Core 2 Duo or Quad?

Ubaroo

Hi there,

I'm currenty looking into buying a new cpu for my rig. I currenty have a core 2 duo e4500 overclocked to 2.5ghz. My limit is around 200 euro, The q6600 seems very tempting but I was also looking at one of the new q9300/q9400 quads. Or should I just stick with another core 2 duo (maybe a e8500?)? I'm going to be using it for medium/heavy gaming (eg crysis, cod4, blahh etc...) And does anyone know where to get them without paying lots of shipment?

Thanks,
Eric

Silenceisbliss

well

simple answer;

dual cores generally clock higher and are better for gaming

quad cores are more applicable to multi tasking, rendering, video ripping, photoshop, etc.

if its gaming your after, your going to benifit more form a higher clocked dual core. and then you can also comfortably overclock the pants out of it without too much effort into the cooling aspect

so, try hardwaresversand.de or komplett.ie or befriend someone in intel

Ubaroo

Thanks very much
But somethings still drawing me towards a quad Theres a q9550 going for 190 inc postage on adverts, should I get that or a e8500? Also does anyone know any good cpu coolers? Thanks :pac:

Anti

for 190 id get the 9550 to be honest.

Silenceisbliss

okay yeah, for 190, id lean towards the quad aswell actually. I didnt look at prices at all.

still, the 8500 is more than enough. odds are whatever game you throw at it is going to be bottle-necked at the GPU.

maybe get the 8500 so you can throw more money at ur GPU? just a thought...

qtpLOL

I don't do any rendering or anything cpu heavy, all i do is play games it seems pointless to me going for a quad when im not going to use it especially when a dual will outdo the quad in gaming terms.

8500 v 6600 for example

PogMoThoin

IMO without a doubt go for a quad. Quad is easier to manage, no need to monitor startup items or processes as you never feel a slowdown and its always fast at startup. Its BS that games run better on a dual core, there is no game that won't run on any 2.4Ghz core2 processor, therefore having a highly clocked dual core gives you no advantage. It is true tho that a dual core will overclock higher than a quad, but if games don't make use of this then its a waste.

Edit, disregard what I said, On a re-read I see you already got an e4500 @ 2.5Ghz, this is plenty, I thought it was an upgrade from older tech, save your money and buy a better cooler and good gpu

Sqaull20

Your throwing your money away OP.

All you need is a decent Core 2 Duo greater than 2.4-2.5Ghz and a good-great GFX nowadays for high res action.Its all about the graphics past 720p, cpu doesnt even come into it.



Article http://www.guru3d.com/article/cpu-scaling-in-games-with-quad-core-processors/9

What gamer really multitasks properly when playing?

Like who encodes videos when playing Crysis etc, the game is jerky as hell on evey Quad I have used with that game when trying to encode something.

What graphics have you got now Eric?

Like in pure speed terms think 8800 ultra (untouchable 18 months ago) VS HD4870X2 now.

This would be like a 3 GHZ Dual Core just became a 7 GHZ Quad core.Cards are making the cpu's look like a joke and anyone that funds them for the sole purpose of playing games is crazy.

Best thing for games now is a €65 E5200, cheap P35 board and HD4870, everything else is OTT.

Overclock your E4500 to 3.0ghz and spend your hard earned on a new card, blu ray drive or something else Eric.

Ubaroo

Hmm I was too late for that q9550, thats sold. Yea I was planning to do a cpu, gpu and ram upgrade over the next month or so. But I would like to get the old stuff sold on adverts first. Thanks Sqaull for that chart, I have a msi 8800gts 320mb gpu. I tried to overclock my e4500 to 2.9ghz but it wouldnt do it so its on 2.5 now. I also have a p45 mobo which is only a few weeks old (very happy with it ) So what your saying sqaull is that I should just buy some fancy gpu and leave the rest? and maybe a new cpu fan to clock it up a bit more ^^. Thanks guys for all the help

Sqaull20

Ubaroo wrote: »

Hmm I was too late for that q9550, thats sold. Yea I was planning to do a cpu, gpu and ram upgrade over the next month or so. But I would like to get the old stuff sold on adverts first. Thanks Sqaull for that chart, I have a msi 8800gts 320mb gpu. I tried to overclock my e4500 to 2.9ghz but it wouldnt do it so its on 2.5 now. I also have a p45 mobo which is only a few weeks old (very happy with it ) So what your saying sqaull is that I should just buy some fancy gpu and leave the rest? and maybe a new cpu fan to clock it up a bit more ^^. Thanks guys for all the help

You dont really need to clock it to 3.0ghz, 2.50 is fine imo.

