (C2D) are quite 2x as fast as your X2 4200+, though with overclocking they certainly can be, with the latest G0 steppings pushing 4GHz on air, which equates to around ~5GHz of X2 power.

I think the best option for you is to wait for the $266 Q6600 pricedrop. Since Photoshop and encoding are multithreaded, you should easily get >2x the performance, probably closer to 3x I'd say. Definitely worth the upgrade.

 

[Skott]

^^ Second that.

 

[nyker96]

I doubt even if you upgrade to c2d will get 2x as fast, but if you get a quad maybe ... but only in some apps like photo/video that is well threaded yeah you might experience 2x gain with c2q.

 

[krotchy]

From an X2 you minus well go Quad or not upgrade. Your chip isnt a slacker by any means, and truthfully I have about a dozen machines Ive built at work, some being FX-60's, some E6600/6700s and some Q6600's and they all feel the same for the most part, but the Q's render fastest, followed by E6X00's and the FX-60s are the slowest, but they really dont lag a whole lot.

For what you are doing, you minus well OC the crud out of your current proc, or go quad core. An X2 to Core 2 Duo upgrade isnt really going to be groundbreaking by any means, although the Core 2 Duos are great chips. However a Quad upgrade should actually be easily noticeable especially in photoshop which is multi threaded.

 

[stockriderman]

Ok,thanks everyone. I am not upgrading until sometime in September,when I am back at work,doing all the video processing and stuff. Hopefully prices will drop a bit more by then.

 

[VERTIGGO]

As far as FLOPS I went from a 2.6 Opteron 165 to an E6600 at 3.5 and my superpi went from 30s to 14s. I'm pretty sure it's twice as fast. Quad will be even better for you.

 

[nCred]

http://www23.tomshardware.com/...1&model2=931&chart=435

Here you can compare the 4200+ with the Q6600 and a bunch of other CPUs.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: stockriderman
Ok,thanks everyone. I am not upgrading until sometime in September,when I am back at work,doing all the video processing and stuff. Hopefully prices will drop a bit more by then.

I have not seen a very complete PS bench between a quad C2D and an AMD x2 but if i remember correctly PS does not scale geometricly when going from 2 to 4 cores. If anybody has some good links please post 'em up.

If you follow that link to THG the e6850 OC'ed to 3GHz beats/ties the quads - and beats the x2 6000+ Windsor by 20%. PS is really tuff on ram and hard drive I/O read/writes.

 

[zsdersw]

Originally posted by: krotchy
you minus well

Odd. It's "might as well".

 

[Polish3d]

Originally posted by: nCred
http://www23.tomshardware.com/...1&model2=931&chart=435

Here you can compare the 4200+ with the Q6600 and a bunch of other CPUs.

Wow, from that, the x6850 is about 2x as fast as a 4200+. Not bad at all