Mchart
Super Joe
join:2004-01-21
Gurnee, IL
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4 edits | reply to longstreet
Re: Core 2 Duo E8400 vs. Core 2 Quad Q6600
You don't have to do anything. Look at any number of reviews at sites like guru3d, hardocp, or anandtech. All show the E8400 outperforms the Q6600 in every single gaming benchmark. This should be a no-brainer. The fairly large increase in FSB alone allows it to do this. Not to mention the fact that it's 600mhz faster on each core, and each core has a much larger L2 cache to work with.
We aren't comparing E6600 to Q6600. We are comparing a newer technology, to a quite old quad-core CPU. Now, if you can afford the E8400 quad-core equivelant - Go for it. However, considering it's $530 - It isn't.
You say that WoW supports quad-core. I beg to differ. If you look at your task-manager while running WoW on a quad-core CPU, only two out of four of the cores are being touched. (All four are being touched because Windows shuffles around the threads, you only see 50% usage total on all 4 cores. Which means only 2 cores would be working just as good alone.) Even a game like Supreme Commander, which we know for a fact uses all four cores, shows higher benchmarks on the E8400 then on the Q6600. Just because an app can use all four cores, doesn't mean it's literally offloading all 100% of the workload to each core. Not to mention we have games like STALKER, which claim to support multi-core, but still only show to be using 1 at most if you look at the task manager. The bottom line is that we aren't there yet. Nor will we be at least until Alan Wake comes out.
The OP asked what CPU was better for gaming. This thread was started in gaming tech. The undeniably correct answer is the E8400. There is absolutely no room for debate. So unless you can pickup the Q9550 for $180 - You are absolutely wrong in suggesting any quad core is better for a gaming rig. (Unless you have a very large budget.) |
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Margolis
Premium
join:2003-11-24
Saint Louis, MO
·Charter Pipeline
| reply to A4L
said by A4L :
That's some interesting information there. I'm starting to be confused to be honest. 60% of the people say to me that go for the E8400, 40% tell me to go for the Q6600. I really don't know what to go for. I'm looking at both perspectives and I feel I should go for the E8400 but then I see the Q6600 being more useful in the future. I really don't know what to do.
get the 8400, then in the far future when game will actually make use of more cores just buy a cheap quad core and plop into your motherboard. |
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BlackXTalon
join:2008-11-19
| How about the core I7?
In terms of quad core procs, didn't or isn't microsoft releasing a service pack for Microsoft Flight Sim X that will utilize all the cores?
I am like the person who started this thread. I will be building a gaming box from scratch, and there is a lot of conflicting information out there. I am leaning towards the I7 core but it is getting some bad reviews on anandtech, tomshardware etc etc. |
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Mchart
Super Joe
join:2004-01-21
Gurnee, IL
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·RoadRunner Cable
| said by BlackXTalon  :How about the core I7? In terms of quad core procs, didn't or isn't microsoft releasing a service pack for Microsoft Flight Sim X that will utilize all the cores? I am like the person who started this thread. I will be building a gaming box from scratch, and there is a lot of conflicting information out there. I am leaning towards the I7 core but it is getting some bad reviews on anandtech, tomshardware etc etc. Nehalem is quite fast, and if you have the money I reccomend it over any LGA775 right now. You are paying more money for stuff that will last much longer. |
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Somnambul33t
L33t.
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join:2002-12-05
Mullica Hill, NJ
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| reply to A4L
i7 requires 3-4x more expensive memory, a 2-4x more expensive motherboard, and the chepaest CPU is still $300.
still more posts of people claiming CPU speed increases game FPS. do your own research and you'll find this to be very false for most games when played at or above 1680x1050 resolution.
you can get a Q6600 or dual-core penryn system for $385. includes $200 CPU, 4GB ram, and adequate motherboard. you cant get the RAM and CPU alone for an i7 system at that price and gain close to 0 FPS in games.
buy what you want but games these days don't care about CPU once you have a core2duo E6000 or higher or faster AMD phenom. GFX card does much much much more work the higher the resolution, which is why sites wanting to benchmark a CPU by itself will run game benchmarks at 640x480 to eliminate as much of the gfx card as possible.
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