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Upgradeitis....E8400 or a Q8200?

SonnyDaze

SonnyDaze

Diamond Member
I'm currently running an E5200 (3.0Ghz) on an EP45-UD3R. I've got a bit of upgradeitis for the CPU. The E8400 and Q8200 are both within my budget and are the same price. Me is wondering if the quad core will be beneficial (though the E84 has 2MB more L2 cache)? My rig is mainly for gaming. Nothing hardcore, mostly older stuff (AOE III, Flatout UC, Civ IV, Burnout Paradise, WIC,- though I do want to try some flight sims).

Looking at clock speeds, I could probably get the E8400 a lot higher then the Q8200....

What has me puzzled is will the difference in cores make up for the difference in clock speeds?


Note: I'm running an ATI 4830 @ 1400x900.

Any input is greatly appreciated. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle
E8400 is a better gaming CPU. Most games won't take advantage of more than 2 cores, but will benefit from the extra Mhz and cache.
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That was my line of thought. Most games I see today require a 3Ghz CPU and the E8400 is there. OC would just be icing on the cake. I have read that the extra L2 can help.
 
I concur. I have my C0 E8400 at 4GHz and games scream with my 2 8800GTs in SLI. The GPU is more important than the CPU for 3D gaming so go with the E8400 and grab a coupla 4870 1GB or a coupla GTX 260 Core 216s depending on what your mobo supports (SLI or XFire).:thumbsup:
 
As far as I'm aware none of the games you listed really benefit from quad cores, nor will MS Flight Simulator. The larger cache and the higherclockspeed/better overclockability of the E8400 will more than make up for it "only" having 2 cores.
 
Originally posted by: Nickel020
As far as I'm aware none of the games you listed really benefit from quad cores, nor will MS Flight Simulator. The larger cache and the higherclockspeed/better overclockability of the E8400 will more than make up for it "only" having 2 cores.
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MS FSX most definitely benefits from quad cores, where did you hear this.

That said, IMO the e8400 would OC fast enough to be worth it.
 
also consider q9400 as an option not too expensive since e8400 is 165 already. but will oc a lot and maybe more future proof. if you do encoding the quad will be better. the q82xx are too limited in cache I would not consider that.
 
Encoding, the Quad will rip the dual in two. Gaming, the dual will dust the quad cause of the multi. My C0 is running 500fsb with an 8 multi at 1.34vcore; you should definitely receive an E0 by now.
 
Originally posted by: Rick James
It'll hit 4ghz right out of the box for you
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Yup.

Is very cool being able to run 4.00ghz @ stock volts, deffo top chip for gaming + other general PC use.
 
I'd probably spend the little bit extra and get the E8500. Looks like the video card is the weak point, but I guess for your resolution it's sufficient.
 
Originally posted by: jaredpace
Id get an e8400 and a second 4830 for crossfire
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I'll probably go with the E8400, but the second card is not an option. UD3R is a single slot mobo.

Originally posted by: nOOky
Looks like the video card is the weak point, but I guess for your resolution it's sufficient.
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Yeah that's another story. 😀 I can get a 22" LG LCD locally for $150. But then I'd need to move up to a 4870 most likely. I hate upgradeitis. 😛
 
Originally posted by: SonnyDaze
Yeah that's another story. 😀 I can get a 22" LG LCD locally for $150. But then I'd need to move up to a 4870 most likely. I hate upgradeitis. 😛
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Why? A 4830 should drive a 1680x1050 monitor quite nicely.

 
Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle
Originally posted by: SonnyDaze
Yeah that's another story. 😀 I can get a 22" LG LCD locally for $150. But then I'd need to move up to a 4870 most likely. I hate upgradeitis. 😛
Click to expand...

Why? A 4830 should drive a 1680x1050 monitor quite nicely.
Click to expand...

Good to know. Thanks. I figured higher resolution would need a bit beefier card.

I'm going to order the E8400.

BTW, I'm using a Corsair 450vx PSU currently, should I upgrade to a Corsair 650 for a little more headroom in the amps? The 450vx is doing fine now but it is only 33A compared to the 52A on the 650W.

 
Well, my two cents if its worth anything.

While neither an E8400 or the Q8200 is inadequate, we should revisit last generation. History is the best way of predicting the future. Most of us remember the Athlon 64 days when choosing a dual over a much higher clocked single was a tough decision. In 2006(corrected) The Athlon 64 4000+ (2.4ghz 1mb L2) San diego was $40 cheaper then the Athlon x2 3600+ (2.0ghz 2x256k L2) Manchester and games at the time ran much better on the single then the dual because very few games were optimized for it. If you wanted that system to last over a year people argued that the X2 was better. Seemingly everyone else argued for the single core. Look at it now. That X2 3600 wipes the floor with the 4000+. You can pair that X2 3600+ with any lower-mid range ATI card (46x0 class) and you still have yourself a decent gaming machine. We are going to be seeing the same with dual's versus quads.

With games like GTA4 and Saints Row, you ALREADY need a quad core. No if ands or buts. Any dual core (yes, even you guys with the 4.0Ghz E8400's) cant hang with over 40-50fps. The quads can do it just fine.

EDIT: Also, at my overclock it bests a Q6600 at 3.0ghz, so don't let the clockspeed get to you. Its fast. With dual-threaded games you are still looking at a dual core 2.75ghz Core2 CPU with 4MB of L2 cache. At a FSB of 1500+, it performs higher then the clock speed suggests.
 
I went from an e6400 @ 3GHz to my current e8400 @ 4GHz. Saw very little difference in games, somewhat faster in video encoding - but not anywhere near the increase I would have seen moving to a quad. Overall a waste of $200. I'll bet you'll see even less difference going from e5200 @ 3GHz to e8400 @ 4GHz because while the e5200 has the same 2MB cache as the e6400 its the newer generation with better optimized memory prefetch & etc.

My suggestion - q8200/q9400 @ 3.2-3.6GHz. THAT will net you some real differences, a slightly faster dual will not.
 
After reading the last 2 posts by Scholzpdx and Denithor I did me some thinking and came to the realization that they both have valid points (I was caught up in the high OC 939 fad a few years back) and being that I may not be able to make an upgrade like this again for a while......I went with a q9400.

I might not need the CPU power today with current games, but as I've read a few games already make use of 4 cores so who knows what this year or next year will bring. I went with the idea of "future proofing" my CPU upgrade since I may not be able to upgrade anytime soon (3 years or so). And besides, owning a quad core might add a half inch to my e-penis. :laugh:

I'm currently using an AC Freezer 7 Pro and figured it wouldn't hurt to go with something a little better in the cooling department so I also splurged for a Xigmatek S1283 HSF and the I7751 retention bracket. I just hope it fits in my Antec 300....:Q

Thanks to everyone for the input and suggestions. :beer:
 
That is a nice choice. And going for the Q9400 instead of the Q8200 means you don't miss out on any of the E8400's L2 cache either. Just overclock it a bit and you'll be ahead of a stock E8400 (though the ceiling is still lower).

Either way it's a forward-thinking choice. I think within a year most new games will be taking advantage of quads. It'll be faster than the single to dual core jump a few years ago because at the time, it wasn't as clear (as it is now) that multi-threading is where most future CPU performance will come from.
 
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