A good fan will cost you €25 and for that you could go ahead with the sale of your e4500 on adverts for €45 or so and put the €25 towards a E5200 which with its 12.5 multi and 10% extra speed clock for clock over your cpu beacuse of its 45nm process and other features.The chip is a mega overclocker, a lad I know has this chip running @ 3.50ghz all day long on stock fan and cheap P35.

http://www.dabs.ie/ProductList.aspx?SearchTerms=E5200&SearchMode=All&SearchKey=All&PageMode=3&NavigationKey=0&SearchType=1

http://en.hardspell.com/doc/showcont.asp?news_id=3687

Not worth the hassle though, as your chip at say 2.60ghz is plenty.

I would get a HD4870 which will be like going from a 3ghz dual to 5.50ghz dual, compared to your current card, which is pretty old now.

How big is your monitor?

If its 22" or over deffo get HD4870, under get 4850

Silenceisbliss

Im gonna go with squall on this.

quad cores arent fully utilised in gaming (with some exceptions)

cpus's in general are held back by the graphics cards when it comes to gaming.

spend money on the graphics card for gaming before devoting OTT funds to a cpu.

Dual is perfect for gaming.

Ubaroo

Too late sqaull its at 3.0 ghz and stable (and only at 23 degrees, which is lower then what it usualy runs at, strange...). I have a 19 inch dell but I might purchase another one of these for dual monitors, which one would be best for that? also is the 9800GTX any good? thanks silence for your advice too I will keep the e4500 until some one makes a good offer on it. And i'll try and get rid off the 8800gts before i buy a new gpu too. thansk for all your help

Silenceisbliss

Ubaroo wrote: »

(and only at 23 degrees)

que Pog...... :rolleyes:

PogMoThoin

Silenceisbliss wrote: »

que Pog...... :rolleyes:

Orthos and CoreTemp

Ubaroo

ahmm.. I think I am a bit slow but I dont get it are you supposed to leave the orthes yoke running until it stops or what? and what do you do then? what does it mean? im confused :P and ny cpu is at 30 - 35 degrees lol (how come other programs said it was 10 degrees lower?) Thanks

cian1500ww

I'd go for the Quad if I didn't want to change the proc for a good while ie. future proof it.

Up to yourself though !

Ubaroo

thanks cian thats what I was thinking too

PogMoThoin

Ubaroo wrote: »

ahmm.. I think I am a bit slow but I dont get it are you supposed to leave the orthes yoke running until it stops or what? and what do you do then? what does it mean? im confused :P and ny cpu is at 30 - 35 degrees lol (how come other programs said it was 10 degrees lower?) Thanks

Leave Orthos running for several hours, preferably overnight to ensure your overclock is stable and that temperatures are ok. Also Coretemp will measure from a sensor on the chip itself, other utilities measure from a sensor on the board.

Ubaroo

Heres a prize (but you have to share it with Sqaull)

Thank you your a legend(s).

EDIT: In Orthos it says, CPU Speed: 3670MHz, does this mean I can overclock it to that? Still a bit confuzed.

PogMoThoin

Ubaroo wrote: »

EDIT: In Orthos it says, CPU Speed: 3670MHz, does this mean I can overclock it to that? Still a bit confuzed.

No, it probably gets your multiplier wrong, its just a wrong reading, disregard it.

Ubaroo

ok thank you pog. So... will I sell my e4500 and get another core 2 duo? and a nice ati card? Thanks

Silenceisbliss

ya, spend as much as you can devote to your graphics as a priority IMO, just dont have a bottleneck

Ubaroo

ok cool, a 4870 1gb good enuf?

Silenceisbliss

ya, thatl do it

Ubaroo

Ok m gona order a cpu and gpu today thanks for all the help guys.