Which might be better a P4 3.0E or 2.8C ?

BentValve

Diamond Member
Dec 26, 2001
4,190
0
0
Which might be better a P4 3.0E or 2.8C ? Looking at buying one of these..which one might be better/ faster?

thanks
 

qbackin

Banned
Dec 26, 2004
1,900
0
0
Hmmm wondering this myself....
Northwoods typically are good oc'ers
Prescotts are known to run at higher temps.

Bump for resoloution.
 

AkumaX

Lifer
Apr 20, 2000
12,647
4
81
well it depends on heat and o/cing

i've owned both, and i could only o/c the 3.0e to 3.2ghz

the 2.8c i was able to do 3.3ghz

but in the end, they're just about the same performance anyway (2.8c vs 3.0e) :p
 

Ken90630

Golden Member
Mar 6, 2004
1,571
2
81
Anand himself came to the conclusion that the Prescotts really don't pay off until you hit clock speeds of 3.6GHz and beyond. This is primarily due to the much longer instruction pipeline in the Prescotts as compared to the Northwoods. They need that much sheer clock speed to overcome the inherent probs of the longer pipelines.

These kinds of questions are hard to answer definitively though, as it kind of depends on what software you're running. Apps that respond better to shorter pipelines would run faster on a 2.8C than a 3.0E, I believe. IIRC, the branch prediction error rates are lower on some (or all?) of the Prescotts than the Northwoods, however, so there is some gain there on Prescotts' behalf.

Prescotts also run hotter than Northwoods, so keep that in mind as well. I don't overclock myself, so I can't speak to that and will defer to the other guys for their thoughts on that.

Here is Anand's article on this subject for anyone who'd like a more in-depth explanation of what I stated above. It's long, but a very good read. :)
 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
2.8C all day. Prescott sux hard even if you get it running at advertised speed.
 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
Why don't you just get a mobile XP for $70 and slap it in your existing setup? (nice case BTW) It will hit 2500ish and be about like a 3.2C there.
 

Aenslead

Golden Member
Sep 9, 2001
1,256
0
0
3.0Ghz E for me. Price difference is minimum and you get an added 512kb of caché; Better deal.
 

RobCur

Banned
Oct 4, 2002
3,076
0
0
4.0ghz, no need to overclock. no overclocker and reach this speed let alone a child with a pentium 100 :)
 

AristoV300

Golden Member
May 29, 2004
1,380
0
0
If you plan to overclock go with the 3.0E. If not at stock speeds the 2.8C is the better performer.
 

w00t

Diamond Member
Nov 5, 2004
5,545
0
0
2.8C easy
prescot runs hot
has longer pipelines
they had to create two intruction to double the cache
so pretty much its slower.
 

1stoff

Junior Member
Dec 16, 2004
21
0
0
Originally posted by: Aenslead
3.0Ghz E for me. Price difference is minimum and you get an added 512kb of caché; Better deal.

Better deal ????, thats hilarious

2.8c all the way, though I am biased as my 2.8c M0 runs @ 3.8 24/7

 

MDE

Lifer
Jul 17, 2003
13,199
1
81
Originally posted by: Aenslead
3.0Ghz E for me. Price difference is minimum and you get an added 512kb of caché; Better deal.
Even with the added cache the Prescott is slower than Northwood at equal clock speeds, plus runs hotter, and uses more power.
 

AristoV300

Golden Member
May 29, 2004
1,380
0
0
Originally posted by: MDE
Originally posted by: Aenslead
3.0Ghz E for me. Price difference is minimum and you get an added 512kb of caché; Better deal.
Even with the added cache the Prescott is slower than Northwood at equal clock speeds, plus runs hotter, and uses more power.


Agreed on that. If you are an overclocker though you should be able to hit or get close to 4Ghz on air with ease, where as a 2.8C if you are lucky will hit 3.6.
 

faye

Platinum Member
Sep 13, 2000
2,109
1
81
3.0E myself ..

Yes, Prescott is hot, but it is fast.
I have owned both but i still prefer Prescott.

I can get my 3.0E at 260fsb which is. ... around 3.9Ghz

But i leave it at 245fsb because theseday is hot enough. i don't want to warm up my room while i am playing.
 

stevty2889

Diamond Member
Dec 13, 2003
7,036
8
81
Having both northwoods and prescotts at the moment I would definatly take the 2.8c over the 3.0E. The northwood runs much cooler, and is faster clock for clock in a lot of things.
EDIT: Also, while the prescott does have more cache, the cache on the prescott has a much higher latency, which hinders it's performance as well..
 

cockeyed

Senior member
Dec 8, 2000
777
0
0
I had the 2.8c (it had an accidental death) and now have the 3.0e. In terms of speed, I don't notice any real difference. The 3.0e does run hotter and the fan is a little louder than the 2.8c, but nothing earth shattering. I don't OC, but just playing around, the 3.0e is the better OC'r.